Being German, Becoming Muslim

Every year more and more Europeans, including Germans, are embracing Islam. It is estimated that there are now up to one hundred thousand German converts--a number similar to that in France and the United Kingdom. What stands out about recent conversions is that they take place at a time when Islam is increasingly seen as contrary to European values. Being German, Becoming Muslim explores how Germans come to Islam within this antagonistic climate, how they manage to balance their love for Islam with their society's fear of it, how they relate to immigrant Muslims, and how they shape debates about race, religion, and belonging in today's Europe.

Acknowledgments ix Introduction Germanizing Islam and Racializing Muslims 1
Chapter 1 Giving Islam a German Face 24
Chapter 2 Establishing Distance from Immigrant Muslims 51
Chapter 3 East German Conversions to Islam after the Collapse of the Berlin Wall 69
Chapter 4 Being Muslim as a Way of Becoming German 87
Chapter 5 Salafism as the Future of European Islam? 109
Chapter 6 Conclusion 132 Notes 137 References 149 Index 163