THE ISLAMIC COMMUNITY OF LISBON AS A CASE-STUDY FOR THE PORTUGUESE COLONIAL GOVERNANCE OF ISLAM

Abstract

Developing a theoretical framework that conceives power relations as instances of identity strategies and identity competitions, this paper will focus on a complex story of power relations between the Portuguese dictatorship and the Muslim community that, during the 1960’s, was settling in Lisbon and trying to assert itself both in cultural and political terms. A special attention will be paid to the role of Suleiman Valy Mamede and the association he led, the Islamic Community of Lisbon. This paper is premised on the idea that the history of such association concentrates a whole trajectory from colonialism to postcolonialism. It began by being ambiguously involved with colonial policies and ended up, after the April 25 coup that brought democracy to Portugal, taking a critical stance against colonialism and evolving into a base for future Muslim migrancy. Before that military coup, Portuguese authorities were trying to enlist the Muslim leadership against the liberation movements, especially in Mozambique. This gave rise to a tug of war: on the one hand, Valy Mamede and his followers sought to promote their identity and find their place among the colonial order, forcing the Portuguese administration to fulfil a commitment, until then just rhetoric, to a pluri-racial society; on the other hand, Portuguese power discouraged this kind of attempts that could easily get out of political control. It should be stressed that this struggle was in fact even more complex, because the Muslim leadership that had settled in Lisbon, holding a close relationship to Portuguese rulers, was also contested and challenged by the local Islamic communities of Mozambique.