The Bloomsbury Reader on Islam in the West

For more than a millennium, Islam has been a vital part of Western civilization. Today, however, it is sometimes assumed that Islam is a foreign element inside the West, and even that Islam and the West are doomed to be in perpetual conflict. The need for accurate, reliable scholarship on this topic has never been more urgent.

The Bloomsbury Reader on Islam in the West brings together some of the most important, up-to-date scholarly writings published on this subject. The Reader explores not only the presence of Muslim religious practitioners in Europe and the Americas but also the impact of Islamic ideas and Muslims on Western politics, societies, and cultures. It is ideal for use in the university classroom, with an extensive introduction by Edward E. Curtis IV and a timeline of key events in the history of Islam in the West. A brief introduction to the author and the topic is provided at the start of each excerpt.

Part 1, on the history of Islam in the West, probes the role of Muslims and the significance of Islam in medieval, early modern, and modern settings such as Islamic Spain, colonial-era Latin America, sixteenth-century France, nineteenth-century Crimea, interwar Albania, the post-World War II United States, and late twentieth-century Germany. Part 2 focuses on the contemporary West, examining debates over Muslim citizenship, the war on terrorism, anti-Muslim prejudice, and Islam and gender, while also providing readers with a concrete sense of how Muslims practise and live out Islamic ideals in their private and public lives.

Acknowledgments
Chronology
Introduction
PART ONE: Islam in Western History
1. Muslims in the Making of the West
(I) Brian Catlos, “The Caliphate in the West” (2014)
(II) María Rosa Menocal, The Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History (2011)
(III) David W. Tschanz, “The Arab Roots of European Medicine” (1997)
(IV) Christine Isom-Verhaaren, Allies with the Infidel (2013)
(v) R. Brooks Jeffery, “The Islamic Legacy in the Built Environment of Hispano-America” (2003)

2. Muslims in the Modern West
(I) Edward E. Curtis IV, “Why Muslims Matter to American Religious History, 1730-1945” (2012)
(II) Ian Almond, “The Crimean War (1853-6): Muslims on All Sides” (2009)
(III) Jamie Gilham, “Britain's First Muslim Peer of the Realm: Henry, Lord Stanley and Islam in Victorian Britain” (2013)
(IV) Nathalie Clayer, “Transnational Connections and the Building of an Albanian and European Islam in Interwar Albania” (2014)

3. Western Muslims in the Late Twentieth Century
(I) Saladin Ambar, “The Din of Malcolm: Projections of Islam in France and the United Kingdom, 1964-1965” (2015)
(II) Kathleen M. Moore, “U.S. Muslims in Prison: Constitutional Protection of Religious Liberty” (1995)
(III) Kambiz GhaneaBassiri, “American Muslim Activism Following the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan” (2010)
(IV) Jørgen Nielsen, “European Muslims in a New Europe?” (2004)

PART TWO: Islam in the Contemporary West
4. Practicing Islamic Religion in the West
(I) Vernon James Schubel, “Karbala as Sacred Space among North American Shi'a: 'Every Day Is Ashura, Everywhere Is Karbala'” (1996)
(II) Johan Fischer, “Halal, Haram, or What? Creating Muslim Space in London” (2009)
(III) Michelle C. Johnson, “'The Proof Is on my Palm': Debating Ethnicity, Islam, and Ritual in a New African Diaspora” (2006)
(IV) Julianne Hazen, “Conversion Narratives among the Alami and Rifa'i Tariqa in Britain” (2014)

5. Islam, Muslim Women, and Gender
(I) Asma Barlas, “Qur'anic Hermeneutics and Women's Liberation” (2005)
(II) Asifa Quraishi-Landes, “Rumors of the Sharia Threat Are Greatly Exaggerated: What American Judges Really Do with Islamic Family Law in the Their Courtrooms” (2013)
(III) Annelies Moors, “'Islamic Fashion' in Europe: Religious Conviction, Aesthetic Style, and Creative Consumption” (2009)
(IV) Edward E. Curtis IV, “Transnational Muslim Americans: Three Women in Jordan” (2013)

6. Muslim Citizenship, Belonging, and Dissent in the West
(I) Zareena Grewal, “Lights, Camera, Suspension: Freezing the Frame on the Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf Anthem Controversy” (2007)
(II) John R. Bowen, “Does French Islam Have Borders? Dilemmas of Domestication in a Global Religious Field” (2004)
(III) Basheer M. Nafi, “Fatwa and War: On the Allegiance of the American Muslims Soldiers in the Aftermath of September 11” (2004)
(IV) Riem Spielhaus, “Religion and Identity: How Germany's Foreigners Have Become Muslims” (2006)
(V) Mieke van Dijk and Edien Bartels, “'European Islam' in Practice-in the Bosnian City of Sarajevo” (2012)

7. Muslim Music, TV, and Comedy in the Age of Terror
(I) Hisham Aidi, “'Let Us Be Moors': Islam, Race, and Connected Histories” (2003)
(II) Amir Hussain, “(Re)presenting: Muslims on North American Television” (2010)
(III) Amarnath Amarasingam, “Laughter the Best Medicine: Muslim Comedians and Social Criticism in Post-9/11 America” (2010)
Index

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