Paper short abstract:

Although the great majority of Muslims living in Europe have accepted the secular foundation of the society some Muslims still have problems with secularism. My paper focuses on how international and global Muslim theologians such as Tariq Ramadan and Yusuf al-Qaradawi debate and view secularism.

Paper long abstract:

Although the large majority of Muslims living in Europe have accepted the secular foundation of the society it is clear that some Muslims still have problems with secularism. My paper focus on how international and global Muslim theologians such as Tariq Ramadan and Yusuf al-Qaradawi debate and view secularism and its impact on Muslims living in the West. To be able to understand the development of Muslim discourses in Europe (as well as in the United States) it is essential to analyse and study international and transnational networks that brings Muslims together (this includes both migration processes, globalisation and the impact of new information and communication technologies). For this paper I have mainly used fatwas (both published on the Internet and printed in books and pamphlets) that are discussing and debating how Muslim theologians are perceiving and debating the secular foundation of Europe and the United States. Both the opinions of Tariq Ramadan and Yusuf al-Qaradawi seem to have an important impact on how Muslims formulate and perceive their situation in the West.