AbstractsPhilosophy & Theology

This study investigates Yusuf al-Qaradawi’s and Tariq Ramadan’s conceptualizations of European Islam centering on three thematic issues: “European-Muslim” identity and the role of Muslims in Europe, reform in Islam pertaining to fiqh and Islamic ethics, and the question of incompatibility of Sharia with the European cultural system. It produces a detailed critique of the scholars’ positions, analyzes the ways in which their approaches overlap and differ from one another, evaluates the extent to which they take into account in their thinking the socio-political realities of Islam and Muslims in the West, and determines the feasibility of their propositions in the European context. The study argues that their approaches are inhibited by impractical suggestions, rhetorical ambiguities, and unexplained gaps that leave room for disagreement beyond the scope of intra-Muslim debate, but various other components within their thinking can be taken as building blocks that can be assembled into a more functional model that is devoid of the inconsistencies and problems identified in the thesis. It recommends that future research on Islam and Muslims in the West inquire further into said limitations and produce a well-argued critique that can contribute to the contemporary Muslim discourse on European Islam and reform.