ABSTRACT

In a recent review of Islam in liberal Europe, Hafez likens liberal society to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, formally inclusive in its liberal law and institutions, yet factually exclusive in popular sentiments and views that are often hostile to Muslims and Islam, not only for 'liberal' reasons. This chapter maps two ways in which liberal law has empowered Muslims, with a special focus on Germany. This is a particularly interesting case, as Germany can be called 'multicultural' at a legal but not at a political level. It looks at the shadow side of liberal law, in which it functions more as constraint on than resource for certain illiberal practices, which looms large in the post-2001 period. John Bowen's ethnography of British Sharia councils concedes that 'confusion reigns' in this domain, but he underlines that 'these councils carry out no actions that have the force of state law'.