When Islam and Democracy Meet: Muslims in Europe and in the United States

by Jocelyne Cesari

Exploring the woefully neglected reality of Islam as a major cultural and relgious facet of American and European politics and societies, Cesari examines how Muslims in the West are challenging the notion of an inevitable clash or confrontation. With nearly twelve million Muslims living in the larger countries of Western Europe and almost six million in America, the challenges of integrating newcomers within different countries, and the place of Islam in democratic and secular context in the post 9/11 context, have become more pertinent. Comparing the interaction of Muslims with their new countries, this book addresses the implications of increased Islamic visability, violent clashes, beneficial cooperation, and questions within the Muslim community about their role and the role of Islam in democratic states. Pursuing a holistic approach to Muslims as a new minority within western democracy, Cesari provides important insights.

Genres: Islam

277 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[/d. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a chance encounter with this book at a second-hand shop and am more than glad that I did. Cesari presents us with a rather balanced and well-structured work, written in an academic, yet accessible language that manages to give both critique and defense of Islam where they are due.

Here are some of the points I'll take away from this book:

- In the well-known process of reactive identity-formation, such hostility toward Islam results in an intensification of one's personal attachment to Islam as the reference point of one's identity.

-According to experts quoted in the New York Times, less than 25 percent of all Muslims in America who attend mosque follow Wahabi doctrine. [...] The widespread diffusion of Salafi teachings results in a situation in which even non-Salafi Muslims evaluate their Islamic practice by Wahabite standards. [These movements] sort everything according to the opposition between haram (forbidden) and halal (permitted). Everything that did not already exist or happen during the time of the Prophet is an innovation, and thus haram. Khaled Abou El Fadl has called this "The Culture of Mamnu' ('It is forbidden')."

- Islamic orthopraxis, especially in terms of the dress code, constitutes a critique of the universal application of the principle of gender equality. These Islamic practices imply that, on the contrary, the principles of equality and individualism are not as universal as we Westeners would like to believe.

- We are thus dealing with the classic dilemma of the new immigrant, obliged to display a wholehearted embrace of the values of the new political community of which he or she wants to be a part. In other words, the new immigrant must be more enthusiastic about his or her host society than its native inhabitants - all the more so in the unfriendly environment of post-September 11.

The primary reason why I do not give Cesari 5* is the fact that book is lacking citations in a couple of crucial places. Several times, I found myself reading a paragraph only to find that it's information was both demanding but also lacking a endnote. (An example of this can be found on page 54 where Cesari makes a rather far-reaching claim about fundamentalist Muslim practice that should, in my opinion, been backed up a relevant source or two.) In other places, such a paragraph would have an endnote which wouldn't provide the necessary citation but only bolster the paragraph with another explanatory sentence or two.
Another albeit minor point concerns Cesari's choice of phrasing that can in a handful of places seem slightly charged, such as on page 58 where she is speaking of "the increasing hostility of the judge" where words such as "rejection", "scepticism" or "refusal" would have fitted her otherwise high level of professionalism a lot better.

All in all, a great book, that I'm sure to return to for citations in the future. Cheers!