Islam in Post-communist Eastern Europe

Egdūnas Račius, Ph.D. (2004), University of Helsinki, is Professor in Islamic Studies at Vytautas Magnus University, and Senior Researcher in the project Post-secular Condition at Vilnius University, Lithuania. His research focuses on Eastern European Muslim communities. He is the author of Muslims in Eastern Europe (Edinburgh University Press, 2018).

• AcknowledgementsList of Figures and TablesIntroduction: What? The Churchification of Islam; Where? In Eastern Europe1 Notions of Church1.1 Grappling with Terms: Church and Other Forms of Religious Collectivities1.2 Islam—A Church-Less Religion?2 Islam in Minority (Diaspora) Contexts2.1 The Diaspora: Between Migration, Ethnicity and Religion2.2 Muslims as (Religious) Diaspora(s): Immigrants versus Autochthons2.3 Fiqh al-aqalliyyat versus ‘Euro-Islam’/‘European’ Islam2.4 Patterns of Governance of Religion (with an Eye on Islam) in (Western) Europe3 Key Concepts in the Regimes of Governance of Religion in Europe3.1 The Churchification of Islam in Europe3.2 The Securitization of Islam in Europe3.3 Religious Nationalism3.4 The Analytical Framework and Model4 State-Church Relations in Eastern Europe: An Overview4.1 Islam in Eastern Europe: The Context4.2 Historical Precedents of State-Church Relations in Eastern Europe4.3 Frameworks of Governance of Islam in Post-communist Eastern Europe5 Three Levels of (Non)Accommodation of Islam in Eastern Europe5.1 Legal Level5.2 Practical Politics Level5.3 Non-Muslim Social Actors Level6 Bottom-Up View: Dynamics in the Islamic Field6.1 From Islamic Spiritual Administrations into National Muslim Churches6.1.1 “Encompasses the totality of believers of that faith understood here as a set of dogmas, rituals and ethics”6.1.2 “Has an ecclesiastical-bureaucratic structure staffed by professional (ordained) clergy”6.2 Inner-Islamic Plurality and Community DynamicsConclusions: The Winners, the Losers, and the ProspectsBibliographyIndex

‘Račius’ book is one of the best overviews of the macro-trends that run through post-communist Islam in Eastern Europe.’Gianfranco Bria in Studia Islamica 117 (2022), 375-379.'Račius’ book stands out as a successful synthesis of research on Islam in Eastern Europe […]. Rather than offering chapters on the individual countries, in each chapter the author juxtaposes the arrangements and constellations in all seven countries that he focuses on. Equally important is that Račius brings the discussion of Eastern European Islam into the broader debate on Islam in Europe.[…]This thought-provoking book makes an important contribution to the debate on Islam not only in post-socialist Europe but across the whole of the continent.'Michael Kemper in Die Welt des Islams 61 (2021), 492-494.