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This book is a unique collection of alternative Muslim voices, predominantly from Europe, who come from a variety backgrounds - academia, theology, acting, activism - and who make a transformational contribution to the debate of the future of Islam and Muslims in the West. They are a selection, representing the silent majority voices many in the West so desperately want to hear.
Contributors are based in a variety of European and American cities, mainly in areas where there are large number of Muslim immigrant populations. Some discuss theological issues, while others talk about their personal struggles of being a Muslim in a non-Muslim setting and hearing conflicting messages about how one is supposed to behave as a "true Muslim." They come from different ethnicities and different social and academic backgrounds. This book is a unique collection of alternative Muslim voices from a variety of backgrounds who make a transformational contribution to the debate of the future of Islam and Muslims in the West

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Introduction; Z.Baran PART I: ISLAM VERSUS ISLAMISM Navigating Islam in America; H.Mirahmadi European Islamists and the Struggle for Domination and Representation of Islam in the West; Y.Qandil The History of Islam in Italy; A.Vincenzo Democracy and Islam in the Maghreb: and what it means for Europe; F.Laroui PART II: PERSONAL STORIES AND LESSONS LEARNED Rebel with a Cause: A Personal Journey from Sufism to Islamism and Beyond; C.Omar Faces of Janus: The Arab-Muslim Community in France and the Battle for its Future; S.Labidi The Lamp and the Candle; M.Hilali PART III: LOOKING FORWARD: CONCEPTS/SUGGESTIONS Reading the Quran in Paris: The Case for a Secular Democracy; G.Bencheikh

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ZEYNO BARAN is Senior Fellow at Hudson Institute´s Center for Islam, Democracy and the Future of the Muslim World and Director of the Center for Eurasian Policy.

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