Abstract
Within the literature on Muslim migration and minorities in Europe, this is a unique book in that it examines the status of minorities in both Europe and the Middle East, with a focus on Christians in the Middle East and Muslims in Europe. A comparative perspective is thereby provided, along with an historical overview, even though this is not carried out systematically. In the preface (which is actually an introduction and overview of the book), Christiane Timmerman points to some of the convergences and divergences in the respective (religious) minority experiences. The main difference is that the Christians of the Middle East are indigenous to the region, predate the majority Muslim population by several centuries, and were probably the majority within the Ottoman Empire (see chapter by Ali Soner).
The Christian numbers, however, have dwindled in the region; politically they are unorganized and weak, and they tend to keep a low profile. By contrast, the Muslims of Europe are recent arrivals from the Middle East (or South Asia or Africa), are a growing population, and—while internally heterogeneous—have become politically and culturally assertive. Thus, while both sets of religious minorities face discrimination and second-class citizenship, the Christians of the Middle East do not challenge their status (even though they are also the victims of armed violence in Egypt and post-2003 Iraq, as well as in Pakistan), while the self-identified (and non-secular) Muslims of Europe confidently make claims for rights, recognition, and resources.
In-Between Spaces is the product of a 2007 conference in Belgium that deliberately sought interdisciplinarity and a breadth of scholarly perspectives on the subject. There are contributions from anthropologists, international studies, political scientists, and religion scholars. A welcome feature, in my view, is the inclusion of contributions by junior scholars or PhD students from the Migration and Minority Research Center at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Catholic University of Leuven, which is in fact the major institution behind the project. The book comes in four parts, each of which begins with an introductory essay: plurality in the Middle East, minorities in Europe, virtual communication and the minority issue, and European Islam.
Specific chapters in Parts I and II deal with dwindling diversity in the Middle East and Iraq (Dick Douwes and Herman Teule); “the limits of toleration” and the construction of non-Muslim citizenship in Ottoman and republican Turkey (B. Ali Somer); self-perception of Christian and Muslim Arab minorities in Antakya, Turkey (Fulya Doğruel); a “religious and feminine counter-discourse” in Flanders (Els Vanderwaeren); converts to Islam in Belgium (Iman Lechkar); popular culture and Muslim youth in Britain (Peter Mandaville); Islamic schools in Britain and the Netherlands (Inga Niehaus). In these chapters one will find discussions of the ways in which diversity and pluralism fell apart in the nineteenth century through violence (e.g., attacks on Christians by Druze in Lebanon and by Muslims in Damascus); how nationalism, republicanism, and “Arab socialism” were in part frameworks for the (re)integration and unification of communities; how Islamic schools are both a means of improving scholastic achievement and a form of self-segregation.
The era of globalization and transnational communities has been characterized by virtual communications, mobilizations, and identity construction. Thus Part III consists of essays on Sunni English-language e-fatwas on end-of-life decisions (Stef Van Den Branden and Bert Broeckaert) and the use of the internet by Dutch Moroccan youth for self-empowerment (Lenie Brouwer). The final part consists of an analysis of Syrian-Egyptian scholar Rashid Rida’s early twentieth century fatwas to Muslims under non-Muslim rule (Umar Ryad) and an essay on how to read the Qur’an (Rashid Benzine).
Inevitably in a book that derives from a conference and is interdisciplinary, there is unevenness in quality. Some of the chapters are better organized and more cogent than others. Likewise, some of the introductory essays are stronger and more informative than are others. One weakness is that the chapters and introductory essays do not always speak to each other. For example, Tariq Modood’s introductory essay to Part II would have done well to refer back to some of the issues raised in Part I. When he states that, “We are all aware of how failed integration and an unresponsive political system can lead to extremism and violence” (p. 110), it would have been useful to follow up with a reflection on why this is not the case with the Christian minorities in the Middle East (or South Asia). And since Part II includes an essay on European converts to Islam, Modood might have discussed the implications for human rights, citizenship, and multiculturalism in the Middle East with its prohibition of conversion from Islam to another religion, and the continued high rates of out-migration, especially by Christians and secular Muslims. As Iraq-British sociologist Sami Zubaida has reminded us, cosmopolitanism was once a defining feature of the Middle East. It is therefore ironic, if sad, that as Europe has become more multicultural, the Middle East has become considerably less so.
The book also fails to discuss the meaning of “in-between spaces” and of “transition.” The ambiguous and even ambivalent social spaces and social identities of Christians in the Middle East and Muslims in Europe certainly are discussed in individual chapters but are not examined systematically or comparatively. Nor is there an elucidation of the “transitional” status of the minority groups in the two regions. Finally, sociologists will find few references to the sociological literatures on migration, religion, or citizenship—and they may be disappointed by the absence of an index. Nonetheless, the book’s approach to the study of religious minorities is original and refreshing. Readers will come away with a keen sense of the challenges faced by both sets of religious minorities, and of the policy and political work required for inclusive citizenship in both regions.