Mosque Archives: Witnesses of Muslim history in Germany
In an interview with Deutschlandfunk Kultur (in German), Dr Ertuğrul Şahin of the Heidelberg Center for Cultural Heritage and associate in the EZIRE collaborative project WECHSELWIRKUNGEN draws attention to the role of mosque archives as agents of cultural, Muslim heritage in Germany.
Speaking about the importance of archives, Şahin states that they “provide a deeper insight into lifeworlds, community life, […] individual and collective religiosity, religious practice, the self-understanding of mosque communities, religious and ideological sentiments, and the institutionalization processes and self-organization of these communities […].”
Although few mosque communities would have a properly structured archive, all communities would keep documents, pictures, etc. In the archiving work, researchers could be a vital support for the communities, the scholar of religious studies said.
Information
The upcoming special issue of the Journal of Muslims in Europe, edited by Dr Gerdien Jonker and Dr Stephanie Müssig, addresses various topics and issues related to mosque archives. (more information to follow)