The republication of offensive cartoons mocking Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in Danish and other European newspapers has reignited anger in the Arab and Muslim world. More than three years since the cartoons were first published in a leading Copenhagen daily, the Europeans find themselves again in the center of a controversy that challenges their secular heritage and puts them on a collision course with hundreds of millions of Muslims across the globe. But more importantly, it raises troubling questions about Europe’s evolving identity and its relationship with its own Muslim citizens.
The crisis over the Danish cartoons is no longer focused on the issues of protecting freedom of expression and Europe’s secular principles. It has transcended these some time ago, and today it is being manipulated by ultraconservative Europeans who do not hide their fear of Islam especially in light of the continent’s growing Muslim minority. Islamophobia is manifested in the poisonous campaigns to undermine this great religion by highlighting stereotypical perceptions surrounding Islam’s treatment of women, human rights and non-Muslims among other things.
In his study of Europe’s Muslims, American analyst Timothy Savage says the continent finds itself at the crossroad confronting two challenges. The first is to successfully integrate the growing Muslim minority into the bigger European society by ending their isolation and understanding their special ties with their religion. The second, according to Savage, is for the European community to adopt a sound strategy to deal with its Muslim neighbors and prevent regional crises from spreading into the EC countries.
Savage and others estimate the number of European Muslims to be between 20 and 25 million, roughly about 5 percent of the EC’s population. And although Islam is the second largest religion in 16 of the 37 European countries, it is only recognized by a third of these. Few grant Muslims minority rights under the law. And if Turkey’s effort to join the EC is successful, the Muslim population of Europe will jump to 15 percent. Furthermore, according to Savage, Muslims will make up 20 percent of the EC’s population by the year 2050.
Muslims began to arrive in Europe in great numbers in the second half of the 20th century, mostly from former European colonies. Thus the majority of Muslims in France hail from North Africa while most of Britain’s Muslims came from the Indian Subcontinent. As the European Common Market expanded it needed cheap labor and some countries, like West Germany, granted hundreds of thousands of Turks work permits. In the wake of the Iraq War, many European countries granted asylum to refugees. Under European laws most of these immigrants became legal residents and were soon able to apply for and receive citizenships.
It was only after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on America that a negative image of Islam and Muslims began to rise to the surface in Europe. The Madrid train bombings, the London metro attacks and the assassination of a right-wing Dutch MP catapulted the question of Europe’s Muslims to the forefront. The fact that most of those who carried these attacks were second-generation European Muslims troubled politicians and intellectuals alike. It underlined the uniqueness of Muslim communities in Europe and their resistance to attempts to assimilate them into the European social and cultural melting pot. The international war on terror and Europe’s participation in the Afghanistan and Iraq campaigns did little to help promote sober dialogue.
On the other hand, European Muslims have complained of consistent policies to deny them minority, religious and even civil rights. The issue of wearing the hijab became a center of controversy in Germany and France. Unemployment and poverty sparked the Paris suburb riots two years ago with young Muslims taking the center stage. The media was divided. Few dared to admit that Europe’s Muslims were discriminated against and that there was a need for tolerance and understanding. Others spread xenophobic sentiments and warned that Europe’s Christian heritage was now at stake.
Still individual European countries began to selectively examine their relations with Muslim minorities. A report commissioned by the US Congress and published in November 2005 focused on integration strategies being adopted by a number of European countries following the terrorist attacks in Madrid and London. It dealt with French efforts to assimilate Muslims contrasted with British debate on multiculturalism and integration of immigrants. Overall, Europe is today more aware of its Muslim minority, but it remains to be seen what course of action it will finally take.
Recently, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams rattled Britons when he hinted that some aspects of Islamic Shariah may be included into civil laws to address the specific needs of British Muslims. The mere fact that he had made such a suggestion indicates the level of debate in that country over the challenges posed by the country’s biggest minority.
And since Pope Benedict XVI delivered his notorious lecture about Islam in September 2006, the interfaith dialogue which was already fumbling entered a dead end road. The row over the Danish cartoons represents today the most dangerous clashing point between Europe and the Muslim world, on the one hand, and between Europe and its minority of Muslims, on the other. Few moderate voices have been heard in the West, but the demographic realities in the continent are pushing toward a moment of reckoning.
Europe’s secular principles cannot be used as an excuse to justify the affront to over one billion Muslim all over the world. Just as Europe was able to codify laws making it illegal to question the Holocaust, it will have to come to terms with the fact that European Muslims will not stand to see their Prophet and their religion dealt with in such an acrimonious manner.
There are ultraconservative Europeans who warn of an impending clash with Europe’s Muslims. But it is my guess that the voices of reason, tolerance and openness will prevail at the end. In less than about 30 years, European Muslims will become a sizable minority in a continent where the overall population is expected to drop by 100 million in 2050.
Some optimists on both sides of the divide contemplate a historic conciliation among the three monotheistic religions to take place in Europe at one stage. Others believe enlightened European Muslims will somehow inspire their brethren elsewhere and provide answers to existential issues facing Muslims in a globalized world.
Whatever the course, Europe’s Muslims are now part of that continent’s life and the Danish cartoons crisis will eventually blow over when Europeans begin to address the fundamental issues seriously.
— Osama Al Sharif is a veteran journalist and commentator based in Jordan.
