Integrating Islam

Nearly five million Muslims call France home, the vast majority from former French colonies in North Africa. While France has successfully integrated waves of immigrants in the past, this new influx poses a new variety of challenges—much as it does in neighboring European countries. Alarmists view the growing role of Muslims in French society as a form of "reverse colonization"; they believe Muslim political and religious networks seek to undermine European rule of law or that fundamentalists are creating a society entirely separate from the mainstream. Integrating Islam portrays the more complex reality of integration's successes and failures in French politics and society. From intermarriage rates to economic indicators, the authors paint a comprehensive portrait of Muslims in France. Using original research, they devote special attention to the policies developed by successive French governments to encourage integration and discourage extremism. Because of the size of its Muslim population and its universalistic definition of citizenship, France is an especially good test case for the encounter of Islam and the West. Despite serious and sometimes spectacular problems, the authors see a "French Islam" slowly replacing "Islam in France"–in other words, the emergence of a religion and a culture that feels at home in, and is largely at peace with, its host society. Integrating Islam provides readers with a comprehensive view of the state of Muslim integration into French society that cannot be found anywhere else. It is essential reading for students of French politics and those studying the interaction of Islam and the West, as well as the general public.

The status of Islam in Western societies remains deeply contentious. Countering strident claims on both the right and left, Legal Integration of Islam offers an empirically informed analysis of how four liberal democracies—France, Germany, Canada, and the United States—have responded to the challenge of integrating Islam and Muslim populations. Demonstrating the centrality of the legal system to this process, Christian Joppke and John Torpey reject the widely held notion that Europe is incapable of accommodating Islam and argue that institutional barriers to Muslim integration are no greater on one side of the Atlantic than the other. While Muslims have achieved a substantial degree of equality working through the courts, political dynamics increasingly push back against these gains, particularly in Europe. From a classical liberal viewpoint, religion can either be driven out of public space, as in France, or included without sectarian preference, as in Germany. But both policies come at a price—religious liberty in France and full equality in Germany. Often seen as the flagship of multiculturalism, Canada has found itself responding to nativist and liberal pressures as Muslims become more assertive. And although there have been outbursts of anti-Islamic sentiment in the United States, the legal and political recognition of Islam is well established and largely uncontested. Legal Integration of Islam brings to light the successes and the shortcomings of integrating Islam through law without denying the challenges that this religion presents for liberal societies.

In Organizing Muslims and Integrating Islam in Germany, Kerstin Rosenow-Williams analyzes the challenges faced by Islamic organizations in Germany since the beginning of the 21st century. Outlining the expectations German political actors have of Islamic organizations and the internal interests of these organizations, the author illustrates that organizational response strategies involve patterns not only of adaptation, but also of decoupling and protest. The study introduces an innovative research framework based on organizational sociology and provides empirical insights into three major Islamic umbrella organizations (DITIB, IGMG, ZMD) and their relationships with other actors. The comprehensive analysis of the German institutional environment and related developments in Islamic organizations makes this study highly relevant to scholars and politicians, as well as the general public.

Amid fears of Islamic extremism, many Europeans ask whether Muslim immigrants can integrate into historically Christian countries. Why Muslim Integration Fails in Christian-Heritage Societies explores this question and concludes that both Muslim and non-Muslim French must share responsibility for the slow progress of integration.

This book brings a transnational perspective to the study of immigrant integration in contemporary Western European societies, with a specific focus on transnational Turkish Islam and Turkish integration in Great Britain. It raises significant questions regarding national citizenship models, and offers original insights into the ways in which they can be extended and renewed to cover the cross-border reality. At the theoretical level, Dikici argues that the idea of multiculturalism can be extended to cover immigrant transnationalism without jeopardising its core principles such as equality and recognition of difference, and promises such as a shared national identity and unity in diversity. At the empirical level, the book illustrates that not all transnational Muslim organisations are the same (i.e. militant), and nor do they all hinder Muslim integration, rather they are diverse, with some deliberately contributing to the integration of Muslims into non-Muslim majority societies. The work will be of interest to scholars and students of contemporary integration and citizenship studies, multiculturalism studies, Muslim integration in Western societies, transnationalism and transnational Islam, Civil Society and Diaspora Studies.

Since September 11, Western governments have legitimized and empowered "nonviolent Islamists" as representatives of Islam for all Muslims in the West, an approach that has worried Muslim moderates. Citizen Islam addresses the implications of this approach. The book opens with an overview of the theology and history of Islam, to show that violence and intolerance are not fundamental aspects of the religion. It then explains the growth of Islamism in Europe and in the United States before suggesting that both are finally beginning to recognize the threat posed by nonviolent Islamists. Lastly, it outlines steps that Western and Muslims leaders can take to strengthen moderate Islam and counter the threat of Islamism. Written by Zeyno Baran, a Turkish-born Muslim, Citizen Islam sheds a sharp light on Muslim communities in the West. It concludes that there is much that Western governments can still do to reverse the spread of Islamism. But they must act quickly.

Islam in the West: Beyond Integration offers an overview and a profile of Muslims living in the West, their identity, integration and citizenship. The book tries to answer some hard questions surrounding the interplay between religious and national identities, and how these two types of identities negotiate their place in the hearts of Western Muslims. Case studies cover constructive integration in Canada, assimilation in France and the exclusionist approach in Bosnia. Some answers to the questions on citizenship are presented from an Islamic perspective, taking into account Islamic formative principles — the Qur’an and Sunnah (the Prophetic tradition) — as they pertain to the globalized world of today. This includes an examination of historical perspectives found in the scholarly discourses on citizenship unearthed from early Muslim history as well as from contemporary times. These issues are analyzed through the prism of a religiously pluralistic and culturally diverse society. This book is published in English. - Le besoin de mieux comprendre l’identité, l’intégration, la citoyenneté, l’appartenance et la loyauté musulmanes en Occident n’a jamais été aussi grand. Ce petit livre aborde les grandes problématiques portant sur les musulmans canadiens. Qui sont les musulmans canadiens ? Que faut-il pour qu’un pays soit une terre d’accueil saine et accueillante ? Ces questions sont abordées dans la première section. Qu’est-ce que l’identité musulmane canadienne ? Cette section offre des pistes de réponses aux difficiles questions entourant l’interaction entre les identités religieuse et nationale. Sont-elles contradictoires ou complémentaires ? Comment se compare le modèle canadien d’intégration ? Deux modèles très différents sont présentés à titre de comparaisons : le modèle d’assimilation à la française, et l’approche bosnienne d’exclusion. Qu’est-ce que la « citoyenneté » d’un point de vue islamique ? La dernière section explore les principes formateurs de l’Islam – le Coran et la sunna (tradition prophétique) à l’ère de la mondialisation. L’histoire de l’Islam, y compris son histoire contemporaine jettent un éclairage intéressant sur la question. Fondé sur la compréhension accrue et le respect, ce petit livre contribue de manière positive au débat actuel sur la place des musulmans canadiens et de l’Islam au Canada. Voici le titre inaugural de la Collection 101, une série de brèves introductions, en 101 pages, aux grands débats de société. Ce livre est publié en anglais.

This work explores contemporary debates on migration and integration, focussing on Euro-Muslims. It critically engages with republicanist and multiculaturalist policies of integration and claims that integration means more than cultural and linguistic assimilation of migrant communities.