Rediscovering the Umma

This book discusses the role of Islam in the political and social developments in the Balkans after the end of the Cold War. With the newly-gained religious freedom, and in the context of multiple structural and cultural transitions, Muslim communities underwent remarkable transformations. They sought to renegotiate their place in formally secular legal and normative environments, mostly as minorities in majority-Christian societies. They reclaimed their Islamic
faith, practices, and identities in a complex geopolitical situation dominated (particularly after 9/11) by anti-Muslim sentiments. The rising political and cultural self-awareness of Muslims in Southeast Europe was frequently expressed by recourse to two frames of reference: the national and the
transnational. Despite a certain level of tension between those two perspectives, they were closely intertwined. Transnational Islamic influences often reinforced Muslim ethnonational identities rather than prompting a radical redefinition of religious allegiances in the key of a "universalist" Islam.

Merdjanova explores the transformations of Muslim identities in the region under the influence of various national and transnational, domestic and global factors, while also looking at the historical legacies that inform present complexities. Her book adds detail and nuance to ongoing debates about Islam in Europe.