Islam in Europe: Diversity, Identity and Influence

Description

Events over recent years have increased the global interest in Islam. This volume seeks to combat generalisations about the Muslim presence in Europe by illuminating its diversity across Europe and offering a more realistic, highly differentiated picture. It contends with the monist concept of identity that suggests Islam is the shared and main definition of Muslims living in Europe. The contributors also explore the influence of the European Union on the Muslim communities within its borders, and examine how the EU is in turn affected by the Muslim presence in Europe. This book comes at a critical moment in the evolution of the place of Islam within Europe and will appeal to scholars, students and practitioners in the fields of European studies, politics and policies of the European Union, sociology, sociology of religion, and international relations. It also addresses the wider framework of uncertainties and unease about religion in Europe.

Aziz Al-Azmeh is Professor in the Department of Medieval Studies at the Central European University, Budapest. Effie Fokas is a Research Fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) and teaches in the Government Department of the London School of Economics. She is also a Research Associate in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Uppsala where she manages an EU-funded project on welfare and religion.

'Perhaps no mistake is greater in discussion of the contemporary world than the belief that identity is one-dimensional, and fixed, and that, on its own, religion, as part of such identity, can explain social and political behaviour. The essays in this volume challenge such simplistic ideas in general, and the particular variant that is applied to Muslims, in the Middle East and in Europe, and as much by Islamist fundamentalists as by western observers. In disaggregating 'identity' and in demonstrating the many varieties of ethnicity, context, religious practice, class belonging and political affiliation of the Muslims who live in Europe, Aziz al-Azmeh and Effie Fokas have produced a book of great relevance to public debate and academic research alike. Professor Fred Halliday, LSE, author of 100 Myths About the Middle East 'Islam in Europe seeks to combat generalisations about the Muslim presence in Europe by illuminating its diversity across Europe and offering a more realistic, differentiated picture. ... will appeal to scholars, students and practitioners in the fields of European studies. It also addresses the wider uncertainties and unease about religion in Europe.' Middle East '... enlightening and fascinating ... Using a rigorous methodological approach, the authors reveal the 'tremendous diversity' amongst Muslims in Europe, confirming Aziz al-Azmeh's statement that 'there are as many Islams as there are situations that sustain it,' whether national, local, family-based or interpersonal. ... Urgent reading!' European Library