Perceptions of Islam in Europe

This timely collection of essays, encompassing both theoretical approaches and case studies, presents historical perspectives alongside contemporary evaluations of European constructions of identity and representations of Islam and Muslims in Europe. Presented by a group of European scholars, the book serves to encourage the reader to look beyond current narrowly constrained assessments of the role and place of Islam and Muslims in Europe. According to the preface, texts referring to issues focusing on the relationship between Islam/Muslims and the West tend to fall into four categories: (1) assessments of the Islamic “threat” to Europe; (2) assessments of historical relationships; (3) utilising research to describe the problematic relationship between Islamic communities and secular European institutions; and (4) the examination of fault lines of conflict between Islamic political movements and European democratic institutions. This text claims to be part of the fourth category assessing social, political and cultural approaches to the problems faced by Muslim communities in Europe. It attempts to go beyond descriptive accounts of these issues, particularly when presenting case studies that concentrate on areas that have previously received little academic attention, for example, when assessing Greece’s and Poland’s receptivity, and approaches, to Islam. Following on from this, the authors seek to examine how intentions and understandings of social, cultural and political beliefs and patterns of behaviour connect and provide arenas for hybrid interconnectivity to emerge.