As European Muslims and Muslims in the Middle East diverge, imams in Europe have emerged as major agents of religious authority who shape Islam’s presence in Western societies. This volume examines the theoretical and practical questions concerning the evolving role of imams in Europe. To what extent do imams act as intermediaries between European states and Muslim communities? Do states subsidise imam training? How does institutionalisation of Islam differ between European states?

Religious scholarship can be offensive tobelievers, as conflicts from the time ofGalileo and Spinoza to the recent critiqueof Danish religious scholars in the wake ofthe infamous Muhammad cartoons haveshown. Studies of this type of scholarshiphave been appropriated by believers as ameans of reinventing their own identities– as the training of twentieth-centuryMuslim clergy demonstrates. This volumeoffers a unique collection of training materialsfrom European Muslim clergy sincethe 1940s – including Third Reich reports on debriefing imams, surveillance files onMuslim activists, and information onBosnian clergy and their training centres– as well as an exploration of religion andacademic freedom in general, accompaniedby appendices in both Arabic and English.