I've seen a lot being said about Whites and Muslims lately on this board. Being a Muslim that happens to be White myself, I find it somewhat silly that not much is known about the Muslims of Europe.

There are millions of Muslims in Britain, France, Italy, Russia, Kosova, Bosnia, Chechnya, Albania, Germany, and other European nations. In fact, Islam reached parts of Europe before Christianity (such as the area of and around the Caucas Mountains) did and when the European Muslims encountered Christianity they easily disregarded it. Many of you probably know that Muslims ruled Spain for over 700 years. A good majority of European "intellectuals" and "Renaissance men" studied at the Islamic universities that were set up in Spain and surrounding areas. Not to mention that the European Renaissance was the result of the Renaissance that had already flourished in the Muslim world the years before spreading to different European countries.

I find it somewhat humorous that the Western media rarely gives the image of the European Muslim. For example, the recent fighting in Europe. They use the phrase "ethnic Albanian." Why ethnic? Ethnicity has nothing to do with being a Muslim. I rarely heard the word Muslim be mentioned when the Bosnians and Kosovans were (and still are) being slaughtered.

Islam is in fact the fastest growing religion in most, if not all, European nations. It is the second largest in France. In Italy, the Pope has been given advice to ban the entrance of Muslims and was told that if he doesn't then Catholicism will vanish in the near future and Islam will rule.

One of the Sahaabah or companions of the Prophet Muhammad (sallahu alai wa salam) was a Roman that had blue eyes and blonde hair. His name was Abu Yahya Suhayb ar-Rumi:

"Blonde-haired and fair complexioned Abu Yahya Suhayb was born into the luxurious house of his father, a client governor for the Persian emperor. Whilst still a child, Suhayb was captured by a Byzantine raiding party to be eventually sold into slavery in Constantinople Suhayb eventually escaped from bondage and fled to Mecca, a popular place of asylum, where he soon became a prosperous merchant nick-named 'ar-Rumi' (the Roman) due to his Greek tongue and Byzantine up-bringing. When Suhayb heard Muhammad preach, he was at once convinced of the truth of his message and readily embraced Islam. Like the rest of the early Muslims, Suhayb was persecuted by the idolatrous Meccans and had to trade all his wealth in exchange for safe passage to join the Prophet at Medina. When Suhayb finally arrived at Medina, the Prophet, delighted to see him, greeted him thrice: 'Your transaction has been fruitful, O Abu Yahya. Your transaction has been fruitful.' Allah had informed the Prophet of Suhayb's exploits even before they were reunited:

 And there is a type of man who gives his life to earn the pleasure of Allah. And Allah is full of kindness to His servants. (Qur'an, 2:207)

The Prophet loved Suhayb a great deal and described him as having preceded the Byzantines to Islam. Suhayb's piety and standing among Muslims was so high that when Caliph Umar was on his deathbed, he selected Suhayb to lead the Muslims whilst they were choosing a successor."

A side note: The local Muslim community for me is quite small. Perhaps 20-30 active brothers and sisters. However, 5 out of them are White and I'd say that is pretty high.

Yusuf Abdus-Salaam