The Muslims finding belonging in southern Spain

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that some Muslims are choosing to settle in southern Spain’s Andalucia region, drawn by the area’s visible links to the medieval Muslim past of al-Andalus. The article focuses on Henrietta Szovati, a British-Hungarian Muslim, and her husband Ajmal Masroor, a therapist and imam, who have spent the past two years turning an old farmhouse and surrounding land into the House of Andalus in the mountains above Alora, near Malaga. Their project, the piece says, is meant to connect visitors with Islamic history and the natural landscape.

Szovati describes feeling more at home in Andalucia than in Britain, where she has lived since 2001, saying she often felt like an outsider there. In contrast, she says everyday interactions with local neighbors in southern Spain have made her feel welcomed first as a person and then as a Muslim. The article highlights exchanges with a neighbor and his Catholic mother, using them to show how ordinary social ties can bridge religious difference.

The report also places that personal story in wider historical and political context. It notes that Muslim rule once shaped much of southern Iberia for nearly eight centuries and left architectural, linguistic and agricultural traces still visible today. At the same time, the article says Spain, like much of Europe, has seen anti-immigration and anti-Muslim rhetoric from the far right, including Vox, raising questions about how durable this sense of belonging may be. The feature suggests that for some Muslims, Andalucia offers a way to reconnect with a European Islamic heritage while building a life in the present.