Two new books on muslims in interwar Europe

 

Two new books have been published by Utrecht University researchers of Islam and Arabic on muslims in interwar Europe. Dr Mehdi Sajid published his dissertation titled Muslime im Zwischenkriegseuropa und die Dekonstruktion der Faszination vom Westen; together with Dr Umar Ryad and Bekim Agai (university of Frankfurt), Sajid edited the volume Muslims in Interwar Europe. A Transcultural Historical Perspective.

Both publications appear in the context of the research project 'Neither visitors, nor colonial victims: Muslims in Interwar Europe and European Trans-cultural History' (2014-2019), led by Umar Ryad and funded by the European Research Council.

Muslime im Zwischenkriegseuropa

Šakīb ʾArslān (1869-1946) was one of the most influential and talented Arabic writers of his generation. Born in Libanon and an exile in Europe, between 1918 and 1946 he developed into one of the foremost advocates of the Arabic cause and of Islam reform. His writings and anti-colonial activities were a source of inspiration to many young muslims, who dreamed of an imminent liberation of their homelands from European colonial oppression. ʾArslān made great efforts to emphasise a connection between independence movements in the Arabic and Muslim world and the pan-Islam ideology. In his view, the emergence of nationalist/secular movements in Muslim countries posed a great threat.

Dr. Mehdi Sajid
Dr Mehdi Sajid

In this study, Mehdi Sajid analyses the many articles published by Šakīb ʾArslān between 1926 and 1935 in the Egyptian neo-salafist journal al-Fatḥ. They provide insight into the ideas of an Arabic exile who shares his hopes, fears and expectations with an Islam-oriented audience, hoping to sustain Islam as a socio-political order in a world that had undergone a radical transformation after World War I.

  • Title: Muslime im Zwischenkriegseuropa und die Dekonstruktion der Faszination vom Westen (Bonner Islamstudien 33)
  • Author: Mehdi Sajid
  • Publisher: EB-Verlag, 2015
  • ISBN: 978-3-86893-185-3
Dr. Umar Ryad
Dr Umar Ryad

Muslims in Interwar Europe

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the history of Muslims in interwar Europe. Based on personal and official archives, memoirs, press writings and correspondences, the contributors analyse the multiple aspects of the global Muslim religious, political and intellectual affiliations in interwar Europe. They argue that Muslims in interwar Europe were neither simply visitors nor colonial victims, but that they constituted a group of engaged actors in the European and international space.

  • Title: Muslims in Interwar Europe. A Transcultural Historical Perspective
  • Authors: Bekim Agai, Umar Ryad, Mehdi Sajid (eds.)
  • Publisher: Brill, 2015 (also appears in Open Access)
  • ISBN: 9789004287839