Islam and Europe – unnatural bedfellows?

If Europe decides that the progress of Islam and the growing number of Muslims rejecting European values is sufficiently threatening to those values, then what exactly can it do about it? Although German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called on total integration of Muslims especially, she still has to decide what Europe will do if this does not happen.

It could tell those Muslims agitating for Sharia law to go and live where such law is practiced if they can find such a place. However, many Muslims are EU citizens and Europe is their home. In a democracy they can agitate peacefully and vote for whomever they choose, like the Muslim Brotherhood who has positioned itself very favourably by putting on a moderate facade. But what if they choose to vote for Khalid Kelly and his Saviour Sect or the Taliban supporters in their midst?

The EU can hardly tell its own Muslim citizens to emigrate to Islamic states if they don’t like European values – they won’t go for a start, and those ‘destination’ countries will not have them either.

Of course Europe has an unhappy history in dealing with minorities which it deemed unsavoury. A repetition of the Austrian corporal’s solution to the matter is impossible, but a social purdah may achieve the same end in the long run. We have to bear in mind that ostracising an inward-looking community, creating barriers to civil participation, and demonising lawful behaviour can deconstruct the social glue in any segment of society.

In any event, the opportunity for Europe to reject Islam is probably long gone; the sheer numbers of Muslims, the economic necessity, and the decline of Europe as a serious world power are all factors in this.

The Europeification of Islam.

Many commentators have focused on the effects of conservative Islam on Europe. Not so many have looked at the potential for Europe in affecting Islam.

The vast majority of Muslims arrived in Europe for economic reasons, with lesser numbers arriving on the back of persecution, whether political or religious. Significant numbers have been here for many years and have grown used to the freedoms of Europe, even allowing for dismay at some of those freedoms. Would those Muslims willingly surrender such freedoms?

The evidence is in the very few Muslims that return willingly to Muslim states that allegedly promote an Islamic way of life. So this voting with the feet indicates that the influence of Europe’s values is already apparent

It is true that some young Muslims have become radicalised. In Ireland for example, over half of young Muslims want Sharia law imposed in spite of it not being implemented in the countries that they hail from. But this radicalisation has come via imported imams, as well versed in inflammatory rhetoric because they are ignorant of European values, and the deluded policies of some ‘Western’-orientated governments in the Middle East. This nonsense will evidently be sorted out when such imams go back to the theological gulags from whence they came, and when intelligent policies are eventually pursued in the Middle East. Anyway, young people everywhere rebel against the values of their parents; it’s a rite of passage.

Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, converted to Islam, and for the most part forsook his huge musical talents. He has lately revised his views and has begun recording Western-type music again. Young Muslims across Europe can gradually become active in the arts, in music, fashion, cinema and cutting-edge trends. This is not the case in predominantly Muslim countries. These young European Muslims will also become influential in the Middle East. Iran, for example, is desperately trying to prevent this Western ‘decadent’ type of satellite TV from ‘soiling’ its culture but it is failing dismally, like the other countries did.

This technologically savvy, and culturally literate young Islam is simply too intelligent and educated to remain under the sway of the conservative imams for long. I firmly believe that Europe’s influence in this coming technological and cultural reformation among Muslims will be telling.

The future of Islam in Europe may go the way of the Normans in Ireland, or the Romans in Gaul – maybe even assimilation to a degree in the long run if they work hard enough at integration and opposing the radicalisation of the youth. Islam will also see a reformation, a renaissance or enlightenment and that reformation will ultimately come from the European Muslims, and more importantly from its women. We can encourage such a trend by promoting more integration and by embracing differences as part of our heritage. Separate development is not a sustainable option for our communities, whether it is based on economics or religion. Europeans have an opportunity to influence not only the Islamic diaspora in its midst, but also the countries of origin of that diaspora. Such an opportunity must be grasped with both hands by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. This debate will continue in next week’s issue in which I will argue that Islam definitely is compatible with the ‘West’.