Minority Jurisprudence in Islam

The book under review considers the interpretations of Islam that focus on issues faced by minority Muslim communities in the West. Olsson identifies these issues to be the questions of integration, segregation, dealing with the ‘other’, both Muslims and non-Muslims alike, issues of citizenship, belonging and loyalty. However, the main premise of discussion, which heavily informs these interpretations, as Olsson argues, is the debate of dar al-harb and dar al-Islam: concepts that are constantly revisited throughout the book. What is striking is Olsson’s pairing of these two concepts with the notion of migration – almost as if the link between migration and the debate of ‘abodes’ is inevitable. Olsson’s work sets itself apart from all the other available literature on minority jurisprudence in Islam through its differentiation of the interpretations into two very broad categories; ‘Pragmatic Interpretations’ and ‘Salafi Islam’. Within these two categories, she effectively discusses the various answers to the questions that arise because of Muslims’ minority status in the West.