Nielsen, Jørgen, editor. Islam in Denmark: The Challenge of Diversity. Lanham, Md: Lexington Books, 2011.
Little has been published in English about Islam in Denmark although interest grew after the cartoons crisis of 2005-6. Danish research on the subject is extensive, and this volume aims to present some of the most recent to an international audience. While many of the circumstances which apply across western Europe — the history of immigration and refugees, settlement, the growth of Muslim organizations and international links, challenges of social and cultural encounter, and more recently Islam as a security issue — also apply in Denmark, there are also differences. A small, compact country with no recent imperial history, Denmark’s unified institutional, religious and social culture can make it difficult for newcomers to integrate. The fourteen chapters in this book cover the topic in three parts. The first part deals with the history and statistics of immigration and settlement, and the religious institutional responses, Christian and Muslim. Part two looks at specific issues and the interaction with the developing national debate about identity and minority. Finally part three presents the experience of four active participants in the processes of integration: youth work and hospital chaplaincy, interreligious dialogue, and the views of an imam.
Chapter 1: Setting the Scene (Jørgen S. Nielsen)
Part One: National Perspectives
Chapter 2: Denmark, Islam and Muslims – Socio-Economic Dynamics and the Art of Becoming (Jørgen Bæk Simonsen)
Chapter 3: Muslims in Denmark – a Critical Evaluation of Estimation (Brian Arly Jacobsen)
Chapter 4: Religion and State: Recognition of Islam and Related Legislation (Lisbet Christoffersen)
Chapter 5: Mosques and Organizations (Lene Kühle)
Part Two: Particular Perspectives
Chapter 6: Nørrebro and ”Muslimness”: A Neighborhood Caught Between National Mythscapes and Local Engagement (Garbi Schmidt)
Chapter 7: How Did ‘the Muslim Pupil’ Become Muslim? Danish State Schooling and ‘the Migrant Pupils’ since the 1970s (Mette Buchardt)
Chapter 8: Gender as a Tool in Danish Debates about Muslims (Rikke Andreassen)
Chapter 9: Conversion to Islam in Denmark (Tina Jensen and Kate Østergaard)
Chapter 10: Muslims as a Danish Security Issue (Mona Kanwal Sheikh and Manni Crone)
Part Three: Perspectives on the Ground
Chapter 11: ‘To be Something’ – the Role of Religion in the Formation of Protest Identity among Ethnic Minority Youth (Lissi Rasmussen)
Chapter 12: Counseling in the Health Service (Naveed Baig)
Chapter 13: Interreligious Relations (Safet Bektovic)
Chapter 14: Towards a European Understanding of Islam (Abdul Wahid Pedersen)