The Legal Treatment Of Islamic Minorities In Europe

In all countries of the European Union, the Muslim communities, numbering about 15,000,000 people, represent a substantial religious minority, although it is a very varied group, both in terms of religious practice and national origin. The very weight of this minority forces the legal systems to come to terms with its presence. However, these changes are highly diversified and are evolving rapidly, not necessarily towards greater tolerance. This volume provides a brief sketch of these changes, describing the situation of some member countries of the European Union (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and UK) and of one of the enlargement candidate countries, Romania. The book also contains an initial attempt at comparison between European countries and the USA and an overall analysis of the problems posed by the Islamic presence in Europe and the strategies to manage them. This work allows readers to draw some general conclusions on convergences and divergences within the European Union and the factors that determine them.

This book describes the legal treatment of Muslims in Italy, contrasting it with other European states and jurisprudence and with wider global tendencies. The study presents a series of case studies and a theoretical framework built around the concepts of religious freedom, state neutrality and church and state collaboration. The author argues that this model, which combines the state level with the supranational level in the form of the European Convention of Human Rights, better accommodates religious freedom not just for Muslims, but for wider society, in Italy and elsewhere.

Islam is a growing presence practically everywhere in Europe. In Italy, however, Islam has met a unique model of state neutrality, religious freedom and church and state collaboration. This book gives a detailed description of the legal treatment of Muslims in Italy, contrasting it with other European states and jurisprudence, and with wider global tendencies that characterize the treatment of Islam. Through focusing on a series of case studies, the author argues that the relationship between church and state in Italy, and more broadly in Europe, should be reconsidered both to secure religious freedom and general welfare. Working on the concepts of religious freedom, state neutrality, and relationship between church and state, Andrea Pin develops a theoretical framework that combines the state level with the supranational level in the form of the European Convention of Human Rights, which ultimately shapes a unitary but flexible understanding of pluralism. This approach should better accommodate not just Muslims' needs, but religious needs in general in Italy and elsewhere.

Islam is a growing presence practically everywhere in Europe. In Italy, however, Islam has met a unique model of state neutrality, religious freedom and church and state collaboration. This book gives a detailed description of the legal treatment of Muslims in Italy, contrasting it with other European states and jurisprudence, and with wider global tendencies that characterize the treatment of Islam. Through focusing on a series of case studies, the author argues that the relationship between church and state in Italy, and more broadly in Europe, should be reconsidered both to secure religious freedom and general welfare. Working on the concepts of religious freedom, state neutrality, and relationship between church and state, Andrea Pin develops a theoretical framework that combines the state level with the supranational level in the form of the European Convention of Human Rights, which ultimately shapes a unitary but flexible understanding of pluralism. This approach should better accommodate not just Muslims' needs, but religious needs in general in Italy and elsewhere.

Master's Thesis from the year 2018 in the subject Law - European and International Law, Intellectual Properties, grade: C, Hamburg University of Ecomomy and Policy (Europa-kollege), course: LLM/EU Legal Studies, language: English, abstract: This thesis is about finding out if there is a possibility to consider reconciliation between Islam a minority religion and European law in regards to human rights.The aim is to understand the conflict between Islam and liberal political concept human rights law to present a picture that can show human rights protection in European society of which Muslims have become an essential part. Sharia law is taken as an Islamic legal and political manifestation that considered being in conflict with contemporary liberal political concepts like European Union and its laws. With the help of comparative analysis of Islamic countries both in a non European country and a country that is a party to European convention, and historical practices of Muslim societies and regimes in relation to value of Sharia in Islamic civilizations and contemporary world. It was observed that Sharia has never been the primary source of legal and political fabric of Islamic rules throughout the history and a larger part of Islamic morals and values recognize modern liberal political concepts and values such as constitutionalism and human rights which are also practiced in modern Muslim majority states like Turkey. John Rawls’ theory of overlapping consensus is used in support which says that a desired consensus is only possible if a concept affirms a political conception that is sufficient to express values under favorable conditions make a just constitutional regime despite other values may oppose them.

Islam, Europe and Emerging Legal Issues brings together vital analysis of the challenges that Europe poses for an expanding Islam and that Islam poses for Europe, within their ever-evolving religious, legal, and social environments. This book gathers some of the best thinking on Islam and the law affecting current and contested issues that can no longer be ignored, particularly as they have found their way before the European Court of Human Rights. Contributors include leading authorities who are working at the heart of this generation's law and religion questions in Europe and across the world. This book outlines implications for all those who look to Europe-from both within and without-for models of human rights implementation and multi-cultural accommodation.

This book includes a collection of studies focused on engagements of religious minorities with the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Beginning with an introduction of the global importance of the ECtHR as a standard setter in the protection of religious minority rights, the subsequent five chapters entail critical assessments of some of the Court’s case law dealing with religious minority claims (exploring their clarity and consistency – or lack thereof – and controversiality). In the process these texts impart a nuanced perspective on the challenges the Court faces in striking the right balance between protecting individual freedoms and respecting state rights to manage ‘nationally’ and ‘culturally’ sensitive matters. The second set of contributions makes readers privy to the varied results of this balancing act on the ground. Specifically, it offers empirically-based insight into the impact of the Court’s religion-related case law on grassroots religious minority groups working to defend their individual and communal rights. The chapters taken together deepen our understanding of the ECtHR in its approach to and impact on religious minorities and offer a rare vantage point on the Court, from the messages its generates to the messages received by religious minorities at the grassroots level. The chapters in this book were originally published in Religion, State & Society, the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs and Democratization.

11 Concluding remarks, Giorgio Conetti

"This title was first published in 2000: The presence of large numbers of Muslims within their borders is a relatively new phenomenon for most European states which introduces a radically different way of viewing the world and forces liberal states to reassess their own liberalism. This book explores the varying legal reactions throughout Europe to the rise of Islam. Essays on the legal systems of the leading European jurisdictions are complemented by others on general issues arising out of the impact of Islam in Europe on traditional concepts within European legal systems. In assessing how countries do and should react to demands from muslims within their borders, the relationship between religion and law is brought into question. The position of Muslims within non-Muslim European states is destined to become a key legal issue, not only for Muslims themselves, but for all religious minorities."--Provided by publisher.

This volume embodies an up-to-date and sensitive set of studies exploring the ongoing negotiation of European Muslim identities in Europe. The book argues there has been hitherto a three-fold response on the part of Muslims in Europe (some of whom are now third generation Europeans) - integrationism, isolationism, and escapism. Today the latter two responses are giving way, it is argued, to an active shaping of Muslim European identities. The central issue remains: what degree of freedom and what potential for cultural and religious diversity can minorities have in an outwardly secular and plural European society?