end of the 19th century, kosher meat was banned, a ruling that now affects Basel’s Muslim community - the largest in the country. “Alhamdulillah, life is OK here. We have masjids and halal food,” explained Ahmad, the owner of a small shop. “Where do you get your halal meat from?” “We buy from Germany... Muslims here just want to live in peace and Basel is a good place.” Ahmad was right; Basel is home to Switzerland’s oldest university and at the forefront of the nation’s arts culture. Rays of hope also emanate from the fact that it has long been a place of international mediation, starting with the medieval Basel Treaty right through to the 1989 Basel Convention. I followed Ahmad’s directions and eventually found the mosque hidden up a winding metal staircase in the attic of a traditional Swiss town house. Founded by the local Turkish community, Basel’s largest Muslim group, the mosque
Basel Streets
had one tiny sign located high above street level. The sign is easy to miss if you don’t know it is there. Inside, the main hall was dimly lit with few windows, one of which had cleverly been turned into the mihrab to compensate for the slanted roof overhead. It lacked any real natural light and had a slightly clandestine air about it.
BASEL’S FIRST MUSLIM
Mosques aren’t the only Islamic things hidden in Switzerland. Johann Ludwig Burckhardt is most famous for rediscovering Petra in Jordan, a feat that would normally demand a statue or a plaque somewhere. Yet in Basel, I found nothing. This might just be because Spalentor city gate
Burckhardt Garden
Burckhardt is potentially Switzerland’s first ever convert to Islam. Back in 1814, the young explorer performed the Hajj as Sheikh Ibrahim Al Barakat, having mastered Arabic and Islamic law. Of Makkah he wrote, “During all my journeys of the east, I never enjoyed such perfect ease as at Makkah.” Burckhardt’s family deny this, claiming it was merely a disguise to travel through the east, something many Victorian explorers did. The truth remains a mystery as Burckhardt never returned home to set the record straight, dying aged 32 in Cairo. My search for the fabled Hajji brought me south of the Rhine
DESTINATIONRYD.COM 79