Localizing Islam in Europe: Turkish Islamic Communities in Germany and the Netherlands.

• Author: Engelmann, Irina
• Position: Book review

Localizing Islam in Europe: Turkish Islamic Communities in Germany and the Netherlands

By Ahmet Yukleyen

Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2012, 280 pages, $39.95 ISBN: 9780815632627.

Does the presence of Muslim immigrants in Europe change Islam? How is their identity shaped by the European context and do the social, political and economic conditions influence their understanding of Islam? Political and academic debates about the need for a so called "EuroIslam" often center around the compatibility of Islam and European liberal democratic institutions and view it as a precondition of the successful integration of Muslim immigrants. Indeed, Turkish Muslim communities in Europe and their interpretations of Islam have changed as much as Europe has transformed through the interaction with immigrant groups. Deepening an understanding of this mutually constitutive process can help to acknowledge the successes and identify the future challenges of a pluralistic society.

In Localizing Islam in Europe: Turkish Islamic Communities in Germany and the Netherlands, anthropologist Ahmet Yukleyen attempts to shed light on these identity construction processes by explaining the diversification of Islamic interpretation in Europe. Published in 2012, it takes an institutional approach to analyzing the production of local Islamic knowledge by Islamic communities in Europe, and the effects of this knowledge on the integration of Turkish Muslim immigrants. In his ethnographic comparative study, Yukleyen focuses on how Islamic communities in Germany and the Netherlands authorize moderate to proviolent interpretations of Islam.

In the introduction, Yukleyen offers a general outline and conceptualization of Islam, Islamic identity, and Muslim public life in Europe. The first chapter explains the theoretical background of the Turkish Islamic field to be analyzed; the second chapter introduces the reader to the concepts of Islamic authority and knowledge, which are used to examine the relationship between Muslims and Islamic communities. Chapter three deals with the different modes of Islamic activism within competing Islamic communities. In the following chapter, Yukleyen explains the connection between state policies and local interpretations of Islam. One of the most interesting chapters regarding current political debates is chapter five, which assesses the various impacts of Islamic organizations on Muslim integration. The last chapter's topic, before a...