The objective of this essay is to describe the state of the field of existing research on Islam and Muslims in (Western) Europe.

This bibliographic essay, however, will be selective for various practical reasons. First, the focus is on social scientific literature only. Secondly, the focus is on studies of Islam and Muslims who have arrived in (Western) Europe in the post Second World War period as well as their offspring. Thirdly the authors are dealing with an extensive literature – possibly a few thousand publications or more. It is impossible to carefully discuss each and every paper and, therefore, they confine themselves to a number of key publications. Fourthly, the scientific literature in Europe is not only vast in its size but also in its scope, covering a wide array of topics and written from a multitude of theoretical perspectives.

It is, moreover, clear that researchers have been influenced by ideological positions and debates regarding the role of religion in public life and/or the integration of minorities in the mainstream as well as by particular political of research agendas that prevail in their country. The literature, therefore, is rather heterogeneous, and this heterogeneity obviously hampers an unequivocal portrait of the state of the field. The authors start the paper with a brief description of the scene and the general history of the emergence of

Muslim communities in Europe. Then they focus on the study of Muslim communities in a number of Western European countries. They will conclude the paper by assessing the collective research agenda of scholars in Europe, and give their own thoughts on the applicability of this research for the United States. They also explore the possibility of establishing trans-Atlantic linkages in this field.

This title is published within the IMISCOE publication programme as part of the Working Papers. These Working Papers are the products of ongoing work by IMISCOE members that are not (yet) ready for publication within the IMISCOE-AUP Book series. They may range from State of the Art Reports (SoAR) on worldwide research within a particular domain to more specific products of ongoing work. The Working Papers are evaluated by the editorial committee for quality and completeness before being published on the website.

Peer-reviewed publications can be found in the IMISCOE_AUP Book Series developed in co-operation with the Amsterdam University Press (AUP). One of these publications is based on the nine IMISCOE State of the Arts (of which this working paper is one): The dynamics of migration and settlement in Europe. A State of the Art. IMISCOE Joint Studies. Amsterdam: AUP, Rinus Penninx, Maria Berger and Karen Kraal (eds) (2006).

This report is the collaborative effort of two IMISCOE members.

The IMISCOE Working Papers are part of IMISCOE which is an EU funded Network of Excellence in the Sixth Framework Programme

IMISCOE Network of Excellence
Karen Kraal (Communication Officer), tel. +31 (0)20 525 3659

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Frank J. Buijs and Jan Rath, IMES, UvA, Amsterdam

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