The central questions of this book look to the future. We investigate what Muslims expect from Europe, how they evaluate the democratic institutions of the member state in which they live, and whether their well-being in Europe is comparable to that of their non-Muslim neighbours. In examining bias and intolerance directed at the religious minority, we take our lead from the warnings of European minority protection study agencies (including the European Agency for Fundamental Rights, and the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance) that Muslims are a vulnerable group in Europe. Our comparative measurements of well-being follow the definitions and strategies put forward by the Council of Europe and the European Parliament.

We identify four states as reflective of the direction of minority integration in Europe – France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom – and recognize significant differences among Muslims within them. Considerable scholarship has demonstrated that members of the religious minority in each state differ in their origins and immigration history, as well as in the historical relationship between the country of family background and the European nation in which they are now at home. Previous research has also clarified relevant differences among European nations themselves: the states we examine vary in the nature and strength of the state's involvement in setting the criteria for minority integration, in the form of the church/state relationship, and in bureaucratic support for religious diversity. We utilize previous research and build on the understandings established by these bodies of scholarship.

In moving forward from the points established in existing examinations of where Muslims came from and of the institutional structural arrangements in the European states where they now live, we consider how Muslims feel about their present situation in Europe. Are they happy? Are they satisfied? Do they give high marks to the criminal justice system, the parliament, the political parties, the educational system, health care agencies and other institutions of the member state in which they live? As we explain, these questions are becoming a routine part of national efforts to measure well-being in ways other than the Gross Domestic Product per capita. Current conceptualizations of diversity buttressing data collection in most European states do not permit application of these measures to Muslims.