An Islamic Journey Inside Europe
Part Five: A New Type of Islam

Interior of the Mosque of Rome, Europe's largest Muslim house of worship. Photo: NPR News

Feb. 28, 2003 -- Islam is now the second-biggest religion in Europe, and several second- and third-generation Muslims are creating a new "flavor" of Islam -- one disconnected from the lands of their parents and grandparents, and more reflective of their adopted homelands.

Sylvia Poggioli visits the first Islamic university in Europe, and the Tawhid Cultural Center in the St. Denis banlieue of Paris where the faithful celebrate a very French version of Islam.

Poggioli wraps up her European exploration of Islam with a visit to the largest mosque in Europe -- in Rome, the very heart of traditional Christendom.

Can Islam reconcile itself to the freedom of speech and pluralism taken for granted in Europe? And can the tension between Islam and modernity be answered by a new generation of Muslims raised in the West?

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