Jørgen S. Nielsen is Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Copenhagen. In October 2007, he assumed a five-year research chair (funded by the Danish National Research Foundation) within the Faculty of Theology, where he leads the Centre for European Islamic Thought. He holds degrees in Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, and a PhD in Arab history from the American University of Beirut. He has concentrated his research on the situation of Muslims in Europe with related interests in the Islamic debate over religious pluralism and relations with the West. He has also worked as a consultant to the EU Presidency and the Council of Europe on religious minorities, and to the Danish, Swedish and British foreign ministries on Islam a