exploring muslim identities in europe & north america

Danish artist Kurt Westergaard died at the age of 86 on 14 July 2021.  The  illustrator was the creator of one of the twelve drawings published by Denmark's  largest daily conservative newspaper   Jyllands-Posten  on  30 September 2005, in an article entitled  Muhammeds ansigt  (The face of Muhammad).  Flemming Rose, the culture editor of the daily had written about the project commissioned by him and which  Kurt Westergaard was part of : Modern, secular society is rejected by some Muslims. They demand a special position, insisting on special consideration of their own religious feelings. It is incompatible with contemporary democracy and freedom of speech, where one must be ready to put up with insults, mockery and ridicule. It is certainly not always attractive and nice to look at, and it does not mean that religious feelings should be made fun of at any price, but that is of minor importance in the present context. ... we are on ...

As Athens is probably the only European capital without a mosque for its 500,000 Muslim residents, discussions about constructing a purpose-built mosque started in the 1990s. A motley crew of "patriots" and "concerned Christians" have been mobilised by political entrepreneurs from across the political spectrum to frustrate the project as it was deemed by them to be unnecessary, undesirable and dangerous. 

A volume containing the proceedings of a seminar held at Youngstown State University on the theme of 'Public Islam' and the Nordic Welfare State has just come out as a special issue of Studies in Contemporary Islam and the Tidsskrift for Islamforskning .  The contributions in the volume are diverse yet interconnected. The articles that open the volume discuss how the two different welfare and civil society models represented by the Nordic countries and the USA may affect the institutionalization of Islam and Muslims’ public presence and values in these societies. Ulrika Mårtensson does that by providing a historical survey of the Nordic welfare state and its developments, including debates about the impact of neoliberal models and (de)secularization. Rhys Williams reflects on US civil society and its implications for American Muslims, while Tuomas Martikainen, provides a critical commentary on US research that juxtaposes European ‘religion-hostile’ management of rel...

by Tobias Hubinette       Open Society Initiative for Europe Since May 20, the media, both in and out of Sweden, has been dominated by the riots in certain suburbs of Stockholm. Reports have focused on outbursts of violence which include large-scale vandalism and damage to cars and shops in the poorer areas of Greater Stockholm with large concentrations of ethnic minorities. Following the fatal shooting on May 12 of an elderly man by the police in the northwest neighborhood of Husby, Greater Stockholm, violence erupted with the burning of cars, arson, and attacks on police on May 19. It soon spread to many other similar suburbs in the periphery of Greater Stockholm such as Fittja, Tensta, Flemingsberg, Hjulsta, Jakobsberg, Hagsätra, Rågsved, Skärholmen, and Skogås. At the time of writing, after eight nights of uninterrupted suburban unrest, the vandalism and the violence have also spread to other Swedish cities like Göteborg, Örebro, and Linköping. Although the scale o...

A couple of days before the horrific Woolwich events, I was checking the Quilliam Foundation website - a site that has proved to be a reliable barometer of trends in  a government-sponsored industry that claims to have the answer to  islamic radicalism. The 'in the media' section of the website featured on the entry page was dominated by a striking headline on Boston:  Boston, the latest 'Triumph' of a Global Jihad Brand . Less than 48 hours later, the terrible news of the Woolwich attack on the unfortunate British soldier reached me  My first reaction was one of horror, and I think I was not alone in feeling and thinking in this way. How can something like this happen in the middle of a busy neighbourhood in the capital of the country? Especially after Boston, is this 'solitary' type of violence going to become the pattern of 'terrorism'? And, upon reflection, could one speak of a terrorist crime in this instance? In some ways, the effect of th...

Spyros Sofos, professeur de sciences politiques à Lund, commune de la même région, et auteur de divers essais sur l'Islam, le nationalisme et l'Europe, nous explique les raison et les conséquences de l'islamophobie grandissante dans la localité de Malmö. Qu'est-ce qu'être musulman? Tout d'abord être musulman signifie tellement de choses différentes ! L'Etat Suédois a une vision très restreinte de ce qu'est être musulman. En effet, à Malmö les populations dites “musulmanes” viennent d'Iraq, de Bosnie, du Liban, d'Iran, de Turquie, d'Afghanistan, de Somalie ou du Pakistan. Ranger toutes ces communautés dans un seul bloc appelé "musulman" est erroné : il existe des musulmans très pratiquants et d'autres beaucoup plus séculaires, comme les Bosniaques. En fait, certains jeunes ne sont même pas pratiquants du tout, mais leurs parents le sont, on peut dire qu'ils sont culturellement musulmans. L'Islam est-elle une religion...

Suède: Un islam intégré et accepté? by Elvire Michel from Europa, #36 Spring 2013 http://www.journaleuropa.info/Formats/Articles/un-islam-integre-et-accept e Fortement attachée aux valeurs de tolérance et de protection des minorités, la Suède encourage fortement l'immigration, notamment celle de réfugiés politiques originaires du Moyen-Orient. Le territoire suédois aux allures paradisiaques pour ces peuples est pourtant loin d'être idyllique. Malmö en particulier souffre d'une sinistre réputation dans le reste du pays. Malmö, ville dynamique située à l'extrême sud de la Suède, dispose d'une population de 50,000 musulmans pour 300,000 habitants. Le quartier de Rosengard, majoritairement peuplé par des immigrés musulmans, a été sujet à de violentes émeutes et protestations en 2008, suite aux prises de parti dans le conflit Israëlo-Palestinien, et suite à la possible fermeture du Centre islamique culturel, utilisé comme lieu de prière. Les médias et les mouvements ...

The Sarkozy government's debates on national identity peddle the same old story about the enemy within – French Muslims by Faïza Guène   guardian.co.uk, Thursday 28 January 2010 10.00 GMT The nationwide debate on national identity launched in November by Eric Besson , the minister of immigration, national identity, integration, and co-development, has now been raging for several weeks. I'm actually not that surprised by all of this – we have grown accustomed to these diversionary tactics used by the government, sort of like when a magician distracts you with a dove in order to better conceal the ace of clubs hidden up his sleeve. David Copperfield might as well go back to where he came from now that Nicolas Sarkozy's government is in place. Of course this isn't the first time that politicians have encouraged the public to think about empty questions on the eve of elections, in this case the regional elections scheduled for March 2010. They tried that old trick with...

Five years ago bombings and riots fuelled anxiety that Europe's Muslims were on the verge of mass radicalisation. Those predictions have not been borne out. Jason Burke in Paris and Ian Traynor in Brussels  The Observer , Sunday 26 July 2009 Muslim women go shopping in Marseille. Photograph: Michel Gangne/AFP/Getty Images A district of derelict warehouses, red-brick terraces, and vibrant street life on the canals near the centre of Brussels, Molenbeek was once known as Belgium's "Little Manchester". These days it is better known as "Little Morocco" since the population is overwhelmingly Muslim and of North African origin. By day, the scene is one of children kicking balls on busy streets, of very fast, very small cars with very large sound systems. By night, the cafes and tea houses are no strangers to drug-dealers and mafia from the Maghreb. For the politically active extreme right, and the anti-Islam...

Tariq Ramadan's piece in the Guardian raises important issues that far exceed the debate on Islam and Muslims in Europe. His remarks raise issues about the quality of western democracies, the process of agenda setting and the ability of right wing populist parties to diffuse their values and issues without necessarily winning elections. What is needed more than ever today is an effective resistance to the antidemocratic and racist onslought of the populist extreme right. Denying them the right to define who is an insider and who is an outsider and engagement instead of complacency. Spyros Sofos   By refusing to debate with extreme rightwing parties, we have let their populist policies win the day guardian.co.uk , Tuesday 24 February 2009 10.00 GMT I have been criticised in recent years for agreeing to debate with representatives of extreme rightwing political parties: in France, when I confronted Je...