Amr Ryad receives ERC Starting Grant for research on islamic intellectuals

In the period between the First and the Second World War, many Muslim intellectuals came to Europe. The influence they had on each other's, as well as on European thinking, has hardly ever been studied. Dr Amr Ryad, associate professor of Islamic Studies, has been awarded a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) to investigate this 'missing link' in history.

A great deal of research has been carried out on the contact between Islam and Europe in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Also, the post-war period of labour migration from countries such as Turkey and Morocco has received attention from the academic world. Much less is known about the circle of Muslim intellectuals, their contacts with one another and their influence on European thinkers.

Engaged, intellectual agents

After World War I, Europe lay in ruins and the Ottoman Empire had fallen. Many activists and intellectuel Muslims from Arabic countries - 'intellectual agents' as Ryad names them - were, willingly or otherwise, drawn to Europe. They were against Western Colonialism and were aware of the fact that the geopolitical order in Europe, North Africa and parts of Asia was chancing rapidly.

The intellectuals knew that this was the time and place to broaden and modernize Islam. Ryad therefore argues that they can be seen as 'engaged actors', rather than 'merely visiting' or 'colonial victims'. These intellectual muslims saw Europe as an intellectual refuge and sought inspiration in Western culture. They sought contact with their fellow believers already living in Europe, in particular their leaders, as well as with Western intellectuals. In many large cities, they formed Muslim centres to try and create a religious and political movement. However, the European intellectual climate was not entirely free: the Western authorities kept a close eye on the activities of Muslim centres.

ERC Starting Grant

In 2013, Ryad received a Starting Grant from the ERC. Wit this grant, the ERC means to stimulate young, talented researchers to develope their individual projects. Ryad will conduct his research together with two PhD-candidates, namely Sophie Spaan (School of Oriental and African Studies, London) and Andrei Tirtan (Institute of Area Studies, Universiteit Leiden). Furthermore, postdoc researcher Mehdi Sajid (Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Bonn) will join the team. The team will investigate three regions:

• Western Europe, home to Muslims from the colonies;
• Central and Northern Europe, including Germany, home to many Tatars, Russian refugees and Muslims from the former Austrian-Hungarian Empire;
• South-Eastern Europe, where there were large communities of native Muslims.

For this research, Ryad will be making use of personal archives and personal correspondence between intellectuals. Many of these sources have never or hardly ever been consulted. Ryad aims to place the still recognisable division in Europe between fundamentalist and moderate/liberal Muslims in its historical perspective.