University of Aarhus 2005
The book that suddenly became popular
Two years ago, when Lene Kühle began collecting the material for the book Moskeer i Danmark (Danish Mosques), she did not imagine that the subject would become front-page news. But the Mohammed crisis changed all this.
By Jakob Kehlet
A busy media representative from the Danish Ministry of Refugee, Immigration and Integration Affairs is on the line. He wants to check whether a reply to be given by the Minister corresponds with Lene Kühle’s point of view. She tells the impatient man that she needs a bit of time to look into it.
“I get two or three such calls every day. It can be individuals within the political system or journalists that need the opinion of an expert,” says Lene Kühle, Assistant Professor at the Department of the Study of Religion, after hanging up.
When she began working on the book Moskeer i Danmark (Danish Mosques) two years ago, she did not imagine in her wildest dreams that the knowledge she acquired in the process of preparing the book would be so much in demand.
The book is only one in a series that maps religions in Denmark. However, none of the other books about religions and movements such as Buddhism, New Age and Christianity have attracted anywhere near the same amount of attention as Assistant Professor Kühle’s book about the approximately 120 mosques or prayer centres located throughout Denmark.
When the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 cartoons of the prophet Mohammed, the subsequent reaction from the Muslim world led to nothing short of a crisis in terms of Danish foreign policy. This event suddenly heated up the mosque debate and added Assistant Professor Kühle’s name to the string of experts regularly quoted in the media – a role that has provided her with mixed experiences.
“If the topic is relevant, I generally agree to participate in interviews. By participating, I hope to correct some of the misunderstandings and incorrect information floating around. But sometimes I must admit that journalists use my statements incorrectly in superficial reports on the subject,” says Assistant Professor Kühle and gives an example from the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet. A journalist from the newspaper called her and asked if she could confirm that a certain mosque was receiving financial support from Libya.
Assistant Professor Kühle replied that it was possible the mosque received some financial support, but it would only amount to a few thousand Danish kroner .
The next day she could read an article in the newspaper with the headline “Mosques paid by Gaddafi”.
“There was really no basis for drawing such a conclusion. This was quite obvious when reading the article, which was based exclusively on insinuations by the journalist and my own vague statement. Afterwards, I can only regret that I did not smell a rat when the journalist approached me,” says Assistant Professor Kühle.
Lots of misunderstandings
Some of the most common misunderstandings that she comes across are the perceptions that Islam is a militant religion, that imams brainwash their congregations and that there is an inherent conflict between Islam and democracy.
“Previously, there was a more subtle perception of Islam, but today, the misunderstandings have almost become truths,” says Assistant Professor Kühle.
However, it is not only the voices critical of Islam that base their arguments on thin or incorrect information. Assistant Professor Kühle also sees many incorrect descriptions of Denmark as a country hostile to Islam. She encounters this perception especially among Muslims and foreign media.
“In Denmark, halal slaughter is permitted, which is not the case in many other European countries. Denmark also has a very liberal law regarding private independent schools, which makes it possible for Muslims to open their own schools. The fact that no regular mosque has yet been built in Denmark is not necessarily due to ill will within the Danish community, but rather that the Muslims have found it difficult to overcome the resistance that they are encountering. They have quite simply given up too quickly,” says Assistant Professor Kühle.
Noisy research atmosphere
Today, there is great focus on the ability of researchers to communicate their knowledge, and Assistant Professor Kühle should therefore be in a very advantageous position right now. Instead, the exposure of her research has been so violent that it has actually been a disadvantage for her.
“When I started working on this project, I wanted to write a neutral, unbiased book, but this has become very difficult with all the politics involved. Concepts such as fundamentalism and Islamism, for example, are used interchangeably. I actually think the words are often used in a misleading way, but I sometimes have to face having a bitter pill to swallow and just accept the inaccuracies in order to be able to contribute to the journalist’s article. It creates a kind of noisy atmosphere in my work, and the many telephone conversations steal valuable research time,” says Assistant Professor Kühle.
She has also discovered that she has to watch what she says to make absolutely sure her text remains unbiased.
“I have caught myself thinking about whether the publication of certain results would provoke undesirable reactions among the population, but I know perfectly well that I should not take such considerations into account. I considered this in connection with the description of women’s access to mosques. It is a fact that very few women go to the mosques, and this obviously has to be mentioned in my book,” says Assistant Professor Kühle.
The book was published in May 2006.
Lene Kühle has researched religion and mapped the circumstances regarding the approximately 120 mosques in Denmark.