cultural confrontation. Veiling and the status of
Muslim Women in secular society have been par-
ticularly divisive issues. To varying degrees, Euro-
pean societies have discriminated against Muslim
immigrants and citizens, which was a factor behind
the eruption of riots in French cities in 2005. One
of the Al-Qaida cells involved in the 9/11 attacks
on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in
2001 was based in Hamburg, Germany. As a con-
sequence of cultural animosities and recent wars
in aFghanistan, iraq, and Israel-Palestine, radical
Islamic groups have launched terrorist attacks on
civilian targets in Madrid and London.
See also anti-semitism; christianity and islam;
Janissary; JUdaism and islam; secUlarism; sUFism.
Linda G. Jones and Juan E. CampoFurther reading: Jack Goody, Islam in Europe (Cam-
bridge: Polity Press, 2004); Shireen Hunter, ed., Islam,
Europe’s Second Religion: The New Social, Cultural and
Political Landscape (Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publish-
ers, 2002); Salma Khadra Jayyusi, ed., The Legacy of
Muslim Spain (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994); María Rosa
Menocal, The Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History:
A Forgotten Heritage (Philadelphia: University of Penn-
sylvania Press, 1987); Tariq Ramadan, Western Muslims
and the Future of Islam (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2004).
Eve See adam and eve.
evil eye
Belief that the eye has the power to cause evil or
misfortune is found in many cultures. It forms
but one part of a magical worldview that attempts
to explain the accidents and illnesses that afflict
people. Rather than being a generalized theory of
misfortune, it is always concerned with explain-
ing specific instances: What caused a particular
person or possession to suffer harm at this or
that time and place while others nearby or in a
similar situation remained unaffected? In other
words, belief in the evil eye is but one way of
trying to account for why bad things happen to
good people, and it may even conflict with other
explanations. Religious conservatives object that
it contradicts the belief that ultimately it is God
who determines what happens for good and evil.
People with a modern scientific outlook, on the
other hand, may refute evil eye beliefs as irratio-
nal superstitions. But for the many who hold to a
magical worldview, identifying the evil eye as the
cause of an affliction allows them to take steps to
deflect it or minimize its effect, even if it cannot
be completely eliminated. The fact that people
think that they can take preventive measures
against it provides them with a sense that they
can exercise control over otherwise unpredictable
and painful events in life. This helps explain the
acceptance and persistence of evil eye beliefs in so
many parts of the world.
In Islamicate cultures, evil eye beliefs are espe-
cially pronounced among peoples living in lands
from morocco to india, including the eastern
Mediterranean region and the Arabian Peninsula.
Many non-Muslims living in these areas also share
these beliefs, including Christians, Jews, and Hin-
dus. There are several names given to the evil eyeEvil eye poster, with medallions containing the name
of God (r.) and Muhammad (l.), framed by protective
verses from the Quran (printed poster)K 220 Eve