Our Journal

"Islam Is in Portugals Soul": Nikah Traditions in a Land of Al-Andalus

"Islam is in Portugal's soul," the country's own president declared at Lisbon's Central Mosque. Portugal spent over five centuries as part of Al-Andalus, leaving a legacy still spoken in Portuguese daily — and today, Lisbon hosts both a major Sunni community and one of only six Ismaili Centres in the world.

Fifty-One Years for a Mosque: Muslim Marriage Life in Slovenia

Slovenia's Muslim community first applied for land to build a mosque in 1969. It took 51 years — surviving a defeated referendum attempt, right-wing opposition, and years of praying in rented sports centers — before the country's first mosque finally opened its doors in February 2020.

Same System, Different Outcome: Imam-Officiated Marriages in Croatia vs. Slovenia

While Slovenia's Muslim community waited 51 years for a mosque, Croatia's Zagreb Mosque was completed in 1987 — under the same Yugoslav system, funded by the Emir of Sharjah, and it wasn't even Croatia's first attempt to build a proper mosque.

A Mosque Where a Kadi Once Sat: Nikah Traditions in Montenegro

Nearly a fifth of Montenegro's population is Muslim — a genuinely substantial share for a small Mediterranean country better known for its coastline. In Podgorica's old town, the neighborhood of Stara Varoš once housed a kadi, an Islamic judge, and its 15th-century mosque still stands as the seat of the country's muftiate today.

Nikah Service in a Country Still Waiting for Its First Mosque: Latvia

Latvia's Muslim community, tracing back to the 1830s and Tatar prisoners of war brought there against their will, still has no purpose-built mosque today — Riga's only Muslim prayer space is a converted apartment on Brivibas Street.

From Ashes to a Rented Apartment: Muslim Marriage Rites in Estonia

Estonia's Tatar Muslim congregations, formally registered in 1928 and 1939, were banned outright by Soviet authorities in 1940, and their buildings destroyed during World War II in 1944. The community spent the decades since independence rebuilding almost entirely from nothing.