ABSTRACT
Sharia has entered European parliaments, administrations, and courts: In several European states legislation on Islamic norms concerning clothing, slaughtering, and family law practices has recently passed or still is on the way. Islamic norms were applied in Europe since the establishment of Muslim realms in the Middle Ages until the end of the Ottoman Empire. Extra-judicial dispute resolution can serve as an instrument to achieve socially accepted solutions within a community living in far-reaching segregation from society as a whole. Equal access to justice, cultural sensitivity and participation in the political process are as important as legal education as to the necessity of common core rules protecting common core values as well as to the possibilities of diversity within this indispensable frame. The adversaries of the kind of constitutional orders are to be found among Muslim extremist groups and individuals as well as among right or left-wing radicals, extremist feminists, Christian fundamentalists and simple racists.
