Mosques in the Metropolis - by Elisabeth Becker (Paperback)

About the Book

"Mosques in the Metropolisis a dual-site ethnographic study of two of Europe's largest mosques, one a conservative Islamist community in London and the other a progressive Muslim community in Berlin. The contrasting sites allow sociologist Elisabeth Becker to provide a complex picture of Islam in Europe at a particularly fraught time. She spent over thirty months studying the mosques through immersion and interviews and provides an analysis that goes deep into European Muslim communities. Individual Muslim voices come through loud and clear-for example, the young mother of three in London trying to reconcile her conservative religious views with her desire to leave her husband-as do the historical and structural forces at play. Ultimately Becker insists that caste is a crucial lens through which to view Islam in Europe, and through this lens she critiques what she perceives as failing European pluralism. To amplify her point, Becker brings Jewish history and twentieth-century Jewish thought into the conversation directly, drawing on the ways in which Bauman and Arendt utilized the concept of caste to describe Jewish life and marginality. What is at stake here is nothing less than the fundamental values of freedom, equality, and individual rights--ostensibly the bedrock of European identity"--

Book Synopsis

Mosques in the Metropolis offers a unique look into two of Europe's largest mosques and the communities they support. Elisabeth Becker provides a complex picture of Islam in Europe at a particularly fraught time, shedding light on both experiences of deep and enduring marginalization and the agency of Muslim populaces. She balances individual Muslim voices with the historical and structural forces at play, revealing, in all their complexity, the people for whom the mosques are centers of religion and community life. As her interlocutors come to life in the pages, the metropolis emerges as a space alternative to the nation in which they can contend with degrading images of Islam and Muslims. Ultimately Becker insists that caste is a crucial lens through which to view Muslims in Europe, and through this lens she critiques what she perceives as the failures of European pluralism. To amplify her point, she brings Jewish history and twentieth-century Jewish thought into the conversation directly, drawing on scholars such as Walter Benjamin, Zygmunt Bauman, and Hannah Arendt to describe both Jewish and Muslim life and marginality. By challenging Eurocentric notions, from "progress" to "civility," "tolerance" to "freedom" and "equality, what is at stake, Becker insists, is the possibility of a truly plural Europe.

Review Quotes

"Mosques in the Metropolis is packed with interesting ideas, not the least of which is Becker's provocative intellectual fusion of Jewish thought with classic sociological theory to understand how Muslims in Europe have become marginalized as strangers and Others."-- "American Journal of Sociology"

"Mosques in the Metropolis is a poetic analysis of Muslim lives in Berlin and London. Becker insightfully weaves together the discernments of nineteenth- and twentieth-century European Jewish thinkers with the experiences of contemporary Muslims inhabiting the same spaces. This is one of the most inspiring discussions of palimpsests of history in Europe that shows how the past, present, and future are intimately and unexpectedly connected."-- "Esra Özyürek, University of Cambridge"

"Evocative, stirring, and thought-provoking are terms that capture Becker's compelling narrative about the complex lives of faithful Muslims in several European contexts. Mosques in the Metropolis cunningly and creatively brings the reader into the folds of Europe's tortured history with Islam and Muslims, which continues to this day. Becker artfully interweaves the stories of Muslim communities with the larger questions of citizenship, faith, and belonging. Punctuated with the voices of strangers of another time, namely European Jews, this readable book teems with insights and makes for indispensable reading."-- "Ebrahim Moosa, Mirza Family Professor of Islamic Thought & Muslim Societies, University of Notre Dame and author of What Is a Madrasa?"

About the Author

Elisabeth Becker is assistant professor/Ad Astra fellow of Sociology at University College Dublin.