Introduction: Toward a Transnational History of Islam and Muslims in Interwar Europe

The study of Muslim encounters with and experiences in interwar Europe is still in its initial phase. Many aspects about the history of Muslim interaction with Europe before the influx of Muslim immigrant workers are still entirely unknown. With the exception of the edited volume Islam in Interwar Europe and a number of references in the secondary literature,1 no conclusive research has been conducted as yet about the meaning of the intellectual and political out/input of Muslims to the history of Europe itself. The present volume contains eight case studies that were presented and discussed during the international conference “Transnational Islam in Interwar Europe.” The conference was organized by the two editors at Leiden University in a collaboration between Leiden University Center for the Study of Islam and Society (LUCIS) and the Centre for Contemporary Middle East Studies of the University of Southern Denmark (12–14 December, 2011).2