Islam and Muslims in Austria

Islam and Muslim Minorities in Austria: Historical Context and Current Challenges of Integration

“…These studies offer the following explanations for the difficulty facing European societies with respect to integrating their Muslim 1 See also Bischof et al (2005); Sticker (2008); Dokumentationsstelle für Muslime in Österreich (2015); Bauer (2016); Hafez (2018). 2 These include book chapters on Austria, such as 'Islam in Austria' (Kroissenbrunner 2002), 'Religious Citizenship versus Politics of Migrant Integration: The Case of Austria' (Rosenberger and Mourao Permoser 2009), 'Integration and Representation of Islam in Austria and Germany' (Sezgin and Rosenow-Williams 2013) and 'Islam and Muslims in Austria' (Mattes and Rosenberger 2015). See also Wodak et al (2003), Mourao Permoser, Rosenberger, and Stoeckl (2011), Rosenberger and Hadj-Abdou (2012), Schmidinger and Cakir (2014), and Wieshaider (2004). minorities: (1) the liberal identity of European states and the illiberal threat Islam might pose to it (Hansen 2011); (2) the challenge of accommodating and regulating Islam in secular Europe (Joppke 2013); (3) Europe's unwillingness to adapt predominantly Christian settings to religious pluralism (Foner and Alba 2008); (4) the treatment of 'Muslim' as a racialised category that designates a 'visible other' in relation to white Europeans in a 'colour-blind' Europe (El-Tayeb 2011: 16); (5) the rise of far-right parties and party competition to monopolise the issue of Islam (Hafez and Heinisch 2018).…”

“…See also Wodak et al (2003), Mourao Permoser, Rosenberger, and Stoeckl (2011), Rosenberger and Hadj-Abdou (2012), Schmidinger and Cakir (2014), and Wieshaider (2004). minorities: (1) the liberal identity of European states and the illiberal threat Islam might pose to it (Hansen 2011); (2) the challenge of accommodating and regulating Islam in secular Europe (Joppke 2013); (3) Europe's unwillingness to adapt predominantly Christian settings to religious pluralism (Foner and Alba 2008); (4) the treatment of 'Muslim' as a racialised category that designates a 'visible other' in relation to white Europeans in a 'colour-blind' Europe (El-Tayeb 2011: 16); (5) the rise of far-right parties and party competition to monopolise the issue of Islam (Hafez and Heinisch 2018). Another area of research analyses Muslim organisations and their role in the political claims-making and civic/religious participation of migrants (Waldrauch and Sohler 2004;Sezgin and Rosenow-Williams 2013;Mattes and Rosenberger 2015).…”

Who We Are Is What We Believe? Religion and Collective Identity in Austrian and German Immigrant Integration Policies

“…A state-recognized Islamic religious community was then established in 1979, long before Islam became a politicized issue. Many aspects of institutional embedding which are disputed in other European countries are regulated and not very contentious (Mattes & Rosenberger, 2015).…”

“…While Christian ancestry is less present than in German documents, the pattern of universal religion characterizes Austrian immigrant integration policy documents of the study period. This might be related to the relatively active role of religion that can be found in Austria beyond the field of immigrant integration policies (Avramopoulou, Çorbacioğlu, & Sanna, 2012;Mattes & Rosenberger, 2015).…”

What is at stake when Muslims join the ranks? An international comparison of military chaplaincy

“…Austria, Belgium and Germany all implement so-called models of 'cooperation' between state and religion (Fox 2008, 108-109) where selected religious groups that have been officially recognised as corporations under public law closely cooperate with the state on selected topics such as military chaplaincy. In the cases of Belgium and Austria, Islam has been recognised as a corporation under public law and hence as an official partner for the state since 1912 and 1974 respectively (Mattes and Rosenberger 2014;Torrekens 2014). In Germany, this official recognition of a Muslim body as a corporation under public law is still pending.…”