How did Islam impact Europe?

Answer 1

Islam has and continues to impact Europe in a myriad of ways. The growth of Islamic Caliphates directly opposed European economic and political interests in the Middle East including the decline of Byzantine Empire and the Islamic Conquest of Spain. The Crusades, which fundamentally changed European culture and helped to usher in the Modern Era would not have occurred has Muslims not been in control of the Holy Land. Math, Science, and the Greco-Roman Classics were preserved in the Islamic Caliphates and given back to Europeans during this period.

Later the Turkish Ottoman Empire (a Muslims State) conquered a vast swath of territory in southeastern Europe including what is now the Balkans, Greece, Romania, and Hungary, bringing Islam into the heart of Europe and leaving behind large Muslims populations in Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Bulgaria. The Ottomans were the preeminent military force in the region using state-of-the-art artillery and military organization. These tactics were eventually added to European warfare styles.

In recent times, there was European colonization and occupation in North Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, which have large indigenous Muslim populations. As a result of that colonization and the required rebuilding of Europe after World War II, many immigrants arrived in Europe from these regions bringing their faith with them. This has caused numerous political debates as to whether Islam is reconcilable with European values and resulted in many impoverished Muslim communities developing across Europe.

Answer 2

There was really no correlation or contribution that the Muslims made to European Imperialism. The only possible connection is that Europeans used their own enhancements to Muslim technologies and science to build their machines of war, but aside from that, the nature of Islamic conquest, empire building, and governance were wildly different from the European Imperialist equivalents.