British and Muslim? British Converts and Their Apologetics for Islam in the Interwar Period

Abstract

The chapter investigates the new religious life of a few well-known British converts to Islam in the interwar period; and how they practiced and defended their new faith in their colonial "secularized" state. In their eagerness to spread Islam in Europe, British converts swung between two social and religious groups at the height of European imperialism and modernism. How far can we categorize their writings as "apologetics" for Islam in the land of the colonizers? In what way did they attempt to combine their new Islamic beliefs with their background as Europeans? The chapter discusses some of the issues which they raised in response to the public debates on Islam in Britain, especially about questions related to the Caliphate, pan-Islam, colonialism, atheism and the position of women in Islam.

The Responses of Muslims in Weimar Germany to the Abolition of the Caliphate

“…In Germany and other European countries, 'many European converts became zealous in spreading Islam in Europe'. 23 At the same time, Germany was not only an attractive place for anti-colonial activists. Among the migrants were young people from the Middle East and other regions who came to study in Germany, not least due to favourable living conditions and financial aspects.…”