In preparing this report, the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life sought the counsel and advice of scholars with expertise in Muslim groups and networks in Western Europe. Peter Mandaville, director of the Center for Global Studies and Professor of Government and Islamic Studies at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., and a visiting fellow with the Pew Forum in 2009-10, served as the primary researcher for the project. Under Dr. Mandaville’s direction, the scholars prepared white papers and other materials summarizing their research findings.
In August 2009, the Pew Forum convened a workshop in Washington, D.C., where the scholars presented their research and addressed questions and comments from other experts in attendance. Dr. Mandaville and the Pew Forum then used the prepared materials, as well as the best available scholarship and reporting on the topic, to draft the profiles of the groups that appear in this report.
