Which language for understanding and practicing Islam in multilingual Europe? Case studies from immigrants from the Indian sub-continent & Suriname

International audienceThis paper draws on the fieldwork conducted into the language practices of Muslim individuals in the Nordic countries and the Netherlands. All the informants in the study were born in the Muslim quarter in the Indian sub-continent, with the exception of one informant who is from Suriname. Few works (Schor, 1985; Haque, 2014, 2012; Zolberg & Woon, 1999) in sociolinguistics seem to focus on the practice of Islam by immigrants in their daily lives, in which a plethora of languages are used for different functions. Previous works (Peach & Vertovec 1997; Ogan et al. 2013) have shown that the perception of Muslims in Europe is not favourable, and this factor has become a constraint when seeking to collect data for a large sample of the population. Sociolinguistic and ethnographic tools such as questionnaires, interviews, field notes and participant observation were employed to gain insight into socio-cultural practices and linguistic attitudes. The diachronic case studies have provided an in-depth understanding of the role played by different languages in the understanding and practice of Islam by immigrant Muslims. If Arabic is the principal sacred language for prayers and other rituals for immigrant Muslims, Urdu is considered as an important second religious language for many believers, as literature on Islamic teaching is widely available in this language. Also, due to the rise in popularity of social media and networking and their usage on smartphones and other electronic devices, English has appeared as another auxiliary language used in resources on Islamic discourses, and it has been ascribed the role of lingua franca for the dissemination of religious knowledge