A Diachronic View of the Spaces of Islam in Melilla

Abstract

This chapter examines organized Islam in the North African city of Melilla, the product of the city’s complexity in all its dimensions –historical, religious, political, economic, urban– and expressed in the interactions between religious communities, places of worship and the worshippers themselves in the public space of Melilla during the twentieth century and up to the present day. The text draws on the reflexive and critical practice that underlies social research in general and anthropology in particular, applying a spatial and urbanistic perspective to the current composition of Islam in Melilla and to the sometimes controversial influence of the state control and security apparatus on local daily life.