The presence of Shiite communities in Western Europe dates to the late nineteenth century, with Britain as the primary destination for immigration, as well as notable communities developing in Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Scandinavia. Exploring selected encounters of Twelver Shiite Muslims with the European West, this study examines local and transnational religious organization to assess socio-political integration. Its central thesis defines European Shiism through peripheral engagement and religious retention. Building on a range of language sources, interviews with Shiite spokesmen and fieldwork in Iran, Britain, the Netherlands, and Germany, Matthijs van den Bos identifies European Shiism with a religious mode of engagement involving hierarchization of collective self and other identities. Shiite parties with greater distance to high politico-religious authorities abroad are seen more likely to engage in cultural exchange with their European milieu. On one side stand ethnically varied Shiite organizations with limited engagement of others in Europe. The other shows civic outreach, ritual transformation, and integrationist theology.
