The idea for the conference was driven by the fact that the administration of Islamic affairs and representation of Muslims in secular states have become hot issues in Western European debates on the social integration of Muslim citizens. South East Europe has over a century of experience in this area. Muslim communities in the region have developed well-established autochthonous Islamic religious administrations. While this experience cannot simply be transplanted elsewhere, it offers many insights for policy-makers in an enlarging and ever more diverse Europe. Also important are alternative Islamic structures in the region. Heterodox Sufi organizations exist in parallel with official Sunni establishments, both pan-Islamists and secularists have criticized clerical leaderships, and the established order is from time to time facing the challenge of Salafi networks. Independent Muslim women groups, too, are springing up. Leadership contests within the religious establishments, often tied to broader political conflicts, have led to schisms, parallel organizations, and local violence. All this calls for a systematic investigation of the Islamic administrations in the region. This conference specifically focused on these key structural aspects, which have immediate social and political implications. 

Many guests from local media, diplomatic core, NGO-s, religious and academic communities as well as members of ISEEF, had a chance to listen to respectable group of conference participants presenting their papers and discussing debated subjects.

Among the participants were:

Project has been carried out with the support of the King Baudouin Foundation and the National Lottery. Fore more about papers presented stay with www.iseef.net

You can find few pictures from the conference on this link: