Europe’s forgotten Muslim history

Twenty years ago, Tharik Hussain moved from the United Kingdom to Saudi Arabia with a sense that he and other Muslims didn’t belong in Europe. But, as he explains today on the podcast, he has since been on a journey to uncover some 1,400 years of rich Muslim history and culture on the continent. Tharik joins Imaan and Ellen to discuss how Europeans forgot the contributions of Muslims in Europe—and what the impact of this erasure has been on modern politics. Plus—why, in the 8th century, did Anglo-Saxon King Offa of Mercia issue a gold coin inscribed with the shahadah (Islamic declaration of faith)? Tharik’s book, Muslim Europe, was published by Penguin in 2025. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You can listen to Europe’s forgotten Muslim history online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Europe’s forgotten Muslim history is an episode from The Prospect Interview by Prospect Magazine.

This episode is 47:44 long.

This episode was published on Apr 29, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from The Prospect Interview when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.