Amplifying Islam in the European soundscape : religious pluralism and secularism in the Netherlands / Pooyan Tamimi Arab.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Public manifestations of Islam remain fiercely contested across the Global West. Studies to date have focused on the visual presence of Islam - the construction of mosques or the veiling of Muslim women. Amplifying Islam in the European Soundscape is the first book to add a sonic dimension to analyses of the politics of Islamic aesthetics in Europe. Sound does not respect public/private boundaries, and people experience sound viscerally. As such, the public amplification of the azan, the call to prayer, offers a unique opportunity to understand what is at stake in debates over religious toleration and secularism. The Netherlands were among the first European countries to allow the amplifcation of the azan in the 1980s, and Pooyan Tamimi Arab uses this as a case study embedded in a broader history of Dutch religious pluralism where, up until recently, a Protestant hegemony demanded silent piety from members of other religions, especially Catholics. The book offers a pointed critique of social theories that regard secularism as all-encompassing.

Print version record.

Introduction -- "A minaret of light?" : transducing the azan -- A history of public worship : from procession prohibition to amplified azan -- Conflicting secularisms : the constitutional protection of the azan and nativism -- Regulating nostalgias : azan negotiations in a Dutch town -- Epilogue.

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