Islam in the West
The presence of Islam in the West has now become an issue as significant as the Islam and the West issue. Here is a Chapter on Islam in America and a recent PEW survey on American Muslims. In the past few years I have had the opportunity to travel and meet with Muslims in Oxford, Britain, Germany, Belgium and other European countries. You can read my reflections by clicking on the names of the places. Here is an excellent source to study Islam in Europe and this one is good for Islam in America. These are comprehensive sources do spend some time reviewing them.
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I read professor Khan's chapter on Islam in America and checked out the spokesperson for Hizb Al Tahrir's speech about their ideology.
Concerning Islam in America, I believe that has been a major struggle for American Muslims, trying to maintain a balance between their American and Muslim Identities. Of course, Islam does preach that Islam has to be one's most important identity, and all other national and ethnic identities come second, but hamdullilah I see that the majority of us have not had a problem living both simultaneously. It's excellent when you have individual soveriegnty, so that you can choose how you want to live your life, and I think America provides an ideal environment to do that. Ironically, you are given enough freedom to be a good Muslim bettter than many Muslim countries which is sad.
Concerning the HIzb al-TAhrir speech, It's very true that Islam is not opposed to democracy's main point which is a representative government, I do agree with him on that. citizens of an Islamic state can choose their leaders, etc. There is nothing that I've seen that contradicts that. I think the problem comes into play with the democratic notion of choosing which laws you want to have in a society, which does in fact negate the sovereignty of God's law. So with the latter point, it would be opposed to Democracy. The Sharia is open to various , valid interpretations given the socio-cultural/ historical context,etc., but I think many people try to abuse that concept to deduce Fiqh that is simply unsubstantiated and unprovable according to any reasonable understanding of Islamic texts. This latter point is very obvious when one has a foundation of basic Islamic knowledge, and should not be abused by those that don't have this. We can't use the path of fiqh as an excuse to just follow our own whims and desires by just quoting a hadith from now and then.
Regarding Jamal's idea of a pan-Islamic state...where is he living?
We can't even get Muslims to practice their religion in any state, let alone go create their own. I think individual reform is a much more realistic way to go. He's not going to have much luck with that idea. Hizb al Tahrir would be better off doing dawa to muslims in their countries and just try to have muslims that practice islam in Muslim countries. Then once you have "Islamic countries", then you can talk about combining them to make one, but I don't see that happening any time soon. Wallahu A3lam.
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I have read “Understanding Muslim Radicalism in Britain” by Professor Khan and was very surprised by his findings. I usually think of Britain as a happy place where people get along and all evil is solved by welfare programs. The fact that Britain is a breeding ground for anti-Americanism and Radical Muslims should be a more publicized issue and solutions should be addressed by Britain and the rest of Europe.
The economic situation of Muslims in Britain is very discouraging. According to Professor Khan they make up the largest minority, close to 3% of the population, are least educated, live in poor housing and have high unemployment. Their situation seems similar to Latino’s living in the U.S. As an outsider looking in, one has to wonder, why is this the case for Muslims in Britain and how could the situation be rectified?
The segregation that exists among Muslims probably gives them a sense of community with each other however it also marginalizes them from the rest of the country. Their segregation is “physical, economical, intellectual, social, cultural and political”. They are the victims of racism, Islamophobia, and discrimination. It is no wonder they are angry with British society despite their claims to be “open and tolerant”.
Many Muslims are also upset with Britain’s foreign policies such as supporting in the War on Terror and other U.S. invasions. Many young Muslims feel the only way to get satisfaction in this type of environment is to go towards the most radical interpretation of their religion which in turn strengthens their identity and builds a sense of community with other young Muslims in Britain.
What needs to be done, as Professor Khan has said, is to address this issue because it can no longer be denied Anti-Americanism is born and prevalent throughout England! The British government will then have to change its domestic policies to address Muslims within the country, and their foreign policy to appease Muslim’s concerns for states in the Middle East. Terrorism is a huge issue and the only way to solve it is by working together and acknowledging the reasoning behind the Anti-American sentiment.
The Islamophobia manifested throughout Europe is a direct result of new ethnicities and ideologies that seemingly conflict with the perceived moral and societal values of those countries. This response is nothing new; whenever a significantly large minority begins to compete for jobs or state welfare, the response by groups residing in the country for a longer time is usually relatively negative. The main problem rests with various factors: the Muslim population, European governments and xenophobic public.
Muslim populations must understand that they are living in European nations and that in order to further the aims dawah, rapid assimilation is a must. The notion that immigrants must repudiate the cultures of their homelands is rather unfounded and quite impractical. Many of these European nations pride themselves of their liberalism; thus, implementing hostile legislature would negate the aforementioned liberalism, as they would not be protecting the rights of the citizenry and those of immigrant non-citizens. The idea of integrating schools in the south was blasphemy in the 50s, yet decades later the idea that blacks would not be allowed at a particular school is repugnant. Thus, only through determined civil liberty stands by Muslims and their governments can Islamophobia curbed in Europe.
True, some say that French culture is what is it, FRENCH. Yet it seems rather irrational to assume cultural evolution is categorically inapplicable. Blockbuster used to be very popular for new movie releases, yet is it un-American to use Netflix DVD mail services because they are new and challenge the status quo of video rental stores? The same logic can be applied to the relatively new Muslim populations in Europe. Yes, their existence will cause Europe to change, but will also necessitate what the future European Muslim is…..
The most interesting thing about Dr. Khan's observations was the difference between Muslims in Oxford and Muslims living in the rest of Britain. While the general statistics of Great Britain showed Muslims living in poverty and hurting from segregation, the ones in Oxford enjoyed a high standard of living. They were open minded, tolerant, engaged in the community, and content. In addition, non-Muslims seem to have no issue with either their religion or their presence. What could possibly account for this huge difference between Oxford and everywhere else? My guess is education. With the more than 30 colleges and wealth of intelligence, all people are able to understand their differences, incorporate them into life, and celebrate their diversity. Time and again, we have seen that ignorance breeds fear, and this situation proves that to be true. Therefore, next time you hear someone making broad or derogatory comments about Muslims, take the time to educate them. It is the best chance that we have to combat and negate the social injustices that are born of ignorance.
In the last 25 years there has been a resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism and many western people automatically link these groups to the mainstream Muslim population and state, this is probably the main reason people believe that Islam is a threat to the west. Monshipouri (1998) shows that this is far from the case that, "Political, rather than religious, considerations have been as much the driving force in Islamic states as elsewhere. The 1991 Gulf War patently demonstrated that religious considerations of the region's countries were superseded by their political calculations. The behaviour of Iran, Turkey, Israel, and the Arab countries throughout the war was clearly based on a pragmatic style of politics."
The terrorist attacks on The U.S. in September 2002 further made the western public feel that the religion of Islam was a threat to the west. These attacks, carried out by a small extreme group of fundamentalists has succeeded in raising the awareness of Islamic fundamentalism in the west and raising sense of threat from the extreme version of the faith. The attacks also displayed the differences between cultures and religions, as Fukuyama (2001) states, "Americans have tended to believe that their institutions and values-democracy, individual rights, the rule of law and prosperity based on economic freedom-represent universal aspirations that will ultimately be shared by people all over the world, if given the opportunity. They are inclined to think that American society appeals to people of all cultures."
I think the current trend of Islamo-phobia is similar to the huge anti-catholic backlash of the previous century. The rapid introduction of new ethnicities and religions into a society that has been relatively stagnant in terms of religious diversity always ends up with some sort of nativist movement starting up.
The part that makes Islamophobia much worse than the Catholic fears earlier is that Islam is a foreign and unfamiliar religion to many people, Muslims don't look like Anglo or American citizens, and they often hold cultural beliefs and a language barrier that makes them a much more difficult group to integrate into society. The Catholics at least looked like much of the population of America and spoke the language which helped ease the assimilation process. The unwillingness of many muslims to assimilate combined with the demands for special treatment in certain areas causes a fear amongst the more traditional populaces who fear for a loss of "culture" or values in their society. Radical events associated with Islam such as 9/11 and 7/11 don't do anything to ease the tensions either. Ultimately this is a rift that must be healed sooner rather than later, but with extremists on both sides who either demand a total renunciation of their faith or demand that their host country conform to them usually polarizes each side of the debate along ethnic lines. Hopefully we can eventually overcome situations like this, but we really need to acknowledge the differences of each culture and put both sides up to scrutiny about their practices and come to a consensus.
There seems to be major problems that American Muslims are facing today, such as Islamophobia, and the need to assimilate into our surroundings and create an identity of our own. Today we see more and more Americans are turning to Islam. The importance of an Identity for Muslims in America post 9/11 was identified through the structure of organizations and lobbyists. There is no national organization with enough clout that there can be an effective policy or that it can influence a significant change. There are too many organizations that cannot foster policy and yet politicians still decide to talk to such organizations.
Anti-Americanism is rising in the minds of young Muslims. There needs to be an adverse effect. Young Muslims need to realize a situation and create their own environment.This is very true amongst young Americans. There is a trend of volunteerism and public service amongst our youth.I recall Dr. Khan mentioning in one of his lectures that I found interesting was the fact that there tends to be two kinds of Muslims, the mosque centered community which is studied far more than all the others and then finally, the rest of the community which the media does not portray. This is a serious flaw in American media, but whose fault is this truthfully? When there is very little money being raised to provide programs amongst our communities, than honestly who is doing the damage?
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