Everyday lived Islam in Europe.

• Author: Jeldtoft, Dessing Nathal M.
• Position: Book review

There is a substantial body of literature on Muslims and Islam in Europe, which largely focuses on institutionalized forms of Islam such as social movements or issues pertaining to discrimination and integration. Everyday Lived Islam in Europe, however, is a significant edited volume that advances and promotes an "everyday" approach to study Muslims and Islam in Europe. The volume concentrates on the study of "everyday" aspects of religion as lived by ordinary people, people who do not rely on the support of any particular religious group. Contributors of the volume seek to explore the less-institutional and less visible dimensions of Islam in Europe through ethnography; that is, they aim to shed light on different forms of religiosity, the ways in which Islam shapes Muslims' everyday life in societal domains (i.e. schools, shops), how new technologies impact the relationship between Islamic knowledge and authority and 'how religion operates within these and plays out across them in the life trajectories of individuals' (p. 2). Everyday Lived Islam in Europe is an important collection of essays that can make a significant contribution to the contemporary studies of Muslims and Islam in Europe.

The book is a product of the AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Grants programme. It consists of two main parts, and includes ten chapters in addition to the introduction and conclusion. Part I concentrates on theoretical and methodological issues. In Chapter 1, Linda Woodhead offers a robust theoretical discussion. She focuses on Michel de Certeau, one of the pioneering scholars of "everyday life" studies, to illuminate how the everyday approach might be used in the study of religion. Woodhead convincingly argues that an "everyday" approach can bring new insights in the study of religion; and she helpfully shows what the everyday lived religion means in the volume by using the vocabulary of "tactical versus strategic." Strategic religion refers to official or proper religion (i.e. church), whereas tactical religion refers to religion lived by ordinary people, who do not have power, but operate within the space that is created by the elite (strategic religion). In Chapter 2, similarly, Nadia Jeldtoft discusses the importance of studying Muslims with an everyday perspective by drawing on hypervisibility of Muslims. Jeldtoft points out that a grand narrative about Muslims and Islam in the post-9/11 era has shaped the ways in which Muslims and Islam are...