The Beginnings of Political Islam in Switzerland: Said Ramadan’s Muslim Brotherhood Mosque in Geneva and the Swiss Authorities

When the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) was banned in Egypt in 1954, many of its followers and leaders found refuge and support in conservative Islamic countries, most notably in Saudi Arabia and Jordan. In the late 1950s, a Saudi diplomat approached the Swiss authorities with plans to open an Islamic Center in Geneva. From the beginning, the Swiss authorities welcomed the project, because it was supported by several pro-Western Arab countries, which opposed Egypt under Nasser. Swiss-Egyptian relations had been strained for some years because of Nasser’s socialist policies and Egypt’s espionage and propaganda operations in Switzerland. The Islamic Center eventually opened in 1960, and was headed by Said Ramadan, an exiled leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. Egyptian officials tried to thwart the Center’s activity and competed with it over influence on the small Arab student body then residing in Switzerland. As a politically active foreigner, the Swiss looked with suspicion on Ramadan. Still, they felt sympathy for his anti-Nasserist and anti-Communist stance, ignoring internal reports revealing the anti-Western and anti-Semitic nature upon his ideology. After 1966, the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs believed Nasser’s Arab nationalism to be in terminal decline, expecting that Islamists might soon come to power in the Middle East. As a result, they decided to allow Ramadan and his family to remain in Switzerland despite overstaying their residence permits. This article sheds light on the founding years of the MB in Europe, a development still largely unchartered by historians, and the reaction of the Swiss to the appearance of a new phenomenon in Europe: political Islam. It argues that the context of Swiss-Egyptian relations is essential for understanding Swiss actions toward the Muslim Brotherhood.