Jens Stensgaard Jakobsen

Middle Class and Muslim?: Creating New Positions in Danish Society by Engaging in a Turkish Islamic Dialogue Association Jens Stensgaard Jakobsen

In »Middle Class and Muslim« Jens Stensgaard Jakobsen situates European Islam in a context of social mobility by showing how a particular group of Muslims are seeking to carve out new legitimate spaces in Danish society. The book shows how the religiosity of young men engaged in »Dialog-Forum«, an association inspired by the Turkish religious scholar, Fethullah Gülen, legitimates their rapprochement with Danish middle class culture in relation to their families. However, these religious beliefs threaten to delegitimize their middle class aspirations in relation to the wider Danish society. The book investigates how this paradox is being dealt with, how the middle class aspirations of the young men in Dialog Forum clashes with the strong Danish state-Church constellation and suggests that the »Gülen-movement« in Denmark in alliance with parts of the Danish Church in their activities are promoting a 'post-secular' society in which vital public presence of religious beliefs go hand in hand with thorough adherence to norms of secularism.