Sharī’a and Muslim Minorities: The wasaṭī and salafī approaches to fiqh al-aqalliyyāt al-Muslima

Based on a study of thousands of religious decisions (fatwas) and juristic treatises, the book examines the ideologies and methodologies of two contesting approaches to the religious law of Muslim minorities (fiqh al-aqalliyyāt al-Muslima): the pragmatic and integration-minded wasaṭī, and the rigid and segregating salafī. Examining a range of debated issues—from whether it is permissible to serve in non-Muslim militaries to whether Muslims should congratulate Christian colleagues on Christmas to whether French female pupils may take off their headscarves—the book offers the most systematic study to date on a diverse and dynamic field of jurisprudence that concerns millions and is at the core of the most politically charged polemics of our time. Among its innovative contributions, it demonstrates how the notion that Muslims should convert Christians to Islam has come to legitimize Muslim permanent residence in the West and to justify facilitating pragmatic decisions that allow greater integration into Muslim societies.