Introduction

This chapter argues that migrant Muslim women and their daughters are passive subjects, as some scholars still argue, but active members not only within their families but also among their extended female networks. It discusses the issue of defining anti-Semitism and whether Muslim anti-Semitism might be similar, as some scholars have suggested, to the Nazi ideal. The so-called Rushdie affair perhaps represents the first event that attracted considerable scholarly attention to the European Muslims’ mood. The Rushdie affair also represented the first visible turning point in the relationship between Muslims and the majority of the non-Muslim population. Among the most popular Islamic stories and myths are those of the Muslim women martyrs, who offered their lives to defend Islam and the Prophets but also exhorted their male relatives to show their Islamic honour by performing jihad. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.