Muslim Minorities in the West Visible and Invisible by Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad and Jane 1 Smith, eds. (New York and Oxford: AltaMira Press; 2002. 306 pages.)

Abstract

The Muslim diaspora, which has become established as a significant area
of publishing in the past 2 to 3 decades, is being charted by a number of
books and journals. This edited collection is a valuable addition to the literature,
although specialists in the field will notice some degree of overlap
with existing sources.
The book is divided into three sections exploring the Muslim experience
in America (seven chapters), Europe (three chapters covering France,
Germany, and Norway), and areas of European settlement (five chapters
covering Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the Caribbean). The
best way to view this book is to consider it a series of case studies examining
how Muslims in different contexts have moved from being tempo­
rary and peripheral individual sojourners to being, within their adopted
societies, generally well-established communities that have largely overcome
their internal differences and external structural barriers in order to
be publicly recognized as a part of multicultural and multi faith communities
and societies. Many of the contributors believe that Muslim minorities
are growing, dynamic, confident, and demographically "young" in most of
their new societies, and that wherever they have established themselves,
they have sustained their presence and thrived, sometimes in the face of
extreme hostility.
This case study character has advantages and disadvantages. On the
one hand, this reviewer found it extremely valuable to learn more about
the experience of some very specific minority groups, such as Sahelians in
France, who are usually ignored and overshadowed in the literature by the
overwhelming Algerian-Moroccan presence in France. Likewise, with relatively
little academic material available on Muslims in New Zealand, for
example, this book fills many of the academic gaps in the literature. The
first-hand accounts from previously unpublished sources were similarly
valuable, and the chapter on establishing the Islamic Party in North
America constitutes an important documentary record. On the other hand,
some chapters went over well-established ground, such as Turks in
Germany. Specialists on Muslim minorities will find that some chapters
repeat already well-known data and profiles oflslam in these contexts ...