Compared to the Netherlands and especially Germany, where centers for Islamic studies, including Islamic theology have been established, the Scandinavian countries are a bit behind. However, we have partly managed to establish theological studies of Islam at some universities (Copenhagen, Oslo and Uppsala).
In Denmark, the Faculty of Theology at University of Copenhagen housed a Center for European Islamic Thought from 2007 to 2011, but it was closed because of research reprioritization and financial cutbacks.
The same faculty hired a professor of Qur’anic studies in 2013 and as of 2016, it is running a masters program on Islam with a primary focus on Islamic chaplaincy.
In Norway, at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo, there is a masters program (“Religion and Society”) that includes different Islamic subjects such as Islamic theology, philosophy, ethics and Sufism, aiming to contribute to both Islamic theology and interreligious theology.
In Sweden, in 2012, Uppsala University established a bachelors program in Islamic Studies entitled “Training in Islamic Theology, Philosophy and Jurisprudence.”
The entire discussion about Islamic theology goes back to the 2000s, when the issue of education programs for imams was raised. Several public figures and politicians claimed that the integration of Muslims in Europe depended on whether Muslims had a modern European interpretation of Islam that was contrary to the conservative and radical Islam preached by many imams.
Since then, we have had many discussions about the need and importance of Islamic studies at university level with the participation of university employees, politicians and Muslim representatives. We have come to the conclusion that it would be unrealistic to establish imam training as such at the present time, but that it is possible and necessary to teach Islamic
theology at universities as a subject accessible to all interested, including those who wish to become imams.
Muslim representatives and organizations in Denmark and Norway are still quite skeptical about initiatives to establish study programs in Islamic theology at secular universities. However, this has changed to a certain extent since some imams have been employed by the state as hospital or prison chaplains and more Muslims, including imams, have participated in the existing courses on Islam at the Faculty of Theology in Oslo, and after having discussed it at several conferences and consultations during the last few years. This is evident in Denmark since several imams actively participated in the establishment of a masters program in “Islamic theology and practices” with a focus on Islamic chaplaincy at the Faculty of Theology in Copenhagen.
I remember the first conference on Islamic theology in Denmark in 2005, organized by the University of Copenhagen, whose goal was to discuss the possibilities and the experiences of other countries and Danish local ambitions in relation to academic studies in Islamic theology. Surprisingly, the Danish politicians and Muslim representatives present agreed not to launch such a program, although their motivations differed. The politicians argued that education in Islamic theology is an internal Muslim issue, whereas the Muslim representatives emphasized that a study of Islamic theology, which they perceived as being in fact imam training, should not be organized by Danish secular universities. In addition, I can mention our colleagues from the humanities, who were ultimately skeptical about theology, especially Islamic theology, as an academic subject.
There was a similar process in Norway. At the University of Oslo, on the initiative of the Faculty of Theology and in collaboration with the Islamic Council in Norway, a working group was established in 2007 to examine the possibility of establishing a Center for Islamic Studies in the Faculty of Theology. The initiative was not realized partly because of Muslim skepticism about the very idea of studying Islamic theology at a Christian theological faculty. The Muslims questioned whether it would not mean doing Islamic theology in a Christian way. It was also because the faculties of theology and humanities were unable to agree on the location of the center. A Center for Islamic and Middle East Studies was established at the Faculty of Humanities in 2011, but its field of research and teaching did not include studies in Islamic theology.
Coming back to the original question about the relationship between Islamic theology and the everyday life of European Muslims, we can come to the following conclusion based on the Scandinavian experience: the establishment of academic studies in Islamic theology, fully accepted and supported by Muslims, will remain a difficult task as long as Muslims
within a secular university. Despite the already existing study programs at some universities, which actually do contribute to the continued education of imams, the majority of practicing Muslims continue to prefer imams/
theologians who are trained at traditional madrasas and Islamic colleges/
universities. Nevertheless, theological reflection related to the European context is already an important part of the Muslim self-understanding and the future study of Islamic theology will most likely be an integral part of the existing European academic system.