Islam in Europe

Overview

Recall questions on hijra and the classical categories of territory, da'wa, minority jurisprudence and its critics, European Islam and Mustafa Ceric's declaration, Bosnia, multiculturalism and French laicite, Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hostility, and integration and coexistence.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is hijra, and why does it matter for Muslims living as a minority?

   Model answer

   Hijra is migration undertaken for the sake of faith. Its founding instance is the Prophet's move from Mecca to Medina, which was significant enough that the Muslim calendar counts from it, and an earlier group of Muslims had already migrated to Abyssinia and been protected by its Christian ruler. It matters for minority life because classical jurists derived from it a duty, in some formulations, to leave a place where religion cannot be practised. The counter-reading points out that the migration to Abyssinia was to a non-Muslim land, and that the obligation was tied to the inability to practise rather than to residence among non-Muslims as such.

2. 2

   How did classical jurists categorise territories, and how is that categorisation treated today?

   Model answer

   Jurists distinguished the abode of Islam, where Muslim rule made the law effective, from the abode of war, and some added intermediate categories for lands bound by treaty or truce. The division is a juristic construct developed in a world of contending empires, not a Qur'anic teaching. Most contemporary scholars treat it as obsolete, arguing that international treaties, embassies, citizenship and religious freedom make the old classification inapplicable, and some propose alternatives such as an abode of invitation or of witness, in which Muslims live securely and represent their faith. The older categories survive mainly in the rhetoric of militant groups, which mainstream scholars reject.

3. 3

   What is da'wa, and how do European Muslims practise it?

   Model answer

   Da'wa means invitation: calling others to Islam. The Qur'an directs that this be done with wisdom and courteous argument, and it rules out compulsion, so persuasion is the only legitimate method. In Europe it takes the form of mosque open days, literature, student societies, interfaith engagement, campaigns to explain Islam in public debate and, for many Muslims, simply conducting themselves well in the expectation that character is the most effective argument. Conversion numbers are modest but significant, with converts in Britain and elsewhere disproportionately women, and converts often play a visible role as interpreters between communities.

4. 4

   How do Muslims in Europe reconcile religious obligations with the law of the land?

   Model answer

   The dominant argument among European Muslim scholars is that residence is itself a covenant. Entering a country on a visa or holding citizenship amounts to a grant of security in return for accepting its laws, and the Qur'an requires that covenants be honoured, so breaking the law is a religious offence as well as a civil one. Most of what the Shari'a asks of an individual raises no conflict with the law of the land at all, since prayer, fasting and charity are legally protected. Where friction arises, as with slaughter regulations, workplace timetables, dress codes in schools or interest-bearing mortgages, the usual approach is to seek accommodation through legal channels and to use juristic devices of necessity and hardship where accommodation fails.

5. 5

   What is minority jurisprudence, and what tools does it use?

   Model answer

   Minority jurisprudence is an attempt to develop rulings specifically for Muslims living as minorities in non-Muslim societies, associated with scholars including Taha Jabir al-Alwani and Yusuf al-Qaradawi and with the European Council for Fatwa and Research. It argues that classical fiqh assumed a Muslim-majority setting, so applying it unchanged imposes needless hardship. Its tools are the recognised principles of necessity, the removal of hardship, weighing benefit against harm, and reasoning from the overarching aims of the law. It has produced rulings easing questions such as home purchase through interest-bearing finance, the status of a marriage when one spouse converts, and participation in non-Muslim political life.

6. 6

   What criticisms are made of minority jurisprudence?

   Model answer

   Traditionalists object that it creates a separate and easier law for one group of Muslims, which fragments a law meant to be universal, and that concessions granted as exceptions harden into norms. Salafi critics argue it dilutes clear rulings for the sake of comfort. From another direction, some argue it is unnecessary because the classical tradition already contained doctrines of necessity and hardship sufficient for the purpose. Others object that the framework still treats Europe as an anomaly and Muslims as guests, when European Muslims are citizens who need ordinary jurisprudence rather than special dispensation. Supporters reply that its rulings are argued from recognised principles and that refusing to address real conditions drives people either to rigidity or to abandoning the law altogether.

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