Laying the foundations for Islam in Western Europe in the interwar period: Muslim religious institutions and European colonial policies

This dissertation aims to provide an overview of the institutionalization and development of Islam in the first half of the twentieth century in various cosmopolitan centers across Western Europe. This approach contributes to filling a gap in European religious history, which often perceives Islam as alien and does not tend to view it as an essential part of Europe’s modern history. The thesis assesses the Islam policies of Britain, Germany and France, their interaction with Muslim communities and the first mosques in their capital cities: the Woking mosque near London (1889, but opened in 1912/1913); the Wilmersdorf mosque in Berlin (1924/1925) and the Paris mosque (1926). Through governmental archives and contemporary newspapers and Muslim magazines, I have trace the Ahmadiyya movement as the Ahmadiyya settled in Europe and embarked on their work to establish a European Islam, or an Islamic Europe. The Ahmadiyya played a central role in creating ‘Muslim space’ through missionizing, contributions to the public sphere and mosque construction.

The first three chapters, part I of the dissertation, examine the Islam policies of Britain, Germany and France and their interactions and exchanges with their Muslim communities. The second part traces the development and efforts of European Muslim groups, beginning with the fourth chapter, in which Muslim missionary strategies and institutionalization efforts in Europe are assessed within their translocal contexts. In the fifth chapter I examine some topics in Muslim European writings and placed them within interwar discourse. The sixth chapter places these Islam policies in a broader global perspective by focusing on the Hajj and how this practice related to European Islam policies and European Muslims.