Governing Islam Abroad: Turkish and Moroccan Muslims in Western Europe

Description

From sending imams abroad to financing mosques and Islamic associations, home states play a key role in governing Islam in Western Europe. Drawing on over one hundred interviews and years of fieldwork, this book employs a comparative perspective that analyzes the foreign religious activities of the two home states with the largest diaspora populations in Europe: Turkey and Morocco. The research shows how these states use religion to promote ties with their citizens and their descendants abroad while also seeking to maintain control over the forms of Islam that develop within the diaspora. The author identifies and explains the internal and foreign political interests that have motivated state actors on both sides of the Mediterranean, ultimately arguing that interstate cooperation in religious affairs has and will continue to have a structural influence on the evolution of Islam in Western Europe. Front Matter ....Pages i-xvii Introduction (Benjamin Bruce)....Pages 1-13 The Many Faces of Official Islam in Turkey (Benjamin Bruce)....Pages 15-43 The Makhzen and the Religious Field (Benjamin Bruce)....Pages 45-72 The Development of State Religious Services Abroad (Benjamin Bruce)....Pages 73-113 Creating a National Islam? Partial Governance and Public Policy Instruments (Benjamin Bruce)....Pages 115-163 Exporting Imams (Benjamin Bruce)....Pages 165-218 National Interests in Transnational Muslim Fields (Benjamin Bruce)....Pages 219-282 Conclusion (Benjamin Bruce)....Pages 283-296 Back Matter ....Pages 297-303