Shariʿa and Life: Authority, Compromise, and Mission in European Mosques

Drawing on five years of field studies in pragmatic- and dogmatic-inclined mosques across Europe, Shariʿa and Life explores how Muslims engage with shariʿa norms in general, and specifically with the challenges they face as Muslims living in majority non-Muslim societies.

The book examines how fatwas (advice on shariʿa-related matters) are quested, negotiated, paraphrased, contested, or ignored in mosques, on the internet, and elsewhere. It also analyses individual strategies, external to religio-legal discourse, through which Muslims mitigate conflicts between interpretations of shariʿa and everyday life.

Among the issues discussed in the book are financial transactions, education, the workplace, sports, electoral participation, Christmas greetings, proselytizing, and the legitimacy of choosing to live in a non-Muslim country. Shifting the focus from the authors and texts of fatwas to their recipients, Shariʿa and Life gives voice to those often left voiceless and demonstrates the great discretion and flexibility with which tensions between shariʿa and life are resolved.

Uriya Shavit is a professor of Islamic, Democracy, and Migration studies at Tel Aviv University.
Fabian Spengler earned a PhD from Tel Aviv University. His main research areas are Muslim minorities in the West, and the discourse about Islam, education, and integration in Germany.