THE POWER OF EUROPEAN FATWAS: THE MINORITYFIQHPROJECT AND THE MAKING OF AN ISLAMIC COUNTERPUBLIC

Abstract

What does it mean to “integrate” a complex and multifaceted tradition such as Islam into a transnational space as heterogeneous as that of modern Europe? And what kind of a project is precisely that of a “European Islam,” increasingly invoked today across the continent by a wide range of state and nonstate actors, including many Muslims? At a time dominated by variants of the clash of civilizations thesis, the project appears rather equivocal. What conceptions ofEuropeas a political space, and ofIslamas a religious tradition, underlie the endeavor?