Introduction

Abstract This chapter introduces the theory of the coloniality of Islam policies or Islampolitik, which describes how the state regulates and governs its Muslim population. It presents the argument that the experience and knowledge in governing Muslim populations acquired by colonial governors during the Age of Empire (1875–1914) fundamentally informed Islampolitik during the Nazi regime and postwar Europe. The coloniality of Islampolitik is conceptualized as a form of racialized politics that aims to regulate and govern a racialized version of Islam and Muslims. This chapter discusses the literature on state and Islam relations in colonial times, the Nazi era, and contemporary Europe from the perspective of decolonial studies and maps the colonial character of both the Austro-Hungarian empire and the German Kaiserreich.