In the coming weeks, a new instalment of Germany’s controversial Islam Conference (Deutsche Islam Konferenz, DIK) will take place under the auspices of the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The DIK functions as a discussion forum at which state-picked ‘Muslim representatives’ meet with high-level policy-makers in order to debate the place of Islam in German…
What is the meaning of the religious attire worn by some Muslim women? Are hijab and niqab hallmarks of the retrograde nature of Islam? Do they signal radicalisation and submission to male patriarchy – or self-determination and individual empowerment? These questions have been ceaselessly debated across Europe for years. In Germany, a new round of…
In recent years, civil society-led efforts to prevent Muslim youths’ turn to Salafism have intensified. Often described in terms of ‘preventing violent extremism’ (PVE) or ‘preventing radicalisation’, many of these projects have attracted generous funding by state agencies. Germany is perhaps the paradigmatic case of this development: through successive government funding initiatives, the country has…
On November 1, the Dutch Parliament adopted a motion that children visiting mosques as part of school outings must not be compelled to pray according to Muslim rite. The motion, which the government must now implement in law, came after the emergence of video material showing blonde Dutch pupils kneeling and bowing according to Islamic…
The United Nations Human Rights Council has said France’s face veil ban is a violation of women’s rights, as it called for a review of the “sweeping” legislation. The body found that the French law, passed in 2010, violated the rights of two French women, who were fined in 2012 for concealing their faces in…
