A Critical Reflection on the Concept and Idea of European Islam

"European Islam" is a concept increasingly discussed in social and cultural circles devoted to addressing the problem of Muslims in Western Europe. European Islam is synonymous with human rights-friendly Islam, Europe-friendly Islam, acceptable Islam, secular Islam, modern Islam, national Islam -such as French Islam, English Islam, globalized Islam and Euro–Islam - and sometimes, moderate Islam. This article studies this idea by describing its different interpretations in the intellectual and cultural context of Western Europe. European Islam, which has been advanced only as an idea due to the lock of consensus on its theoretical bases, is considered as a project based on some policies regarding religious management in Western Europe aimed at secularizing the beliefs of Muslims in Europe with the least negative reaction among them. Therefore, although there is no single interpretation of the idea of European Islam, its conceptual ambiguity does not lead to European’ negligence of its functions beyond and within the boundaries of Europe.