The research in this volume attempts to redress the balance by focusing on the views and life experiences of the many ‘ordinary’ Muslims in their European societies of settlement, and the role that cultural and religious factors play in shaping their social relationships with majority populations and public institutions. The book is specifically interested in the relationship between cultural/religious distance and social factors that shape the life chances of Muslims relative to the majority. The study is cross-national, comparative across the six main receiving countries with distinct approaches to the accommodation of Muslims: France, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland. The research is based on the findings of a survey of four groups of Muslims from distinct countries of origin: Turkey, Morocco, the former Yugoslavia, and Pakistan, as well as majority populations, in each of the receiving countries. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.