European Islams and Muslim Europes. Some thoughts about studying Europe’s contemporary Islam

Abstract

Studying Islam in the European context has become a complex task, and as an autonomous academic topic is discussed by a series of different disciplines, mostly in Western Europe. Furthermore it has acquired an increasing interest, not only academic but political and societal, as interest in the topic stems from discussions on integration and segregation patterns. Old or static perceptions about ‘what Europe is’ crosscuts with new and developing ideas about what ‘Europe will be’ in numerous domains of confrontation. Studying European Islam could not be a more fascinating field of research unraveling aspects of both multiple ‘Europes’ and ‘Islams’ . Many of these aspects remain invisible to public debate. Islamic studies often see the world as if it is composed of separate social echelons, perpetuates the existence of imaginary places, such as ‘Christendom’ and ‘The Islamic World’, ‘The First World’, ‘The Third World’, and ‘Europe’ which are misrepresented as separate socio-cultural entities, rather than as integral parts of the human world.