The topic of this collection of articles is the increasingly transnational nature of Islam in Europe as well as the mechanisms by which the transnationalism is activated, especially the media. The papers integrate specific case studies with more general and thematic considerations, including the impact of the continuing migration processes and the adaptation of networks and intellectual and religious links by the 'European' generations of Muslims. This involves both the preservation and mobilisation of family and ethnic networks as well as the establishment of new personal and intellectual ('imagined') networks of shared interest which cross over the lines of the traditional or break out of them. These studies also show how European Muslims are increasingly locating themselves within global Islam.

Stefano Allievi, Ph.D. in Sociology, is Professor of Sociology at the University of Padua, Italy. He writes extensively on Muslim Europe including most recently Musulmani e occidente. Tendenze dell'islam europeo (Rome, Carocci).
Jørgen S. Nielsen, Ph.D. in Arab History, is Professor of Islamic Studies, University of Birmingham, UK. He has published extensively on Islam in Europe including Towards a European Islam (Macmillan, 1999).