Islam in Malta

Islam in Malta (Arabic: الإسلام في مالطا) has had a historically profound influence upon the country — especially its language and agriculture — as a consequence of several centuries of control and presence on the islands. Today, the main Muslim organization represented in Malta is the Libyan World Islamic Call Society.

The 2021 census found that the Muslim population in Malta grew from 6,000 in 2010 to 17,454 in 2021, mainly non-citizens, totalling 3.9% of the population.

Prior to Muslim rule, Eastern Christianity had been prominent in Malta during the time of Greek-Byzantine rule. The thesis of a Christian continuity in Malta during Arab rule, despite being popular, is historically unfounded.

Islam is believed to have been introduced to Malta when the North African Aghlabids, first led by Halaf al-Hadim and later by Sawada ibn Muhammad, conquered the islands from the Byzantines, after arriving from Sicily in 870 (as part of the wider Arab–Byzantine wars). However, it has also been argued that the islands were occupied by Muslims earlier in the 9th, and possibly 8th, century. The Aghlabids established their capital in Mdina. The old Roman fortification, later to become Fort St Angelo, was also extended.

According to the Arab chronicler and geographer al-Ḥimyarī (author of Kitab al-Rawḍ al-Miṭar), following the Muslim attack and conquest, Malta was practically uninhabited until it was colonised by Muslims from Sicily in 1048–1049, or possibly several decades earlier. As recognised by the acclaimed Maltese historian Godfrey Wettinger, the Arab conquest broke any continuity with previous population of the island. This is also consistent with Joseph Brincat’s linguistic finding of no further sub-stratas beyond Arabic in the Maltese language, a very rare occurrence which may only be explained by a drastic lapse between one period and the following.

The strongest legacy of Islam in Malta is the Maltese language, which is very close to Tunisian Arabic and most place names (other than the names Malta and Gozo) are Arabic, as are most surnames, e.g. Borg, Cassar, Chetcuti, Farrugia, Fenech, Micallef, Mifsud and Zammit. It has been argued that this survival of the Maltese language, as opposed to the extinction of Siculo-Arabic in Sicily, is probably due to the eventual large-scale conversions to Christianity of the proportionally large Maltese Muslim population.

The Muslims also introduced innovative and skillful irrigation techniques such as the water-wheel known as the Noria or Sienja, all of which made Malta more fertile. They also introduced sweet pastries and spices and new crops, including citrus, figs, almond, as well as the cultivation of the cotton plant, which would become the mainstay of the Maltese economy for several centuries, until the latter stages of the rule of the Knights of St. John. The distinctive landscape of terraced fields is also the result of introduced ancient Arab methods. Maltese Catholicism remained influenced by the Muslim presence and background, including for the words for God (Alla) and Lent (Randan).

Elements of Islamic architecture also remain in the vernacular Maltese style, including the muxrabija, wooden oriel windows similar to the mashrabiya.