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The challenge of a single Muslim authority in Europe

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European View

Abstract

A single Muslim authority is slowly developing in Europe today. The author discusses the preconditions for such an authority and the advantages it might bring both to Muslims and to Europe as a whole.

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Notes

  1. By ‘faith’ we mean God’s gift of personal belief; by ‘morals’ we mean a person’s inner understanding of the difference between good and evil, right and wrong; and by ‘religion’ we mean theology as “the study of God and his relation to the world especially by analysis of the origin and teachings of an organized religious community” (See Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, 1981, s.v. ‘theology’). Thus, morality implies some kind of religiosity, but religiosity is not necessarily consistent with morality.

  2. The Arabic version of the Shahīdah is Ashhadu an lī ilīhe illallah wa ashhadu anna Muhammdan rasulullah.

  3. I have found very useful Novak’s distinction between a covenant as a perpetual relationship between two parties, the terms of which are not negotiated and wherein the violation of covenantal stipulations does not terminate the covenant; and a contract which is not perpetual, which can be negotiated and which can be terminated. See Novak [13, pp. 31–34].

  4. It is interesting to note here a reflection from a contemporary American politician about the importance of ‘the old story of God’s covenant’: “The Cartesian approach to the human story allows us to believe that we are separate from the earth, entitled to view it as nothing more than an inanimate collection of resources that we can exploit however we like; and this fundamental misperception has led us to our current crisis … The old story of God's covenant with both the earth and humankind, and its assignment to human beings of the role of good stewards and faithful servants, was—before it was misinterpreted and twisted in the service of the Cartesian world view—a powerful, noble and just explanation of who we are in relation to God's earth” [5, p. 218].

  5. Qur’anic citations are from The Holy Qur’an, translation and commentary by A. Yusuf Ali.

  6. See 14 for an interesting comparison of the Sharī’ah with the American Constitution.

  7. Although the concept of charisma is Christian, Dabashi has succeeded in convincing us that it can be helpful in explaining some aspects of Muslim sociology as well [3, pp. 47–49]. See also Glassman and Swatos [4].

  8. For more on the Shi’ite concept of authority see [2, 12].

  9. On the origin, development and doctrine of the Kharijites, see [9, p. 1074].

  10. Available on the website of the Islamic community in Bosnia-Herzegovina: www.rijaset.ba.

  11. See [17].

  12. For more on Islam and Muslims in Europe, see [15, 18, 19, 22].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. BiH Islamic Community Rijaset, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina

    Mustafa Ceric

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  1. Mustafa Ceric
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Ceric, M. The challenge of a single Muslim authority in Europe. European View 6, 41–48 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12290-007-0004-8

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