Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Isaac Martín Lupiáñez
Title:  Evolución del asociacionismo musulmán en España. De las entidades religiosas a las agrupaciones culturales islámicas.
Abstract: Resumen:El asociacionismo religioso musulmán ha crecido paralelamente a la evolución demográfica que ha sido contante en las sociedades europeas y española en concreto. A diferencia de otros países del viejo continente, España ha elaborado una gestión de las minorías religiosas basada en la institucionalización nacional de las congregaciones religiosas existentes y una interpelación a ésta sobre el desarrollo de la libertad religiosa dentro de los márgenes previamente establecidos. No obstante, las congregaciones adscritas a esta institución nacional han disminuido en los últimos años y ha surgido un nuevo asociacionismo alejado de las arcaicas congregaciones y centrado en la lucha por la convivencia entre sus identidades nacional y religiosa.Abstract:The Muslim population has increased in European societies during recent decades. In some countries this evolution started at a post-colonial stage and in others, as a result of economic development. Spain process began in their African cities Ceuta and Melilla, but the majority of Muslim people arrived in the 90s. During these years, immigratory flow changed from north European people, such as German, French or British, to people who came from the south of the Mediterranean Sea and South America. Because of that, immigration has been the first contributor to the increase of the Muslim population in Spain, but they were not the founders of this belief in our territory. The important number of converts who were spread over the country and the majority of Muslims in the society of autonomous cities, will be relevant in public sphere despite becoming a minority due to immigration drift.
As some authors have described, European countries developed different strategies of religious diversity management. The first to include an extensive rights content to religious groups were the UK and Scandinavian countries. The second form is the strong separation between state and religious institutions, as is the case for France laïcité. The third form entails formal agreements of cooperation between state and religious institutions, this is the case in Belgium, Italy, Germany and the pioneer Spain, which began this process in 1992. In consequence, Spanish State is focused on the national Muslim institution which was created as Islamic Commission of Spain. This group is interpellated to develop religious freedom referred to in Article 16 of the Spanish Constitution. Furthermore, this organization is the only interlocutor with the national government and the control upon their communities is presumed. In this sense, legislators attributed some benefits, exempt taxes for instance; to all communities attached to this Commission. Likewise, a registration of religious entities was created to all communities although they remain independent. 
The Islamic Commission of Spain was built on two principal federations which will challenge each other for decades. In 2007 the presidency changed, and its statutes were blocked until 2016. All these confrontations and standoffs for years have coincided with a generational change inside Muslim society and all this breeding ground has induced an important alteration in the Muslim institutions in Spain. 
In order to be able to observe the evolution of religious associationism and cultural organisations, we obtained official data from two different sources. Firstly, the Registration of Religious Entities, Registro de Entidades Religiosas, it is a national register created by Religious Freedom Law in 1980. Every mosque, church, community or organisation which develops religious affairs is registered here. Secondly, National Registry of Associations, Registro Nacional de Asociaciones, registers all kinds of civil associations, such as sports, humanitarian, neighbourhood or cultural. However, this registry does not have all required information, therefore we have applied to the archives of the different autonomous communities to source the additional information. All have the information except Comunitat Valenciana, Navarra and Extremadura, what means that we studied 282 of the 348 cultural-Islamic organisations in the Spanish territory.
The notorio arraigo is obtained at the end of the 80s and all these associations are required to register, and we can evidence the increase during next decades. Taking into consideration religious associationism and focus on the National Registry, it is observed that there is a first increase in the 90s due to the beginning of religious institutionalization in these years. However, the number of communities that are registered every year remains constant around twenty-five per year. In 2006, two years after the Madrid train bombings, there was an important increase in this process and it remains at a high level until 2012. In 2011 more than 200 communities entered in Islamic Commission of Spain. Nevertheless, when the national institution was increasing at that level, the organisation suffered a power struggle between the two principal federations. As a result, the presidency changed, and its decrees were blocked for years. As a direct consequence, the Commission has been frozen and achieved very few purposeful outcomes. Obviously, the state has not stepped in to continue to developed certain aspects of religious freedom because this is the role of the Commission. 
The demotivation with the Commission could be seen in the important number of religious institutions that, despite the significant contributions of this national institution, have preferred to develop its local activities of their own. This was recognised, and in 2011 the political agenda changed the requirement allowing groups to sign up to the Commission directly by passing the federations. However, the subscription continues to decrease. 
Conversely, focusing on Association Registry, the creation of this kind of cultural organization have been growing constantly since 2005. In the last thirteen or fourteen years, the tendency in the Muslim associationism has shown its interest in the cultural groups as opposed to the religious entities.
In conclusion, religious associationism has been massive in the last decade until its decline 2012. Then, the subscriptions reduced drastically. At the same time, the number of groups that do not preferer to go into the Islamic Commission of Spain, were not affected by this reduction. Actually, the religious independent groups have outperformed in 2017 all registrations for the first time in the history of Muslim community registration in Spain. Likewise, it is observed in the constant and important number of non-religious but Islamic partnerships that there is a new tendency of Muslim associationism which is apart from the archaic religious institutions. These tendencies in religious and cultural groups may be influenced by the inefficiency demonstrated by the Commission and its leaders, who have seen focused on the power-struggle rather than the religious aims. At the same level, what is happening in Spanish Muslim society may be influenced by generational change. Nevertheless, a specific research about these groups which leave the national control and try to develop their own identities, national and religious, on a path of coexistence is crucial to understand this new wave of Spanish Muslim associationism.
Classification-JEL: R1
Keywords: Congregaciones – Musulmanes – Asociacionismo – Islam – Religión, Congregations – Muslims – Associationism – Islam – Religion
Pages: 185-205
Volume: 2
Year: 2019
File-URL: http://www.revistaestudiosregionales.com/documentos/articulos/pdf-articulo-2574.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
Handle: RePEc:rer:articu:v:2:y:2019:p:185-205