Islamophobia and the Question of Muslim Identity: The Politics of Difference and Solidarity (original) (raw)

He received his PhD from the University of Warwick where he studied ethnic relations and political philosophy under Professor Muhammad Anwar OBE, one of Europe's most prolific academics in this area of specialization. Dr Hellyer writes on minority-majority relations (including those in Europe, North America, Southeast Asia, and Africa), political philosophy and the interplay between religion and modernity. Presently he is completing work on his next book entitled Muslims on the Margins: Muslim Minorities in Southeast Asia, Africa and the West. The interchange between Muslims and Europe has a long and complicated history, dating back to before the idea of "Europe" itself was born, and the earliest years of Islam. There has been a Muslim presence on the European continent before, but never has it been so significant, particularly in Western Europe. With more Muslims in Europe than in many countries of the Muslim world, they have found themselves in the position of challenging what it means to be a European in a secular society of the twenty-first century. At the same time, the European context has caused many Muslims to rethink what is essential to them in religious terms in their new reality. European societies and Muslim communities, finding themselves in fascinating states of affairs, are trying to understand one another in terms of their own defining features, in the hope of finding a future of mutual benefit. These questions and issues are discussed in this work by way of progressing from one set of debates to another, as they relate to Europe, Islam, and pluralism. Each of the three parts of this work keeps in focus the dual concerns: European Muslims and Muslim intellectual perspectives; going from the general to the specific. In this direction, H.A. Hellyer analyzes the prospects for a European future where pluralism is accepted within unified societies, and the presence of a Muslim community that is of Europe, not simply in it. Hellyer argues that Europe must come to terms with all of her history, past and present and those Muslim communities should work to be integral to Europe. Divided into three parts, the book consists of seven chapters, preceded by Acknowledgements (pp. vii-ix) and followed by Notes (pp. 195-214); Bibliography (pp. 215-234); Glossary (pp. 235-237); and Index (pp. 239-246).