Islam and the European Nation-State: Muslims Between Mosque and State in Yugoslavia, 1908-1949 (Research Brief)

What did it mean to be Muslim in Europe as empires collapsed and nation-states emerged? How did Islamic institutions adapt and transform their legal, property, and cultural institutions to meet—or to challenge—the demands of the secularizing states? How did Muslims in Europe respond to and incorporate new political, religious, and cultural movements emerging in the Middle East?

These questions are central to my project, which examines how Balkan Muslims negotiated Islamic law, practice, and politics under monarchic, liberal, fascist, and communist states. The project explores various state policies from the late Ottoman era to the early Communist period. It examines how Muslim leaders adapted the norms and customs of Islam in order to define “Muslim” in their own terms. In particular, it looks at how Muslims confronted being dispossessed—of property, Sharia law, institutional autonomy, and the right to define Islam—by seeking to be possessed by an international community of Muslims. The project aims to shed new light on questions of Islam in Europe, transnational Islam, and the history of the Balkans.

Download the pdf at the top of this page for the full brief.

Emily Greble, of The City College of New York, was a 2011-12 Short-Term Travel Grants (STG) fellow.