The Stuttgart Crescent: Muslim Material and Spiritual Geographies in Germany

Abstract

For years, the Aziz Mosque¹ community in Stuttgart occupied two small connected apartments located above a car repair shop on a side street behind a large factory. Located on a side street off a loud and notoriously busy and congested urban thoroughfare and surrounded by industrial and commercial buildings, the Aziz Mosque’s interior with its nice and lovingly arranged decoration stood in stark contrast to its functional and gray environs. Visitors reached the mosque by way of steep stairs at the back of the building. At the end of the stairs was a small platform that in the warm summer months was filled with potted plants. Inside, carpets, curtains, wallpaper, and more plants gave the main prayer room the warm feeling of a living room. Situated at one end of the large prayer room was an office full of theological books. To the right of the office was a kitchen. Over the years, this community had outgrown this small and cozy facility. In 2009, they bought new premises located in an industrial zone on the southeastern outskirts of the city. The new mosque building provides vastly more space and, once more, the premises have been lovingly renovated to suit the purposes of the community. The Aziz Mosque is a vibrant and much appreciated home space for several hundred (largely Bosnian) community members. The mosque is particularly well known among some of Stuttgart’s Muslims for its large and successful program of Islamic instruction for children that for years has been teaching its classes in German.