Traditional mosques with domes and minarets express unwillingness to integrate. That is what Dutch people often think. But research by architectural historian Eric Roose shows that those who commission the design of Dutch mosques only want to express what Islamic movement they belong to.
 
Mosques are an increasingly prominent feature of the Dutch landscape. Some Dutch people feel annoyed by this, especially when the mosques are richly equipped with oriental embellishments, domes and minarets. Others, however, feel that Muslims are now part of Dutch society and have the right to mark their identity in the Dutch landscape.
 
Anthropologist and architectural historian Eric Roose takes an original position in this debate. In his dissertation he meticulously describes the decision-making process around the design of twelve Dutch mosques. The patrons who commission the design of these mosques, it turns out, have motives beyond the desire to assimilate into Dutch society or not.

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-Traditional mosques in the Netherlands are a sign of failing integration. What is your comment? 
 
Eric Roose: The Dutch people are obsessed by the issue of integration of Muslims. Many can only understand Dutch mosque design from that perspective. Traditional Dutch mosques are either viewed as a sign of failing integration or as a sign of emancipation of Muslims in Dutch society. My research challenges this perspective. It reveals that the patrons who commission the design of the mosques are not in the least preoccupied with these issues. What they want with their design is to express their allegiance to some Islamic views and movements as opposed to others.
 
-One of the mosques described in your dissertation is the El-Islam mosque in The Hague. Don’t you think that the design of that mosque is a typical sample of nostalgia architecture?
 
The El-Islam mosque indeed has a typical Moroccan design. The patrons wanted their design to remind people of the official Islam of the Moroccan royal family. But as you know, many Dutch Moroccans are of Berber origin and have strong reservations against the royal family. So in fact the design has very little to do with nostalgia or homesickness.
 
With the Assalam mosque in Rotterdam, another of the mosques I investigated, the opposite is the case. The patron is close to the international Muslim Brotherhood. He wants to express a pan-Islamic vision and his dislike of the typical Moroccan Islam. His design is based on the modern Mosque of the prophet in Medina, which in his view is a culmination of all Islamic architectural styles.
 
-Also the Salafism movement purports to be an Islam that is detached from its regional cultural context. Is there a good example of a Salafist mosque in the Netherlands?
 
The Furqan mosque in Eindhoven comes closest to it. There you see that the architect at first brings all kinds of Moroccan elements into the design. But the patron removes these elements one by one, because the design must be plain and sober. The fundamentalist Salafis do not like the exuberant design of later centuries. They want to return to the sobriety of the first generations of Muslims.
 
-So the patrons want to demonstrate their position within Islam. But does that necessarily mean that they cannot also make a statement to Dutch society?
 
No, it doesn’t. But such statements are usually rhetorical. The integration debate is a reality they have to deal with. You see that in the beginning of the design process the issue is not discussed, but when the patrons are questioned by journalists and local officials, they start to invent reasons why their design is a statement of integration in Dutch society. The patron of the Essalam mosque in Rotterdam, for instance, once said that his mosque fits very well into the surroundings because if you remove the dome and minarets, it looks like the Rotterdam city hall. These are rationalisations in hindsight.
 
-Is there more freedom in Europe to express your religious identity in the design of a mosque than there is in Muslim countries?

I think so, yes. The Essalam mosque in Rotterdam could probably not have been built in Morocco, where the building of mosques is subject to strong regulations. Having said this, however, I must emphasize that local authorities in Dutch towns are getting increasingly critical and stubborn where it comes to domes and minarets. So the freedom to express one’s religious identity in mosque design is eroding in the Netherlands.
 
Eric Roose is Postdoctoral Fellow at the Amsterdam School for Social Science Research (ASSR) of the University of Amsterdam (UvA).