Göran Larsson

The impact of global conflicts on local contexts: Muslims in Sweden after 9/11: the rise of islamophobia, or new possibilities?

This article presents the most important data from a Swedish interview survey on the situation of Islamic communities in Sweden following 9/11 and also discusses how global conflicts affect local communities, even though the latter may be separated from the former in time and space. It argues the need for more empirical data that can be analysed and used for comparisons with other minority groups in Europe and the United States in order to avoid either positive or negative generalizations about Muslims and Islam in the West.

In Situ Detection of Myocardial Infarction in Pig by Measurements of Aspartate Aminotransferase (ASAT) Activity in the Interstitial Fluid

Microdialysis probes permeable to large molecules (m.w. cut-off > 200 kD) were introduced into the myocardium of anaesthetized pigs in order to evaluate their potential for early detection of myocardial ischaemia and enzyme markers for infarction. The left anterior descending coronary artery was occluded for 30 min and the myocardium was reperfused for 3 h. The concentrations of aspartate aminotransferase (ASAT), lactate, glucose and selected free amino acids were measured. The levels in the interstitium of ischaemic and non-ischaemic myocardium were compared with those in plasma from the coronary sinus as well as from a peripheral vein. Twelve probes were inserted in six pigs and withdrawn after 8-72 hours of sampling. No complications occurred. Simultaneous 100% increase of ASAT and lactate was found in myocardial dialysates after 30 min of ischaemia. ASAT activity remained at that level until the end of reperfusion. The plasma peak ASAT level was not attained until after 3 h. Glutamate was the only amino acid which increased significantly in the myocardial interstitium during ischaemia, peaking after 30 min of reperfusion. Dialysates from the unaffected myocardium showed no effects on lactate, ASAT or glutamate. The use of myocardial microdialysis for pre- and postoperative recordings in man is discussed.

Muslim claims-making in context: Comparing the Danish and the Swedish Muhammad cartoons controversies

The aim of this article is to investigate through a comparison of the Danish and the Swedish Muhammad cartoons controversies (1) why only the Danish controversy escalated into a conflict of global dimensions; and (2) what accounts for the differences in level and form of local Muslim claims-making in the two cases. The article takes advantage of the initial similarities of the two controversies in making a paired comparison, which provides an opportunity to evaluate the importance of context-specific particularities and of specific events/actions taken in the two cases. Despite several initial similarities, why did the two controversies produce such different outcomes? The article argues that the answer should be found in the interplay between distant contextual characteristics such as dominant elite discourses about Islam/Muslims, different styles of institutionalization of Islam in the two countries, and more situational circumstances of how the publications were initially framed by the relevant newspapers, the contingent choices of action by the political elites and cross-context lesson drawing.

The Fear of Small Numbers: Eurabia Literature and Censuses on Religious Belonging

Abstract The aim of this article is to analyse and compare the census statistics on Muslims in Europe provided by the Yearbook of Muslims in Europe with anti-Muslim estimates of the possible numbers of Muslims in Europe in order to give a comprehensive picture of how many individuals actually identify themselves as Muslims. Contrary to popular figures estimating that there are approximately forty to fifty million Muslims living in Europe (including Russia, but leaving out Turkey) the official census data provided by nineteen countries in the Yearbook gives a figure closer to five million. The findings in my article are based on the available censuses from 2000 until today (that is, summer 2012), and the results give a presentation of census statistics on individuals who identify themselves as Muslims in Europe. The results from the Yearbook of Muslims in Europe are critically discussed and related to estimates and popular assumptions about the number of Muslims in Europe that circulate in the media, especially among anti-Muslim writers who adhere to the so-called Eurabia theory. In conclusion it is clear that there is a large gap between popular anti-Muslim estimates of the number of Muslims and the figures presented in official census data. It is argued that this gap may have a negative impact on how Islam and Muslims are framed, discussed and debated in Europe today.

“One cannot doubt the potential effect of these fatwas on modern Muslim society.”1 Online Accusations of Disbelief and Apostasy: The Internet as an Arena for Sunni and Shia Muslim Conflicts:

This article focuses on a number of fatwas published on the Sunni website Islamqa that, among many things, present negative understandings of Shia Islam. Before discussing the content of the fatwas, I offer a brief reconsideration of the major lines of conflict that divide Sunni and Shia Muslims both in history and at the present day. I then argue that, although contemporary tensions and hatred between different Muslim individuals and groups can potentially be supported by stereotypical presentations of Shia Muslims on the Internet, in order for an individual or a group to turn to violence, a socio-political context is required that is conducive to violent interpretations of religious views. The fatwas considered here do not contain much that is new, and more or less repeat old theological positions. However, in the context of the current crises in Iraq and Syria, old tensions and conflicts between Sunni and Shia Muslims have gained momentum, making it obvious that theological differences are being used to dehumanize the Other and to legitimate violence against the religious Other.

“Most Muslims are Like You and I, but ‘Real’ Muslims . . .”: Ex-Muslims and Anti-Muslim Sentiments

The aim of this article is to analyse the views of a public critic of Islam, namely the Swedish Somali-born former Muslim Mona Walter (b. 1973). She has been selected because she has been very active in online media, social media and more ‘traditional’ forms of media such as print, radio and broadcasting. In my analysis I will discuss whether her thoughts can be viewed as Islamophobic, and if so to what extent. To decide on this matter, I have compared her statements about Islam with how the Runnymede Trust and the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (BRa) define Islamophobia. The empirical data consist of an online interview with Mona Walter for the Swedish podcast RLM. This particular interview has been chosen for analysis because this program has been associated with anti-Muslim views and is renowned for its strong criticism of Sweden’s migration policies and its multicultural society. The interview with Walter is analysed with the help of a content analysis.

Textbooks and Critical Readings—a Challenge for the Future

In this rejoinder I will make some comments about Emanuelsson’s brief text, “Islam and the Sui-generis Discourse: Representations of Islam in Textbooks Used in Introductory Courses of Religious Studies in Sweden,” and the comment it has received from Steven Ramey. Besides clarifying my own position in the debate, I hope that this reply will also start a discussion about pedagogical challenges (i.e., how to teach in the university) and how to write textbooks.

Geert Wilders and the Anti-Muslim Movie Fitna

This chapter consists of an analysis of H Gerrt Wilders’ controversial anti-“Islamisation” film Fitna, and of the polemics that both preceded and followed its release. To do justice to this debate, both Wilders’ criticism of Islam and the response it generated will be described, contextualised and assessed. In addition, the chapter will present a more broad discussion about the important role played by new information and communication technologies in the discourse on Muslims in Europe, with both detractors and defenders of Islam increasingly turning from the older print medias to the high-speed, and sometimes volatile, discussion-climate of the Internet.

History strikes back! Scientific and pedagogical implications of the critical study of early Islam

In recent years we have seen a growing interest in Islamic prophetic literature, the early history of Islam and the rise of the Muslim community within the broader field of Islamic studies. Following the German sociologist Max Weber’s theory of ideal types, we may divide the discussion of the early history of Islam into two opposing camps. On the one side there are the ‘revisionist’ or hyper-critical scholars who argue that the early Islamic history (or rather histories) found in the Qur’an, the Hadith and the sīra literature is genuinely unreliable, and that if these accounts are used they should mainly be seen as part of an apologetic genre or as survivals from later generations. This opinion is, for example, encountered in the works of Ignaz Goldziher (1850– 1921), Joseph Schacht (1902–1969), John Wansbrough (1928–2002), Michael Cook (b. 1940) and Patricia Crone (b. 1945), all scholars who view such Muslim sources as mainly fictitious or at least very difficult to use as reliable historical accounts. On the other side, there are ‘sanguine’ or ‘traditionalist’ scholars who are more optimistic in evaluating the descriptions found in the early Muslim sources, thus bringing them into conflict and disagreement with the researchers named above. While the opinions of the critics are fairly well known, the aim of this review essay is to highlight two recent contributions written by Harald Motzki and Gregor Schoeler. These appear to be closer to the group of ‘sanguine’ or ‘traditionalist’ scholars who believe that the early sources can tell us something substantial and concrete about the early history of Islam.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Tariq Ramadan on Secularisation: Differences and Similarities

Although the great majority of Europe’s fifteen to twenty-five million Muslims are not strict observers of Islamic law, Muslims in general are mainly classified along religious lines by non-Muslims.1 Contrary to this notion, most people of Muslim origin have been much affected by processes of secularisation and can be regarded either as secular or cultural Muslims.2 By cultural Muslims I am referring to the large group of individuals who have a Muslim cultural background but do not practice Islam on a regular basis. Resembling most Christians in Europe (at least in Sweden) they pay homage to religious (Islamic) norms out of habit, for identity purposes or on specific occasions. For example, it is important to follow religious rites and customs during Ramadan, or in connection with life-cycle rituals, such as birth celebrations, marriages and funerals, but not during the rest of the year.