About the Book
As European Muslims and Muslims in the Middle East diverge, imams in Europe have emerged as major agents of religious authority who shape Islam’s presence in Western societies. This volume examines the theoretical and practical questions concerning the evolving role of imams in Europe. To what extent do imams act as intermediaries between European states and Muslim communities? Do states subsidise imam training? How does institutionalisation of Islam differ between European states?
Table of Contents:
Preface, Jørgen S. Nielsen Part I, Imams in Western Europe, Developments, transformations, and institutional challenges Mohammed Hashas, Jan Jaap de Ruiter, Niels Valdemar Vinding, and Khalid Hajji, Rethinking Islamic law for Europe, The concept of the Land of Islam Jasser Auda, The making of Islamic authority in Europe Thijl Sunier Islams in Europe, Satellites or a Different Universe? Jonathan Laurence The European imam, A nationalized religious authority Mohammed Hashas, Imam training in Europe, Changes and challenges Farid el Asri, Studying Islamic theology at European universities, Göran Larsson The reinvented role of imams in French society, Solenne Jouanneau The imam as an organic public intellectual, The case of Yassin Elforkani in the Netherlands Welmoet Boender and Jan Jaap de Ruiter, i-Imams studying female Islamic authority online, Claudia Carvalho, Islamic female religious authority between agency and governmentality, From the Moroccan model to ‘multicultural’ Europe Sara Borrillo Part II, Towards a typology of imams of the West, Niels Valdemar Vinding, For a ‘visible’ Islam, The emergence of protest speech in French mosques Romain Sèze, From conservative Islam to the ‘Theology of acculturation’, The social and religious trajectory of a French imam Cédric Baylocq, Muslim chaplaincy as a model for imamship, From liminality to immanent spirituality Mansur Ali, Re-examining the decline narrative, Cambridge Muslim College and the changing face of imam training in Britain Alyaa Ebbiary, Imam training in the legal context of Islam in Spain, Juan Ferreiro The imam as an organic public intellectual, The case of Yassin Elforkani in the Netherlands Welmoet Boender and Jan Jaap de Ruiter, i-Imams studying female Islamic authority online, Claudia Carvalho, Islamic female religious authority between agency and governmentality, From the Moroccan model to ‘multicultural’ Europe Sara Borrillo Part II, Towards a typology of imams of the West, Niels Valdemar Vinding, For a ‘visible’ Islam, The emergence of protest speech in French mosques Romain Sèze, From conservative Islam to the ‘Theology of acculturation’, The social and religious trajectory of a French imam Cédric Baylocq, Muslim chaplaincy as a model for imamship, From liminality to immanent spirituality Mansur Ali, Re-examining the decline narrative, Cambridge Muslim College and the changing face of imam training in Britain Alyaa Ebbiary, Imam training in the legal context of Islam in Spain, Juan Ferreiro Galguera, The Italian legal system and imams, A difficult relationship Francesco Alicino, In and around the mosque, Profile and territory of the Italian imam Mohammed Khalid Rhazzali, The training of imams in Italy, The case of CO.RE.IS Yahya Pallavicini, Efforts to establish an imam-training programme in Finland Tuomas Martikainen and Riitta Latvio List of figures and tables Figure, Attitudes towards the proposal to start an educational programme for imams in Sweden, Figure, What kind of educational needs are imams asking for in Sweden?, Table, Heuristic four-level scheme for researching public intellectuals, Table, Jihadist linguistic terminology, Table, List of in-depth interview participants, Table, Typology of ‘Imams of the West’.
About the Author :
Mohammed Hashas is a Research Fellow in the Department of Political Science, LUISS Guido Carli University of Rome, Italy.
Jan Jaap de Ruiter is Arabist and assistant professor at the Tilburg University.
Niels Valdemar Vinding is an assistant professor at the University of Copenhagen.
Review :
"This volume is a useful tool for students, researchers and lecturers who are interested in the fields of sociology and anthropology of Islam, diaspora studies, migration studies, and Islamic studies in general. It is a very thorough "road map" for graduate students, scholars and policy makers who work in the areas of education, integration and Muslim minorities and is generally very well balanced in both the theory and its case studies. The work effectively sketches the institution of the imamate in Europe, from both a macro and a micro perspective." - Merve Reyhan Kayikci, Journal of Muslims in Europe 2020
"Nous sommes en présence d'un ouvrage qui contient des études approfondies et qui apporte des éclairages utiles sur la figure de l'imam dans les pays d'Europe de l'Ouest. [=] ce collectif constitue une contribution pionnière sur les imams européens, qui donne matière à réfléchir à d'autres chercheurs travaillant sur l'autorité religieuse en islam, sur d'autres religions ou encore sur des thématiques plus larges, telles que la migration, la sécularisation ou le multiculturalisme." - Dr Anna Grasso, Archives de Sciences Sociales des Religions
"This fascinating book on imams in Western Europe is well timed to respond to the European discourse on Islam and Muslims, coming at a time of remarkable developments in the imam as a concept, as a religious institution, and as an authority for the Muslims of Western Europe." - Jørgen S. Nielsen, Professor, Universities of Birmingham and Copenhagen
