Islam in Denmark

The Challenge of Diversity

Jorgen Nielsen

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2011
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780739170137
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: European History

Little has been published in English about Islam in Denmark although interest grew after the cartoons crisis of 2005-6. Danish research on the subject is extensive, and this volume aims to present some of the most recent to an international audience. While many of the circumstances which apply across western Europe — the history of immigration and refugees, settlement, the growth of Muslim organizations and international links, challenges of social and cultural encounter, and more recently Islam as a security issue — also apply in Denmark, there are also differences. A small, compact country with no recent imperial history, Denmark's unified institutional, religious and social culture can make it difficult for newcomers to integrate. The fourteen chapters in this book cover the topic in three parts. The first part deals with the history and statistics of immigration and settlement, and the religious institutional responses, Christian and Muslim. Part two looks at specific issues and the interaction with the developing national debate about identity and minority. Finally part three presents the experience of four active participants in the processes of integration: youth work and hospital chaplaincy, interreligious dialogue, and the views of an imam.

Table of contents

• Chapter 1: Setting the Scene
• Chapter 2: Denmark, Islam and Muslims
• Chapter 3: Muslims in Denmark
• Chapter 4: Religion and State
• Chapter 5: Mosques and Organizations
• Chapter 6: Nørrebro and “Muslimness”
• Chapter 7: How Did “the Muslim Pupil” Become Muslim?
• Chapter 8: Gender as a Tool in Danish Debates about Muslims
• Chapter 9: Conversion to Islam in Denmark
• Chapter 10: Muslims as a Danish Security Issue
• Chapter 11: “To Be Something”
• Chapter 12: Counseling in the Health Service
• Chapter 13: Interreligious Relations
• Chapter 14: Towards a European Understanding of Islam
• About the Contributors