The Politicization & Mobilization of Islam during World War
Book Title: Islam and Nazi Germany's War
by David Motadel, 2014
The history of the politics of Islam during the Second World War may be seen as part of a much wider story of attempts by Non-Muslim powers to instrumentalize the Muslim faith for political and military purposes.
German and Ottoman authorities utilized pan-Islamic slogans and networks in North Africa, the Middle East, Russia, and India. In autumn 1914, the German and Ottoman governments commissioned a proclamation for pan-Islamic jihad, called Muslims to holy war against the British, Russian, and French empires.
In 1941-1942, Berlin began to promote an alliance with the Muslim world against their alleged common enemies, most notably the British Empire, the Soviet Union, and the Jews. In the Muslim war zones, in North Africa and the Middle East, the Crimea, the Caucasus, and the Balkans, the Germans presented themselves as the friends of Muslims and defenders of their faith. At the same time, they began recruiting tens of thousands of Muslims into Wehrmacht and the SS. Most of them came from the Soviet Union, though many were enlisted in the Balkans, and, in fewer numbers, from Middle East.
German authorities founded several Muslim institutions, such as the Berlin Islamic Central Institute (Islamisches Zentralinstitut) in 1942, employed numerous numbers of religious leaders from across the Muslim world. Lithuanian mufti Jakub Szynkiewicz propagated Hitler's New Order as the foundation of an Islamic consolidation and revival in the Muslim territories of eastern Europe and Central Asia; the Bosnian Islamic dignitary Muhamed Pandza from Sarajevo' ulama and ally of the Germans in Balkans; and the mufti of Jerusalem Amin al Husayni, who called on the faithful between Morocco and the Malay peninsula to wage holy war against the Allies. Stretching across three continents, this effort represented an attempt to politicize Islam and to involve Muslims in the war on the German side. The employment of religion in propaganda and policies aimed at Muslims by the Nazi Germany was to control and mobilize them.
Japan and Italy made similar efforts to get the Moslems' supports.
In 1937, Il Duce presented the "Sword Of Islam" at a public cermony in Tripoli to promote himself as the patron of Muslim World. He declared that he respected "laws of the Prophet". Mussolini traveled through Africa to pay homage to Islam. There was a propaganda of Mussolini as a protector of Islam.
Japan aimed at mobilizing Muslims across Asia against Britain, the Netherlands, China and the Soviets. The Greater Japan Islamic League (Dai Nippon Kaikyo Kyokai) and the Tokyo Mosque were both founded in 1938 -- Japan intensified its political and propagandistic engagement with Islam during the invasion of the Dutch Indies in spring 1942. Paid Muslim emissaries organized local Islamic leaders and communities to aid the incursion of Japanese troops. Togive an Islamic character tot he occupying regime, military authorities tried to co-opt the local ulama, who had felt suppressed under the Dutch. Japanese officials began thrusting prepared texts on imams to be included in their Friday sermons and encouraged the faithful to say prayers for the emperor and for the success of the war. They also forced numerous groups into a common representative body, the "Council of Indonesian Muslms" (Majelis Sjuro Muslimin Indonesia, or Masjumi). In early April 1943, the ulama and Islamic dignitaries from Sumatra and Malaya were summoned to a conference in Singapore, at which the Japanese announced to the Muslims of Southeast Asia that Tokyo was the true protector of their faith. The ulama departed the meeting, giving formal expression of their satisfaction with Japan's commitment to protect Islam, and declared Muslim support fpr the war effort. A second conference of religious leaders was convened in December 1944 in Kuala Kangsar on the Malay peninsula. From Tokyo, the Tatar imam Abdurreshid Ibrahim the patriach of Tokyo Mosque, preached a warlike interpretation of Jihad: "Japan's cause in the Greater East Asia war is a sacred one and in its austerity, is comparable to the war carried out against the infidels by the Prophet Muhammad in the past", as he proclaimed in the summer of 1942.
Winston Churchill in 1942 stressed that Britain must not on any account break with the Moslems, and his opinion was widely shared by British officials. After the outbreak of the war, London had established an intensive program to strengthen the ties between the empire and the world. In 1941, British authorities opened the East London Mosque. Washington too was becoming aware of the significance of Islam. In 1943, US military distributed religious pamphlets that called for jihad against Rommel's troops in North Africa. The US War department trained its soldiers in how to interact correctly with Muslims and prepared manuals designed to instruct them in the basics of Islam. In 1942, Kremlin established four Soviet Muslim councils, new mosques were built, Muslim congresses were organized, and Moscow started to openly supporting Islamic religious practices, permitting the hajj pilgrimage.
by David Motadel, 2014
The history of the politics of Islam during the Second World War may be seen as part of a much wider story of attempts by Non-Muslim powers to instrumentalize the Muslim faith for political and military purposes.
German and Ottoman authorities utilized pan-Islamic slogans and networks in North Africa, the Middle East, Russia, and India. In autumn 1914, the German and Ottoman governments commissioned a proclamation for pan-Islamic jihad, called Muslims to holy war against the British, Russian, and French empires.
In 1941-1942, Berlin began to promote an alliance with the Muslim world against their alleged common enemies, most notably the British Empire, the Soviet Union, and the Jews. In the Muslim war zones, in North Africa and the Middle East, the Crimea, the Caucasus, and the Balkans, the Germans presented themselves as the friends of Muslims and defenders of their faith. At the same time, they began recruiting tens of thousands of Muslims into Wehrmacht and the SS. Most of them came from the Soviet Union, though many were enlisted in the Balkans, and, in fewer numbers, from Middle East.
German authorities founded several Muslim institutions, such as the Berlin Islamic Central Institute (Islamisches Zentralinstitut) in 1942, employed numerous numbers of religious leaders from across the Muslim world. Lithuanian mufti Jakub Szynkiewicz propagated Hitler's New Order as the foundation of an Islamic consolidation and revival in the Muslim territories of eastern Europe and Central Asia; the Bosnian Islamic dignitary Muhamed Pandza from Sarajevo' ulama and ally of the Germans in Balkans; and the mufti of Jerusalem Amin al Husayni, who called on the faithful between Morocco and the Malay peninsula to wage holy war against the Allies. Stretching across three continents, this effort represented an attempt to politicize Islam and to involve Muslims in the war on the German side. The employment of religion in propaganda and policies aimed at Muslims by the Nazi Germany was to control and mobilize them.
Japan and Italy made similar efforts to get the Moslems' supports.
In 1937, Il Duce presented the "Sword Of Islam" at a public cermony in Tripoli to promote himself as the patron of Muslim World. He declared that he respected "laws of the Prophet". Mussolini traveled through Africa to pay homage to Islam. There was a propaganda of Mussolini as a protector of Islam.
Japan aimed at mobilizing Muslims across Asia against Britain, the Netherlands, China and the Soviets. The Greater Japan Islamic League (Dai Nippon Kaikyo Kyokai) and the Tokyo Mosque were both founded in 1938 -- Japan intensified its political and propagandistic engagement with Islam during the invasion of the Dutch Indies in spring 1942. Paid Muslim emissaries organized local Islamic leaders and communities to aid the incursion of Japanese troops. Togive an Islamic character tot he occupying regime, military authorities tried to co-opt the local ulama, who had felt suppressed under the Dutch. Japanese officials began thrusting prepared texts on imams to be included in their Friday sermons and encouraged the faithful to say prayers for the emperor and for the success of the war. They also forced numerous groups into a common representative body, the "Council of Indonesian Muslms" (Majelis Sjuro Muslimin Indonesia, or Masjumi). In early April 1943, the ulama and Islamic dignitaries from Sumatra and Malaya were summoned to a conference in Singapore, at which the Japanese announced to the Muslims of Southeast Asia that Tokyo was the true protector of their faith. The ulama departed the meeting, giving formal expression of their satisfaction with Japan's commitment to protect Islam, and declared Muslim support fpr the war effort. A second conference of religious leaders was convened in December 1944 in Kuala Kangsar on the Malay peninsula. From Tokyo, the Tatar imam Abdurreshid Ibrahim the patriach of Tokyo Mosque, preached a warlike interpretation of Jihad: "Japan's cause in the Greater East Asia war is a sacred one and in its austerity, is comparable to the war carried out against the infidels by the Prophet Muhammad in the past", as he proclaimed in the summer of 1942.
Winston Churchill in 1942 stressed that Britain must not on any account break with the Moslems, and his opinion was widely shared by British officials. After the outbreak of the war, London had established an intensive program to strengthen the ties between the empire and the world. In 1941, British authorities opened the East London Mosque. Washington too was becoming aware of the significance of Islam. In 1943, US military distributed religious pamphlets that called for jihad against Rommel's troops in North Africa. The US War department trained its soldiers in how to interact correctly with Muslims and prepared manuals designed to instruct them in the basics of Islam. In 1942, Kremlin established four Soviet Muslim councils, new mosques were built, Muslim congresses were organized, and Moscow started to openly supporting Islamic religious practices, permitting the hajj pilgrimage.
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