The European Imam: A Nationalized Religious Authority

This chapter argues that the position of the European imam is being nationalized and consequently rendered more dependent on both religious scholarship and political authority, and that the transmission of an ethicist message has become its major mission. First, this chapter briefly overviews the crisis of modern Islamic religious authority, situating the place of the imamate in Islamic scholarship to demonstrate that it is not an independent scholarly position but rather an administrator of the religious affairs of believers at the local level. Second, the chapter presents the model of the Moroccan imamate as a way of understanding the role that is expected of imams by modern political and religious authorities. Third, reference is made to the situation of the French imamate as an example of the situation of imams in Western Europe. The reflective closure of the chapter raises points about how the question of ethics is becoming central in the sermons and teachings of a growing number of imams, and how important it may be as a field for further research.