Islam in Croatia

During this period some parts of the Croatian Kingdom were occupied which resulted in some Croats converting to Islam, some after being taken prisoners of war, some through the devşirme system.

[citation needed] Nonetheless, Croats strongly fought against the Turks during these few centuries which resulted in the fact that the westernmost border of the Ottoman Empire in Europe became entrenched on the Croatian soil.

[10] The largest and most representative one of them, Ibrahim Pasha's Mosque, is located in eastern Croatian town of Đakovo but is today used as the Roman Catholic Church of All Saints.

[10] Highest rate of Muslims live in Gunja municipality (34,7 % population), followed by Cetingrad (20,62 %), Raša (17,88 %), Vojnić (15,58 %), Vodnjan (14,02 %), Labin (10,68 %), Kršan (7,96 %), Sveta Nedelja (7,47 %), Drenovci (7,27 %) and Čavle (6,72 %).

[12] In 1553, Antun Vrančić, Roman cardinal, and Franjo Zay, a diplomat, visited Istanbul as envoys of the Croatian-Hungarian king to discuss a peace treaty with the Ottoman Empire.

During the initial ceremonial greetings they had with Rüstem Pasha Hrvat (a Croat) the conversation led in Turkish with an official interpreter was suddenly interrupted.

In 1585, traveler and writer Marco A. Pigaffetta, in his Itinerario published in London, states: In Constantinople it is customary to speak Croatian, a language which is understood by almost all official Turks, especially military men.

Based on the figures recorded during the 1931 to 1961 census, it may also be concluded that a certain number of Muslim believers declared themselves as Croats or Yugoslavs.

[16] The published data from the 2021 Croatian census included a crosstab of ethnicity and religion which showed that a total of 50,981 Muslims (1.32% of the total population) was divided between the following ethnic groups:[18] Highest number of people following Islam live in Zagreb (18,044), however highest rate of Muslims is in Istria County, where 9,965 people (4,79 % of county's population) have faith in Islam.

The Bosniak imam Ševko Omerbašić, was the long-time leader of the Muslim community of Croatia and the Mufti of Zagreb.