Contents

Preface: This book and the ‘Religion and Democracy in Europe’ initiative 5

About the contributors 7

Acknowledgements 11

1 Introduction: Mosques in Europe: real problems and false solutions 13

Stefano Allievi 

Islam in countries of long-standing immigration: A problematic acceptance

2 Mosques and minarets between: tension, assertion and negotiation. Some Belgian Cases 53

Felice Dassetto with Olivier Ralet 

Between religious freedom and social acceptance: the construction of mosques in re-unified Germany 89 

Michael Kreutz and Aladdin Sarhan 

Dutch Mosques: symbols of integration or alien intrusion? 110

Nico Landman 

A mosque too far? Islam and the limits of British Multiculturalism 135

Sophie Gilliat-Ray and Jonathan Birt 

 

Mosques in France: vectors of normalization of Islam on a local scale 153

Omero Marongiu-Perria 

Old immigrants, new problems: The case of Austria and Switzerland

The politics of non-recognition: mosque construction in Austria 183

Ernst Fürlinger 

The impact of the minaret vote in Switzerland 217

Stéphane Lathion 

The Return of Islam: Southern Europe and the Balkans

‘A mosque in our neighbourhood!’. Conflicts over mosques in Spain 235

Jordi Moreras 

Portugal: an exception that proves the rule? 261

Jordi Moreras 

Why Italian mosques are inflaming the social and political debate 269

Maria Bombardieri 

Old and new mosques in Greece: a new debate haunted by history 300

Athena Skoulariki 

Contested identities: identity politics and contemporary mosques in Bosnia and Herzegovina 318

Azra Aksamija 

The other periphery: The situation in Northern Europe

From aesthetic conflict to anti-mosque demonstrations. The institutionalisation of Islam and Muslims in Sweden 335

Göran Larsson 

Mosques as part of history, or something new? The institutionalisation of Islam and Muslims in the Nordic and Baltic countries

Göran Larsson 

A useful comparison: Europe vs. USA

Islam, mosques and Islamic centres in the United States of America 383

Davide Tacchini