ABSTRACT
Muslims have lived in the West in large numbers for decades. The post-World War II era has been marked by significant population movements from Muslim societies to the West, presenting novel challenges for new Muslim settlers and their host countries. Some of these have been short term and tended to relate to practical issues such as employment and housing, while others have been more complicated and related to the future of Muslims in the West. Do Muslims have a future in the West? Muslims have conceptualised this key question depending on the stage of their settlements. For the first wave of settlers this was a non-question. Affiliation with countries of origin remained very strong and settlement in the West was generally seen as a temporary experience. The dream of returning home acted as an emotional block to ‘feeling at home’ in their new Western countries of residence. For the great majority of new Muslim settlers, returning home was not a practical option due to a range of welfare considerations, but nostalgia has been a powerful emotion. Reconciling the idea of return to countries of origin and the reality of being in the West became easier with the passage of time and the natural growth of familial and community networks.
