Introduction

In many European countries, forms of knowledge related to Islam from an ‘inside’ perspective are currently being incorporated into educational systems (cf. Johansen 2006; Ferreiro Galguera 2011; Aslan and Windisch 2012; Vinding 2013). In higher education, various efforts are being made to introduce courses in Islamic theology or Islamic studies, imam and clergy training, and Muslim welfare work. Higher education programmes also seek to meet the need for religious education in schools, mosques, hospitals, prisons and the military (Pattison et al. 2013). In Muslim-minority countries in Europe, this development started about forty years ago (Aslan 2012: 59). The specific forms of Islamic studies or Islamic theology courses vary according to the national or regional educational system. In France, for example, imam training is offered at a private Islamic university, although there was one short-lived effort to teach Islamic theology at a public university in Strasbourg. This differs from the situation in Austria and Germany, where Islamic theology courses are offered at state universities (cf. Ferreiro Galguera 2011; Aslan 2012; Nielsen 2012). European countries also have differing state–religion conceptions (cf. Fetzer and Soper 2005; Nielsen 2012), and differing conceptions of the secular–religious distinction. In the countries that have established some form of Islamic higher education (e.g., the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Bulgaria), this has mostly been done through cooperation with religious representatives or organisations, in what are clearly top-down state initiatives. This is also true of the renowned Islamic theology programme in Bosnia (cf. Karić 2012). None of these countries have established Islamic higher education solely at the initiative of religious communities, in the sense of formally recognising private initiatives. Many do, however, have bottom-up initiatives in the form of private, traditional seminaries (cf. Haroon Sidat, Chapter 7, this volume). In France for example, degrees from the Institut Européen des Sciences Humaines (IESH), a private Muslim teaching institution, are not recognised within the state's educational system. Overall, there are many private initiatives and schools in Europe, while public and state initiatives are rare (cf. Aslan 2012: 59).