Author: Barbara Daly Metcalf
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520204041
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 292
Book Description
Focusing on the private and public use of space, this volume explores the religious life of the new Muslim communities in North America and Europe. Unlike most studies of immigrant groups, these essays concentrate on cultural practices and expressions of everyday life rather than on the political issues that dominate today's headlines. The authors emphasize the cultural strength and creativity of communities that draw upon Islamic symbols and practices to define "Muslim space" against the background of a non-Muslim environment. The range of perspectives is broad, encompassing middle-class professionals, mosque congregations, factory workers in France and the north of England, itinerant African traders, and prison inmates in New York. The truism that "Islam is a religion of the word" takes on concrete meaning as these disparate communities find ways to elaborate word-centered ritual and to have the visual and aural presence of sacred words in the spaces they inhabit. The volume includes 46 black-and-white photographs that illustrate Muslim populations in Edmonton, Philadelphia, the Green Haven Correction Facility, Manhattan, Marseilles, Berlin, and London, among other places. The focus on space directs attention to the new kinds of boundaries and consciousness that exist not only for these Muslim populations, but for people from all backgrounds in today's ever more integrated world.
Making Muslim Space in North America and Europe
Author: Barbara Daly Metcalf
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520204041
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 292
Book Description
Focusing on the private and public use of space, this volume explores the religious life of the new Muslim communities in North America and Europe. Unlike most studies of immigrant groups, these essays concentrate on cultural practices and expressions of everyday life rather than on the political issues that dominate today's headlines. The authors emphasize the cultural strength and creativity of communities that draw upon Islamic symbols and practices to define "Muslim space" against the background of a non-Muslim environment. The range of perspectives is broad, encompassing middle-class professionals, mosque congregations, factory workers in France and the north of England, itinerant African traders, and prison inmates in New York. The truism that "Islam is a religion of the word" takes on concrete meaning as these disparate communities find ways to elaborate word-centered ritual and to have the visual and aural presence of sacred words in the spaces they inhabit. The volume includes 46 black-and-white photographs that illustrate Muslim populations in Edmonton, Philadelphia, the Green Haven Correction Facility, Manhattan, Marseilles, Berlin, and London, among other places. The focus on space directs attention to the new kinds of boundaries and consciousness that exist not only for these Muslim populations, but for people from all backgrounds in today's ever more integrated world.
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520204041
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 292
Book Description
Focusing on the private and public use of space, this volume explores the religious life of the new Muslim communities in North America and Europe. Unlike most studies of immigrant groups, these essays concentrate on cultural practices and expressions of everyday life rather than on the political issues that dominate today's headlines. The authors emphasize the cultural strength and creativity of communities that draw upon Islamic symbols and practices to define "Muslim space" against the background of a non-Muslim environment. The range of perspectives is broad, encompassing middle-class professionals, mosque congregations, factory workers in France and the north of England, itinerant African traders, and prison inmates in New York. The truism that "Islam is a religion of the word" takes on concrete meaning as these disparate communities find ways to elaborate word-centered ritual and to have the visual and aural presence of sacred words in the spaces they inhabit. The volume includes 46 black-and-white photographs that illustrate Muslim populations in Edmonton, Philadelphia, the Green Haven Correction Facility, Manhattan, Marseilles, Berlin, and London, among other places. The focus on space directs attention to the new kinds of boundaries and consciousness that exist not only for these Muslim populations, but for people from all backgrounds in today's ever more integrated world.
Making Muslim Women European
Author: Fabio Giomi
Publisher: Central European University Press
ISBN: 9633863686
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 410
Book Description
This social, cultural, and political history of Slavic Muslim women of the Yugoslav region in the first decades of the post-Ottoman era is the first to provide a comprehensive overview of the issues confronting these women. It is based on a study of voluntary associations (philanthropic, cultural, Islamic-traditionalist, and feminist) of the period. It is broadly held that Muslim women were silent and relegated to a purely private space until 1945, when the communist state “unveiled” and “liberated” them from the top down. After systematic archival research in Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, and Austria, Fabio Giomi challenges this view by showing: • How different sectors of the Yugoslav elite through association publications, imagined the role of Muslim women in post-Ottoman times, and how Muslim women took part in the construction or the contestation of these narratives. • How associations employed different means in order to forge a generation of “New Muslim Women” able to cope with the post-Ottoman political and social circumstances. • And how Muslim women used the tools provided by the associations in order to pursue their own projects, aims and agendas. The insights are relevant for today’s challenges facing Muslim women in Europe. The text is illustrated with exceptional photographs.
Publisher: Central European University Press
ISBN: 9633863686
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 410
Book Description
This social, cultural, and political history of Slavic Muslim women of the Yugoslav region in the first decades of the post-Ottoman era is the first to provide a comprehensive overview of the issues confronting these women. It is based on a study of voluntary associations (philanthropic, cultural, Islamic-traditionalist, and feminist) of the period. It is broadly held that Muslim women were silent and relegated to a purely private space until 1945, when the communist state “unveiled” and “liberated” them from the top down. After systematic archival research in Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, and Austria, Fabio Giomi challenges this view by showing: • How different sectors of the Yugoslav elite through association publications, imagined the role of Muslim women in post-Ottoman times, and how Muslim women took part in the construction or the contestation of these narratives. • How associations employed different means in order to forge a generation of “New Muslim Women” able to cope with the post-Ottoman political and social circumstances. • And how Muslim women used the tools provided by the associations in order to pursue their own projects, aims and agendas. The insights are relevant for today’s challenges facing Muslim women in Europe. The text is illustrated with exceptional photographs.
Rethinking Islam and Space in Europe
Author: C.J.J. Moses
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 100068430X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 237
Book Description
The role of Islam in public spaces is one of the most prevalent political questions in Europe. Contestations around the construction of mosques, the ban of Islamic veils and populist rhetoric about “problematic” neighbourhoods indicate Europe’s struggles with the place of its second largest religion. This book advocates for an analytical turn in the study of Islam in Europe using space as a central conceptual lens. While spatial approaches are gaining traction in the study of religion, migration, ethnicity, race, and politics, the chapters in this book argue that the critical potential of a spatialised analysis in the field of Islam in Europe remains largely unexplored. This volume presents a collection of nine empirical studies that offer insights into how scholars might exploit the category of space when analysing both current political issues and broader conceptual questions in the social sciences. And more specifically, how does a spatial perspective on Islam contribute to a deeper understanding of the formations of the state, ethnicity, race, secularism, gender, and colonial structures? Rethinking Islam and Space in Europe is a significant new contribution to racial and ethnic studies in Europe, and will be a great resource for academics, researchers, and advanced students of Politics, Sociology, Social and Political Geography, Anthropology and Religious Studies. The chapters in this book were originally published as a 2021 special issue of Ethnic and Racial Studies.
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 100068430X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 237
Book Description
The role of Islam in public spaces is one of the most prevalent political questions in Europe. Contestations around the construction of mosques, the ban of Islamic veils and populist rhetoric about “problematic” neighbourhoods indicate Europe’s struggles with the place of its second largest religion. This book advocates for an analytical turn in the study of Islam in Europe using space as a central conceptual lens. While spatial approaches are gaining traction in the study of religion, migration, ethnicity, race, and politics, the chapters in this book argue that the critical potential of a spatialised analysis in the field of Islam in Europe remains largely unexplored. This volume presents a collection of nine empirical studies that offer insights into how scholars might exploit the category of space when analysing both current political issues and broader conceptual questions in the social sciences. And more specifically, how does a spatial perspective on Islam contribute to a deeper understanding of the formations of the state, ethnicity, race, secularism, gender, and colonial structures? Rethinking Islam and Space in Europe is a significant new contribution to racial and ethnic studies in Europe, and will be a great resource for academics, researchers, and advanced students of Politics, Sociology, Social and Political Geography, Anthropology and Religious Studies. The chapters in this book were originally published as a 2021 special issue of Ethnic and Racial Studies.
Muslim Europe Or Euro-Islam
Author: Nezar AlSayyad
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 9780739103395
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 216
Book Description
Five centuries after the expulsion of Muslims and Jews from Spain, Europe is once again becoming a land of Islam. At the beginning of a new millennium, and in an era marked as one of globalization, Europe continues to wrestle with the issue of national identity, especially in the context of its Muslim citizens. Muslim Europe or Euro-Islam brings together distinguished scholars from Europe, the United States, and the Middle East in a dynamic discussion about the Muslim populations living in Europe and about Europe's role in framing Islam today. Working at the knotty intersection of cultural identity, the politics of nations and nationalisms, and religious persuasions, this is an invaluable anthology of scholarship that reveals the multifaceted natures of both Europe and Islam.
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 9780739103395
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 216
Book Description
Five centuries after the expulsion of Muslims and Jews from Spain, Europe is once again becoming a land of Islam. At the beginning of a new millennium, and in an era marked as one of globalization, Europe continues to wrestle with the issue of national identity, especially in the context of its Muslim citizens. Muslim Europe or Euro-Islam brings together distinguished scholars from Europe, the United States, and the Middle East in a dynamic discussion about the Muslim populations living in Europe and about Europe's role in framing Islam today. Working at the knotty intersection of cultural identity, the politics of nations and nationalisms, and religious persuasions, this is an invaluable anthology of scholarship that reveals the multifaceted natures of both Europe and Islam.
Muslims and Others in Sacred Space
Author: Margaret Cormack
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199925046
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 251
Book Description
This collection of seven essays offers wide-ranging and in-depth studies of locations sacred to Muslims, of the histories of these sites (real or imagined), and of the ways in which Muslims and members of other religions have interacted peaceably in sacred times and spaces. The volume begins with a discussion by David Damrel of the official, hostile, Muslim attitude toward practices at shrines in South Asia. Lance Laird then presents a case study of a shrine holy to Palestinian Christians, who identify its patron as St. George, as well as to Palestinian Muslims, who believe that its patron is al Khadr. Ethel Sara Wolper illustrates how al Khadr's patronage was used also to show Muslim connections to Christian sites in Anatolia, and JoAnn Gross's essay explores oral and written traditions linking shrines in Tajikistan to traditional Muslim locations and figures. A chapter by the late Thomas Sizgorich examines how Christian and Muslim authors used monastic settings to reimagine the relationship between the two religions, and Alexandra Cuffel offers a study of attitudes towards the mixing of religious groups in religious festivals in eleventh- to sixteenth-century Egypt. Finally, Eric Ross shows how the Layenne Sufi order incorporates a singular combination of Christian and Muslim figures and festivals in its history and practices. Muslims and Others in Sacred Space will be an invaluable resource to anyone interested in the complex meanings of sacred sites in Muslim history.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199925046
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 251
Book Description
This collection of seven essays offers wide-ranging and in-depth studies of locations sacred to Muslims, of the histories of these sites (real or imagined), and of the ways in which Muslims and members of other religions have interacted peaceably in sacred times and spaces. The volume begins with a discussion by David Damrel of the official, hostile, Muslim attitude toward practices at shrines in South Asia. Lance Laird then presents a case study of a shrine holy to Palestinian Christians, who identify its patron as St. George, as well as to Palestinian Muslims, who believe that its patron is al Khadr. Ethel Sara Wolper illustrates how al Khadr's patronage was used also to show Muslim connections to Christian sites in Anatolia, and JoAnn Gross's essay explores oral and written traditions linking shrines in Tajikistan to traditional Muslim locations and figures. A chapter by the late Thomas Sizgorich examines how Christian and Muslim authors used monastic settings to reimagine the relationship between the two religions, and Alexandra Cuffel offers a study of attitudes towards the mixing of religious groups in religious festivals in eleventh- to sixteenth-century Egypt. Finally, Eric Ross shows how the Layenne Sufi order incorporates a singular combination of Christian and Muslim figures and festivals in its history and practices. Muslims and Others in Sacred Space will be an invaluable resource to anyone interested in the complex meanings of sacred sites in Muslim history.
Everyday Life Practices of Muslims in Europe
Author: Erkan Toğuşlu
Publisher: Leuven University Press
ISBN: 946270032X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 235
Book Description
Muslims in Europe and the preservation of their religious-ethnic particularitiesEveryday Life Practices of Muslims in Europe explores how Muslims give meaning to Islam on a day-to-day basis. The contributions look at concrete practices, identities, memories, and normalities in daily Muslim life and provide insights to the complexities of identities. They examine Muslims’ use of and construction of spaces, daily practices, forms of interaction, and modes of thinking in different areas, resulting in a thorough analysis and framework of Muslims’ day-to-day life through topical chapters on food, space, entertainment, marriage, and mosque, covering both extent of hybridity and preservation of religious-ethnic particularities. Contributors Rachel Brown (Wilfrid Laurier University), Mohammed El-Bachouti (UPF), Valentina Fedele (Università della Calabria), Diletta Guidi (École Pratique des Hautes Études), Ossame Hegazy (Bauhaus, University, Weimar), Ajmal Hussain (Aston University), Jana Jevtic (Central European University), Elsa Mescoli (University of Liège), Wim Peumans (KU Leuven), Sumeyye Ulu Sametoğlu (EHESS), Leen Sterck (The Netherlands Institute for Social Research),Thijl Sunier (VU University Amsterdam), Erkan Toğuşlu (KU Leuven)
Publisher: Leuven University Press
ISBN: 946270032X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 235
Book Description
Muslims in Europe and the preservation of their religious-ethnic particularitiesEveryday Life Practices of Muslims in Europe explores how Muslims give meaning to Islam on a day-to-day basis. The contributions look at concrete practices, identities, memories, and normalities in daily Muslim life and provide insights to the complexities of identities. They examine Muslims’ use of and construction of spaces, daily practices, forms of interaction, and modes of thinking in different areas, resulting in a thorough analysis and framework of Muslims’ day-to-day life through topical chapters on food, space, entertainment, marriage, and mosque, covering both extent of hybridity and preservation of religious-ethnic particularities. Contributors Rachel Brown (Wilfrid Laurier University), Mohammed El-Bachouti (UPF), Valentina Fedele (Università della Calabria), Diletta Guidi (École Pratique des Hautes Études), Ossame Hegazy (Bauhaus, University, Weimar), Ajmal Hussain (Aston University), Jana Jevtic (Central European University), Elsa Mescoli (University of Liège), Wim Peumans (KU Leuven), Sumeyye Ulu Sametoğlu (EHESS), Leen Sterck (The Netherlands Institute for Social Research),Thijl Sunier (VU University Amsterdam), Erkan Toğuşlu (KU Leuven)
Muslims at the Margins of Europe
Author: Tuomas Martikainen
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004404562
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 345
Book Description
This volume focuses on Muslims in Finland, Greece, Ireland and Portugal, representing the four corners of the European Union today. It highlights how Muslim experiences can be understood in relation to a country’s particular historical routes, political economies, colonial and post-colonial legacies, as well as other factors, such as church-state relations, the role of secularism(s), and urbanisation. This volume also reveals the incongruous nature of the fact that national particularities shaping European Muslim experiences cannot be understood independently of European and indeed global dynamics. This makes it even more important to consider every national context when analysing patterns in European Islam, especially those that have yet to be fully elaborated. The chapters in this volume demonstrate the contradictory dynamics of European Muslim contexts that are simultaneously distinct yet similar to the now familiar ones of Western Europe’s most populous countries.
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004404562
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 345
Book Description
This volume focuses on Muslims in Finland, Greece, Ireland and Portugal, representing the four corners of the European Union today. It highlights how Muslim experiences can be understood in relation to a country’s particular historical routes, political economies, colonial and post-colonial legacies, as well as other factors, such as church-state relations, the role of secularism(s), and urbanisation. This volume also reveals the incongruous nature of the fact that national particularities shaping European Muslim experiences cannot be understood independently of European and indeed global dynamics. This makes it even more important to consider every national context when analysing patterns in European Islam, especially those that have yet to be fully elaborated. The chapters in this volume demonstrate the contradictory dynamics of European Muslim contexts that are simultaneously distinct yet similar to the now familiar ones of Western Europe’s most populous countries.
Creating Diversities
Author: Anna-Leena Siikala
Publisher: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura
ISBN: 9518580715
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 308
Book Description
The effects of globalization and the momentous changes to the political map of Europe have led to a world in which multiculturalism and ethnic differences have become issues of increasing importance. In Nordic countries, relationships between new immigrants, local ethnic groups and majorities are created in ongoing and sometimes heated discussions. In transforming multicultural societies, folklore has taken on new manifestations and meanings. How can folklore studies illuminate the present cultural, political and historical changes? "Creating Diversities. Folklore, Religion and the Politics of Heritage", edited by Anna-Leena Siikala, Barbro Klein and Stein R. Mathisen, seeks answers to this question. It emphasizes two important factors in the cultural and political exchanges among historical minorities, recent immigrants, and the majority groups dictating the conditions of these exchanges. The first factor is religion, which is a powerful tool in the construction of ethnic selves and in the establishment of boundaries between groups. The second factor is the role of national and regional folklore archives and ethnographic and cultural historical museums which create ideas and images of minorities. These representations, created in different political climates, affect the general understanding of the people depicted. Fifteen well-known folklorists and ethnographers from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and the United States offer insights and background material on these problems. In addition to immigrants and ethnic minorities in the Nordic countries, especially the Sámi, examples are sought from among the Finno-Ugrian minorities in Russia and the Nordic population in North America.
Publisher: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura
ISBN: 9518580715
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 308
Book Description
The effects of globalization and the momentous changes to the political map of Europe have led to a world in which multiculturalism and ethnic differences have become issues of increasing importance. In Nordic countries, relationships between new immigrants, local ethnic groups and majorities are created in ongoing and sometimes heated discussions. In transforming multicultural societies, folklore has taken on new manifestations and meanings. How can folklore studies illuminate the present cultural, political and historical changes? "Creating Diversities. Folklore, Religion and the Politics of Heritage", edited by Anna-Leena Siikala, Barbro Klein and Stein R. Mathisen, seeks answers to this question. It emphasizes two important factors in the cultural and political exchanges among historical minorities, recent immigrants, and the majority groups dictating the conditions of these exchanges. The first factor is religion, which is a powerful tool in the construction of ethnic selves and in the establishment of boundaries between groups. The second factor is the role of national and regional folklore archives and ethnographic and cultural historical museums which create ideas and images of minorities. These representations, created in different political climates, affect the general understanding of the people depicted. Fifteen well-known folklorists and ethnographers from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and the United States offer insights and background material on these problems. In addition to immigrants and ethnic minorities in the Nordic countries, especially the Sámi, examples are sought from among the Finno-Ugrian minorities in Russia and the Nordic population in North America.
The SAGE Handbook of Islamic Studies
Author: Akbar S Ahmed
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1446264521
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 394
Book Description
... a welcome addition to the already available introductory works on Islam. The chapters of the book combine depth of analysis and erudition on a wide range of subjects. Thus in a single volume one finds several superbly written papers not only on the foundations of Islam and the manifestations of Islamic culture but also on issues which are at the centre of contemporary debates among Muslims such as multiculturalism, social justice, democracy and diversity. As a sourcebook this work is equally useful for students, academicians and general readers′ - Zafar Ishaq Ansari, Director, Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University Islamic Studies is at a critical moment in its history. It seeks both to maintain its rich history and to engage with other - sometimes dominant - cultural and political studies. This tension is producing complex changes in both the theory and the practice of Islamic Studies. This timely and stimulating Handbook, edited by world-class experts in the field, provides a comprehensive guide to Islamic Studies today. It examines the main issues in the field and explores the key debates. It provides readers with an indispensable, balanced guide to the roots of Islam and the challenges it faces in the twenty-first century. The Handbook includes discussions of: - Islam as a community of discourse and a global system - Islam, diaspora and multiculturalism - The Qu′ran today - Islam as a moral and judicial system - Islam and politics - Islam and culture - Diversities and Islam Concise, level-headed and penetrating, this collection will be of interest to anyone who studies contemporary Islam. It brings together an unparalleled collection of international scholars who illuminate some of the most urgent and complex issues in the world today.
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1446264521
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 394
Book Description
... a welcome addition to the already available introductory works on Islam. The chapters of the book combine depth of analysis and erudition on a wide range of subjects. Thus in a single volume one finds several superbly written papers not only on the foundations of Islam and the manifestations of Islamic culture but also on issues which are at the centre of contemporary debates among Muslims such as multiculturalism, social justice, democracy and diversity. As a sourcebook this work is equally useful for students, academicians and general readers′ - Zafar Ishaq Ansari, Director, Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University Islamic Studies is at a critical moment in its history. It seeks both to maintain its rich history and to engage with other - sometimes dominant - cultural and political studies. This tension is producing complex changes in both the theory and the practice of Islamic Studies. This timely and stimulating Handbook, edited by world-class experts in the field, provides a comprehensive guide to Islamic Studies today. It examines the main issues in the field and explores the key debates. It provides readers with an indispensable, balanced guide to the roots of Islam and the challenges it faces in the twenty-first century. The Handbook includes discussions of: - Islam as a community of discourse and a global system - Islam, diaspora and multiculturalism - The Qu′ran today - Islam as a moral and judicial system - Islam and politics - Islam and culture - Diversities and Islam Concise, level-headed and penetrating, this collection will be of interest to anyone who studies contemporary Islam. It brings together an unparalleled collection of international scholars who illuminate some of the most urgent and complex issues in the world today.
Intercultural Relations and Religious Authorities
Author: W. A. R. Shadid
Publisher: Peeters Publishers
ISBN: 9789042911574
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 262
Book Description
The permanent presence of Islam and Muslims in the countries of the European Union implies many different forms of intercultural relations at different levels of society, as for instance, between Muslims and other religious or philosophical groups, within the framework of social and health care, in city life and within the sector of education. Furthermore, the relations between Muslim religious authorities and society at large may be seen as forms of intercultural relations. All these types of intercultural relations are influenced by the images fostered by various groups and individuals about the "Others". The chapters comprising of this volume each contribute to the elucidation of some aspects of these processes of intercultural relations. They have been grouped into four main categories: - the image-formation about Islam and Muslims and its impact on their position in the countries of the European Union, especially in the press, in schoolbooks and in local politics; - the intercultural relations between Muslims and other groups and institutions in the countries concerned, as stereotypes and prejudices can exercise a detrimental effect upon intercultural relations within many different sectors of society; - religion and education, and especially the Islamic Religious Education as well as the religiousness of Muslim and non-Muslim pupils; - the religious authorities of the Muslim communities in the countries of the European Union and their contribution to the formation of a "European Islam". In this context special attention is paid to the role Muslim religious authorities play in the discussions concerning political participation by Muslims in the West.
Publisher: Peeters Publishers
ISBN: 9789042911574
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 262
Book Description
The permanent presence of Islam and Muslims in the countries of the European Union implies many different forms of intercultural relations at different levels of society, as for instance, between Muslims and other religious or philosophical groups, within the framework of social and health care, in city life and within the sector of education. Furthermore, the relations between Muslim religious authorities and society at large may be seen as forms of intercultural relations. All these types of intercultural relations are influenced by the images fostered by various groups and individuals about the "Others". The chapters comprising of this volume each contribute to the elucidation of some aspects of these processes of intercultural relations. They have been grouped into four main categories: - the image-formation about Islam and Muslims and its impact on their position in the countries of the European Union, especially in the press, in schoolbooks and in local politics; - the intercultural relations between Muslims and other groups and institutions in the countries concerned, as stereotypes and prejudices can exercise a detrimental effect upon intercultural relations within many different sectors of society; - religion and education, and especially the Islamic Religious Education as well as the religiousness of Muslim and non-Muslim pupils; - the religious authorities of the Muslim communities in the countries of the European Union and their contribution to the formation of a "European Islam". In this context special attention is paid to the role Muslim religious authorities play in the discussions concerning political participation by Muslims in the West.