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Europe and its Muslims: A Gap of Trust
Gallup just published a remarkable report on the attitudes of Muslims and non-Muslims regarding Islam in Europe. One of the most striking points in the report was that 80% of French Muslims believed that Muslims were loyal to France. But only 44% of their non-Muslim countrymen believed Muslims were loyal.
Wow. What a disconnect.
The report, The Gallup Coexist Index 2009: A Global Study of Interfaith Relations, is the first annual report on the state of religious relations in nations around the world. The report contained some remarkable findings that show a troubling gap between how European Muslims see themselves, and what others assume about them.
French Muslims, for example, identify with France as much as other French do (52%/55%), although they identify much more with their religion (58%) than the general French public (23%). So for French Muslims, their religion and their national loyalty are complementary, not mutually exclusive. But their religious identification makes their patriotism suspect to their neighbors.
Similar results were noted in Germany, where 71% of German Muslims said Muslims were loyal to Germany, while only 39% of their neighbors trusted Muslim loyalty to the state. What makes this finding even more ironic is that 40% of German Muslims actively identify with Germany, while only 32% of the general German population did. So Muslims in Germany not only see themselves as more patriotic than others credit them for, they are more loyal to Germany than other Germans!
In the United Kingdom, 82% of Muslims said British Muslims were loyal. Only 36% of their neighbors shared that view. But what is even more fascinating is that UK Muslims showed more faith in their country's government than other Brits. 83% of British Muslims believed that their nation's elections were fair, while only 57% of the general populace did. 76% of British Muslims believed in the integrity of the justice system, while only 55% of their neighbors trusted the courts.
The wide gap between how Muslims see themselves and their patriotism, and how their neighbors perceive them, is dangerous and must be addressed. Unfortunately, the problem appears to lie less with the Muslim communities, who clearly love their countries, than with deep-rooted bigotry and social exclusion practiced by many of their neighbors. Muslims in many of these countries complain, with justification, that they are locked out of jobs and denied opportunities available to the rest of their countrymen.
And in Britain, the economic result of this discrimination is very real. The poll showed that 62% of British respondents were employed, but only 38% of British Muslims held jobs. The poll's results also suggest that radicalization among European Muslims is most likely to occur in environments where they are economically deprived or discriminated against. Not exactly a shocker.
As an American Muslim, one of the greatest things I treasure about the United States is that economic opportunity is largely available to everyone, regardless of race or religion. The kind of overt class system that appears to still be very much in place in Britain is anathema to American notions of entrepreneurialism and social mobility.
Most Muslims I know are quite well educated and prosperous, with the usual joke being that American Muslims won't settle for anything less than high-paying jobs as doctors, engineers and lawyers. I myself am a former attorney with three graduate degrees and have become a Hollywood screenwriter and producer for networks such as NBC and Showtime. Being a Muslim does not automatically create a glass ceiling in this society, and it is for that reason that most American Muslims are much better integrated than their European counterparts.
Integration into foreign societies is actually a long-standing Muslim tradition that goes back to the birth of Islam itself. In my novel Mother of the Believers, I relate how the early Muslim community, including Prophet Muhammad's daughter Ruqayyah, had to immigrate to the Christian country of Abyssinia to escape persecution in Arabia. Welcomed by the ruling Negus as fellow monotheists, the Muslims became an integral part of Abyssinian society, living in peace and trading with their Christian neighbors.
When the pagan Arabs of Mecca sent envoys to the Negus demanding he deport the Muslim exiles, the king refused, citing Muslim love for Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary. Muslims and Christians were brothers in the eyes of the Negus. This event is quite a remarkable moment in history, as one religion (Christianity) protected and defended another (Islam) from annihilation. And Muslims to this day look back fondly on the years of Abyssinian sanctuary, and the Christian Negus is considered a great hero by Muslim historians.
In this ancient tale there is also a lesson for today. Integration is a two-way street. The Muslim immigrants became loyal and active participants in Abyssinian society because the Abyssinians were secure in their own identity and welcomed the newcomers. And Ethiopia, the modern descendant of the old Abyssinian kingdom, remains today a majority Christian nation with a large and integrated Muslim minority. Europeans must similarly change their attitudes toward their Muslim communities and welcome them as neighbors, not treat them as pariahs. These countries must end discrimination and provide their Muslim populations with equal opportunities that will further solidify their demonstrated loyalty and patriotism.
There is much to learn from Gallup's new report. But I hope that Europeans will begin the process of soul searching as to whether their fears of their Muslims neighbors are based in their own prejudices rather than in fact. European Muslims love their countries and want to integrate. It is now up to their host countries to welcome them into a new partnership that will be critical to the future of Europe and the world.
Kamran Pasha is a Hollywood filmmaker and the author of Mother of the Believers, a novel on the birth of Islam as told by Prophet Muhammad's wife Aisha (Atria Books; April 2009). For more information please visit: http://www.kamranpasha.com
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I think some of the disconnect you spoke of has to do with the fact that there are two different cultures for whom all the questions have different values attached to them, making a stark contrast to their non-Muslim neighbors.The Muslim immigrant communities are working with a different gauge on society, different expectations with regard to government and religion. There is the very telling statistic that 83% of Muslims considered their elections fair, though only 57% of the general populace! No matter how you look at it, that is a stark difference, and it tells a lot about what most Muslim immigrant communities in Europe are USED to, and what they are comparing their lives in their adopted countries to. Their expectations are on a completely different level, and it likely explains the patriotism that their neighbors don't perceive. They are two very different cultures who express themselves in different ways, and I suspect, the signals get lost and/or non-Muslim Euros are too intimidated or something to get to know very many Muslims. I don't know, I haven't spent enough time in Europe to scope out the situation, save for that the Muslim cab drivers in Paris who were 1st generation definitely related to being Parisian before whatever country their parents were from. As an American, I appreciated the viewpoint expressed, regardless of your European responses!
MYTH - Muslims in Europe are taking over the continent, and are all set to become a majority some time in the 21'th century.
FACT - Muslims in Europe contitute less than 3 percent of the population. Europe has been importing immigrants since the 1950s of all races and religions and if Muslims are interested in taking over the continent, they do not seem to have done a particularly competent job. If it took Muslims 6 decades to increase from 0 percent of the population to 3 percent, it is difficult to see how they can become a majority in few decades.
MYTH - Muslims in Europe want to impose Sharia
FACT - Please refer to the above article. The proportion of Europe' s Muslim who have trust in their respective legal systems is actually HIGHER than that of the general population.
A recent poll showed 13 percent of British Muslims support Sharia. Muslims constitute around 3 percent . So the arithmetic tells us the proportion of people who support Sharia in Britain is just over one third of one percent of the overall population. Even when one sets aside the fact that not all of these people are politically active, it is next to inconceivable to see how or why Britain would change its legal system to accomodate them.
Kamran, I admire your optimism. But your analogy to the ancient people of Abyssinia is absurd. And the fact that today Ethiopia has a 61% Christian majority is cold comfort to Europeans who are facing a Muslim majority in their own country within their lifetimes.
As a US expat living in Sweden I think advising Europeans to determine if their fears are based on prejudice or facts is a bit late. They are afraid and the facts support their apprehension. Chief among these is the fact is that unlike Abyssinia Sweden will have a Muslim majority in 2049. As the Gallup pole reveals most European Muslims have a greater affinity to their religious beliefs than to their adopted country. The religious beliefs of Islam are diametrically opposed to Sweden’s liberal world view, particularly as it regards gender equality, free speech, sexuality, and tolerance. Will a Muslim majority in Sweden separate church from state and leave the Swedish culture intact? Many here doubt that, and are prudent to do so.
So I feel tales of ancient Abyssinia have little relevance here. But I have a suggestion: Instead of using your last book as an example to calm the waters, write a new one. Show the Europeans what Europe as an Islamic nation would be like. Because that is the reality they are trying to deal with. I’ve already started such a project and would be happy to collaborate. I'm on Wordpress named Nonrhotic ( http://nonrhotic.wordpress.com/ ).
In the USA distrust of Muslims by non-Muslims is encouraged by corporate media, which have a definite anti-Muslim agenda . The documentary film "Reel Bad Arabs" shows how Hollywood film industry has traditionally vilified Arabs. Does Europe have this same media tradition? The Telegraph in the UK comes immediately to mind.
What about religious tolerance in the counties that these immigrants came from? Let's just apply Pasha's own words to Muslim-dominated countries: Integration is a two-way street. Muslim countries must change their attitudes toward their non-Muslim minority groups (e.g. Jews, Christians, Baha'i) and welcome them as neighbors, not treat them as pariahs. These countries must end discrimination and provide their own non-Muslim populations with equal opportunities...not the least of which is the right to practice their religions freely.... (Wouldn't that be a refreshing change?)
Two wrongs don't make it right.
"Being a Muslim does not automatically create a glass ceiling in this society, and it is for that reason that most American Muslims are much better integrated than their European counterparts"
This quote demonstrates how ignorant you are about the situation in Europe where low skilled immigrants and their families have settled. Judging by the prejudices displayed in your post you'd be surprised to know that muslim immigrants from educated families fare very well. And when the less educated immigrants encourage their children to marry in their country of origine (which is specific to the muslim communities), they re-start the adaptation process with the next generation with parents who can't follow their kids' education. As for being "loyal" to a country, the notion lacks definition, does it mean not supporting terrorists or being comfortable with/ appreciate their countries' mainstream values? (btw the results in Germany are probably caused by the facts that the Turkish immigrants are used to a culture that expresses a strong nationalism while the Germans aren't)
Knowing that the term "kaffir" used by muslims to designate non-muslims is a derogatory one, it seems there is some way to go before we arrive at a real integration
Don't think the author knows much about Europe in all honesty, and he appears to be clinging to a myth about opportunity in the US that has long ceased to be the case. All the recent studies suggest that if anything opportunity for advancement now is greater in Europe than in the US.
As far as Britain is concerned I think that a relatively high proportion of muslim immigrants have come from poor rural backgrounds to take industrial jobs that no longer exist. The high unemployment is as much a problem of deindustralisation as of class or racial discrimination. I think the workers in the rust belt in the midwest would understand this rather better than a muslim member of the professional classes. I am not aware that there was ever any significant influx of muslims to work in factories or textile mills in the United States.
The issue isn't that muslims aren't loyal to their said country, but what the term "loyal" means. That's the key, and without defining loyalty, you are going to have dramatically different results.
The muslims maybe loyal to Britian or France or Germany, but in the views of "locals" they are not. Why? It's not becuase they are bigots or racists, but because Mulsims aren't assimilating into the country. Muslims bring in religious beliefs and views that are drastically different (and don't fit very well) with western beliefs. Yet, you put all the onus on the europeans to change, why not muslims?
No different than in US. We have muslims that complain they can't handle pork, or transport a taxi passenger with wine (or dogs), or wear appropriate work clothing. They refuse to change, they think and ardandently believe WE should change to meet their needs. They may LOVE the US, but why would any US citizen think they were loyal to the US, when they renounce our western standards and living? That's loyalty, that's becoming an American, or a Brit, or a German!
I don't think Muslims will change, and I don't think Europeans (or Americans), should have to give up our western standard of living just to appease them either.
"And in Britain, the economic result of this discrimination is very real. The poll showed that 62% of British respondents were employed, but only 38% of British Muslims held jobs"
Why not take into consideration these facts before hastili assuming the politcially correct and self-congratulatory assumptions
1.Inconvenient truth--- There's strong correspondence connection between high level of Muslims unemployment with low academic achievement prevalent in British Muslims communities.
2. Inconvenient truth-- Higher proportion of Muslims households are without " formal
education" and high percentage of semi-skilled manual laborers.
3. Inconvenient truth-- very low percentage of Muslims women in the labor force. Often resulting in a one-earner household. a luxury even among middle class Brits.
comment form Muhammad Akram Khan-Cheema, teacher and school inspector in the UK
"Muslim parents need to wake up to reality. They seem to be happy with mediocrity. Their children have all the facilities, with highly qualified teachers, and the parents seem to be asleep. I'm not asking them to establish their own schools, but why aren't their children achieving?"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/apr/01/schools.uk
Europe is largely post Christian and any group that clings to a sky-god faith as the absolute truth is going to run into some serious friction- Muslim or other.
The values of Islam as practiced in much of the world are antithetical to enlightenment thinking, non-sectarian governance, the advancement of women's equality in society, tolerance of LGBT people. I hear that the raging lunatics keeping the world on fire are the exception, but I gather that they are the rule.
After 9-11 I recall TV stations and radio stations actively inviting muslim leaders on-air to speak and present their case as to why this was an example of a fringe group. Others asked for condemnation. All America heard was the sound of crickets.
Old Europe has largely escaped it's sky god culture only to be invaded by a faith culture in desperate need of 500 years of enlightenment catch-up.
Europeans aren't exactly the most tolerant people. Despite their bloody history, much racism remains in Europe, much more than in the U.S.
Compared to the countries most European Muslims escaped from, Europe is Paradise.
Now if only some would stop demanding tolerance for customs and beliefs that made their former home countries living hell to begin with!!!
Touche! That's precisely the point. If you want to worship blo odthirsty deities from the Dark Ages, go back home.
The intolerance is not about race, but about religion. Many Europeans have only loose ties to their own religious heritage, others claim to be "enlightened", only to show extreme intolerance to religions in general and minorities as Muslims and Jews in General. As an example, I don't think that "VoteforPedro" here would deem himself a racist, but you may take a look how he's judging the beliefs of other people.
And there's another point, which you touched with the "bloody history": In European history, diversity has often been a precinct of conflict. Even now, it's new to many generations as a positive experience.
As a German scientist in religious studies (and a Christian married to a Muslim) I absolutely agree with Kamran Pashas observations. The three main problems are that
1. whereas the USA attracted many educated immigrants, the Muslim migration to European countries consisted mainly of workers and (often secular) refugees. Today, many Europeans believe that the Quranic teachings prevent Muslims from education!
2. in many European Countries, people are used to regional, ethnic and denominational monopolies, often prevailing into 20th century. I'll never forget the (insightful!) reply of an aged woman after a speech about interreligious dialogue: "You are probably right, Dr. Blume. But you have to understand - I just got used to the catholics and now you are coming with these Muslims."
3. as another consequence of the regional monopolies, the strong social systems (favoring individualism) and the lack of competitive religious communities, many Europeans aren't very interested in their religions either. I.e., catholic and protestant parishes often support wishes of Muslims and Jews for a Mosque or Synagogue, while majorities of the wider population insist "they should just pray at home". Many secular Europeans feel threatened by the stronger faith and higher birth rates of religious communities in general.
But we see (in daily experience as well as in empirical data) a certain progress in the younger generation in Germany, which already grew up used to religious diversity.
Thanks for this post, it made me "Log in" with Huffington! :-)
Today, many Europeans believe that the Quranic teachings prevent Muslims from education!
Many progressive people from Islamic countries believe the same.
"
Muslim parents need to wake up to reality. They seem to be happy with mediocrity. Their children have all the facilities, with highly qualified teachers, and the parents seem to be asleep. I'm not asking them to establish their own schools, but why aren't their children achieving?"
Muhammad Akram Khan-Cheema, teacher and school inspector in the UK
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/apr/01/schools.uk
@ Solaris123
I completely agree with Khan-Cheemas plea, but I can't see how that would be a result of religion. We had exactly the same discussions among the Italien and Greek workers, who came from rural regions to Germany and struggled with the educational system (which was not used to integrate immigrants, either). In the meantime, some ethnic and religious initiatives have started education projects of their own. And some of them (i.e. Jewish and Muslim) turn out to be very succesfull (as are established Christian schools). Religion(s) can be part of the solution.
A scientist in religious studies?
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LOLz!
Another wonderful insight, Kamran!
Most Muslims I know are quite well educated and prosperous, with the usual joke being that American Muslims won't settle for anything less than high-paying jobs as doctors, engineers and lawyers.
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Yes, of course.
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