Islam in Europe - The Lure of Fundamentalism and the Allure of Cosmopolitanism (Hardcover, Revised ed.)

Islam in Europe is a book full of striking images: the assassination of and the death threats against artists and intellectuals; violent demonstrations demanding Sharia law for Europe; and acts of terrorism. ... But there is another reality, as Nilufer Goele describes it from her own life experience: Muslims who are politicians in European parliaments; scholars teaching at European universities; and artists who use this creative intercultural exchange as a theme in their art. ... Goele sees the best hope for a modern and European Islam in the Muslim women who--in contrast to the men--demonstrate their commitment to their heritage by wearing head scarfs while participating in modern Western life. In manifesting their professional and public experience in their own communities, they become the agents of change and modernism. Goele thus sees European Islam as "feminine," in contrast to the male-dominated traditional Islam.