The production of Islamic knowledge in Western Europe

Abstract

In all parts of the globe where it has taken root, Islam has developed its local forms. This is not only due to the retention of pre-Islamic local practices, which may gradually be purged by reform movements. Different regions may have their distinctive practices, e.g. Sufi ways, the various Islamic institutions may play different roles, education and adjudication may be organised differently, interaction between the ulama and the state proceeds according to different patterns. Even within “scripturalist” Islam, there is an undeniable regional variation — notwithstanding the claims of certain Western scholars as well as Muslim fundamentalists. The Muslim communities of Western Europe constitute — with the exception of a relatively small number of European converts — diasporic communities, maintaining various types of links with their countries of origin and with similar communities in other countries.