exploring muslim identities in europe & north america

As Athens is probably the only European capital without a mosque for its 500,000 Muslim residents, discussions about constructing a purpose-built mosque started in the 1990s. A motley crew of "patriots" and "concerned Christians" have been mobilised by political entrepreneurs from across the political spectrum to frustrate the project as it was deemed by them to be unnecessary, undesirable and dangerous. 

In the video below (in Greek with English subtitles), Anna Stamou, Public Relations at MEE (Greek Muslim Union), speaks at Tatiana Stefanidou's show "Αξίζει να το Ζείς", on Star Channel. The conversation revolves around  her decision to convert to Islam and, perhaps more importantly, her decision to wear the hijab. This was a very positive moment for Muslims in Greece, especially for those who have converted to Islam and face disapproval and marginalization. Stamou's presence in the programme went some way to challenge representations of Islam and Muslims as alien - she represented an example of both boundary crossing (converting to Islam) and challenging boundaries (as she did not fit to the stereotype of an "outsider", of someone who "did not quite belong").  Having said that, interestingly, the discussion was advertised as focusing on the " Greek woman who married to the President of the Muslims [Greek Muslim Union] and wore the...

An interesting article from the Sunday edition of the Greek newspaper, TO VIMA, traces the changes that one of the very few European societies that had a historical experience of coexistence with Islam is undergoing. Although Eastern Orthodox Christians living in the southern Balkans have lived side by side with Ottoman Muslims for over five centuries, today, Greeks are much more sceptical about the presence of Muslims and Islam in the country. According to some sources, there may be 830,000 to 1,000,000 Muslim residents and citizens in Greece. Whereas, in the past, the minority (Muslim citizens of Greece exempted from the Lausanne Treaty population exchange) were concentrated in Northeastern Greece, today the bulk of Greece's Muslims (primarily migrants from various Muslim countries, but also an increasing number of converts) live throughout the country but primarily in the Athens conurbation. Since the establishment of the Greek state in the 1830s, Orthodox Chr...

Back in August 1997, in the early morning of a warm summer day I was on a ferry, arriving to the beautiful city of Rethymno in the island of Crete. This was the second time in my life I was visiting Crete but, unlike the crowds of backpackers revellling in the ealy morning sunshine on the ship decks, my ultimate destination was not a tourist spot but a grim military camp where I had to report to undergo the compulsory military training that (almost) all conscripts in the Greek army have to go through. Despite my initial sense of impending gloom, these few months I spent in Western Crete gave me the opportuni ty of getting to know, and fall in love with this part of the island. This relationship I established with the place was necessary and perhaps unavoidable in a way, as it provided an antidote to the isolation and desperation that life in a military camp often entails.  But, from the moment I set eyes on the town of Rethymno on that morning, I knew that there was something intri...