Muslim men, European hats: a fatwa on cultural appropriation in a global age

In 1937, Mu ammad al- ajwi, a prominent Muslim scholar and an avid reformer of Moroccan state and society, received a request for a legal advice from afi Ibrahim Repishti, a distinguished Muslim cleric in Shkodra, Albania. Apparently, the Albanian king, A mad Zog, had required all state employees and public-school students to wear a European hat (burnay a). Repishti urged al- ajwi to provide him with an explicit answer to the question: Is it permissible for civil servants and students to wear the burnay a? Al- ajwi answered in the affirmative. This article analyzes his response. I dmeemonstrate that his legal advice takes the form of a long and extensive fatwa, focusing on the legality of Muslim imitation of non-Muslims (tashabbuh bi'l-kuffar). In it, al- ajwi advocated a reconciliation of the Muslim umma with Western modernity. His message established an explicit distinction between beneficial and detrimental Muslim appropriation of European objects. Thus, I argue that in his fatwa, al- ajwi provided more than a straightforward authorisation for Muslim Albanians to wear the burnay a. Indeed, he outlined a blueprint for harnessing Western powerful modernity as a way to ultimately bolster the community of believers.