- Author
- Samira Azabar, Sami Zemni (UGent) and Corinne Torrekens
- Organization
- Abstract
- Nowadays, the religious cleavage in Belgium has largely lost its political saliency and is being transformed by controversies related to ‘the integration’ of Islam and Muslims in the Belgian political game, the public space, and the Church–State regime. Since the proliferation of civilizational narratives, guided by global occurrences such as 9/11 and the ‘war on terror’, engendering securitization and Islamization frames, a number of debates, discourses, practices, policies, and laws centred on the problematizing of the presence of Muslims have informed Belgian political debates during the last decades. In the first section of this paper, we provide an overview of how ‘The Muslim Question’—apprehended as an analytic framework—has been utilized to regulate and control Islam and Muslims, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, frame Muslims (especially veiled women) as alien bodies and more recently as a cultural and security threat. In a second part of this contribution, we explore how Muslims as civil and political actors resist (or not) racialization processes. Before concluding the chapter, since we assess that there is much more to explore about the everyday realities and challenges faced by Muslims in Belgium, by shifting the research focus towards understanding the diverse and complex (everyday) experiences of Muslims, we unpack future and ambitious research avenues.
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-01KK1HAJGW9ERZC2VWMN1A40TJ
- MLA
- Azabar, Samira, et al. “Religion and Politics in Belgium.” The Oxford Handbook of Belgian Politics, edited by Min Reuchamps et al., Oxford University Press, 2026, pp. 430–45, doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198914754.013.0025.
- APA
- Azabar, S., Zemni, S., & Torrekens, C. (2026). Religion and politics in Belgium. In M. Reuchamps, M. Brans, P. Meier, & E. Van Haute (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of Belgian politics (pp. 430–445). https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198914754.013.0025
- Chicago author-date
- Azabar, Samira, Sami Zemni, and Corinne Torrekens. 2026. “Religion and Politics in Belgium.” In The Oxford Handbook of Belgian Politics, edited by Min Reuchamps, Marleen Brans, Petra Meier, and Emilie Van Haute, 430–45. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198914754.013.0025.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Azabar, Samira, Sami Zemni, and Corinne Torrekens. 2026. “Religion and Politics in Belgium.” In The Oxford Handbook of Belgian Politics, ed by. Min Reuchamps, Marleen Brans, Petra Meier, and Emilie Van Haute, 430–445. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198914754.013.0025.
- Vancouver
- 1.Azabar S, Zemni S, Torrekens C. Religion and politics in Belgium. In: Reuchamps M, Brans M, Meier P, Van Haute E, editors. The Oxford handbook of Belgian politics. Oxford University Press; 2026. p. 430–45.
- IEEE
- [1]S. Azabar, S. Zemni, and C. Torrekens, “Religion and politics in Belgium,” in The Oxford handbook of Belgian politics, M. Reuchamps, M. Brans, P. Meier, and E. Van Haute, Eds. Oxford University Press, 2026, pp. 430–445.
@incollection{01KK1HAJGW9ERZC2VWMN1A40TJ,
abstract = {{Nowadays, the religious cleavage in Belgium has largely lost its political saliency and is being transformed by controversies related to ‘the integration’ of Islam and Muslims in the Belgian political game, the public space, and the Church–State regime. Since the proliferation of civilizational narratives, guided by global occurrences such as 9/11 and the ‘war on terror’, engendering securitization and Islamization frames, a number of debates, discourses, practices, policies, and laws centred on the problematizing of the presence of Muslims have informed Belgian political debates during the last decades. In the first section of this paper, we provide an overview of how ‘The Muslim Question’—apprehended as an analytic framework—has been utilized to regulate and control Islam and Muslims, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, frame Muslims (especially veiled women) as alien bodies and more recently as a cultural and security threat. In a second part of this contribution, we explore how Muslims as civil and political actors resist (or not) racialization processes. Before concluding the chapter, since we assess that there is much more to explore about the everyday realities and challenges faced by Muslims in Belgium, by shifting the research focus towards understanding the diverse and complex (everyday) experiences of Muslims, we unpack future and ambitious research avenues.}},
author = {{Azabar, Samira and Zemni, Sami and Torrekens, Corinne}},
booktitle = {{The Oxford handbook of Belgian politics}},
editor = {{Reuchamps, Min and Brans, Marleen and Meier, Petra and Van Haute, Emilie}},
isbn = {{9780198914754}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{430--445}},
publisher = {{Oxford University Press}},
title = {{Religion and politics in Belgium}},
url = {{http://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198914754.013.0025}},
year = {{2026}},
}
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