EU should embrace Islam: Expert

Friday, 2 July 2010

The Jakarta Post

A leading British academic has called for greater assimilation between the EU and Islam, citing Indonesia as a key example of a peaceful coexistence between Muslims and a democratic government.

Professor Mike Hardy OBE, an expert in Islam, described the rise of xenophobic forces in Europe and the political, legislative and economic measures needed to counter them, at a seminar designed to provoke an interfaith dialogue between the EU and Islam organized by the European Union Delegation to Indonesia, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry and the British Council.

He noted recent trends in “questionable” immigration regimes, and “dangerous and destabilizing” Islamic extremist thoughts in Europe, asserting that interfaith coexistence should be the default behavior of ordinary European citizens.

This comes in the context of a “dangerously fragile [Western] society”, he said, which currently relies on antidiscrimination legislation, rather than community cohesion.

Out of the 500 million people living in Europe today, there are approximately 20 million Muslims, the largest populations living in France (8 percent), the Netherlands (6 percent), Germany (4 percent) and the United Kingdom (3 percent).

Hardy identified that most Muslims are highly concentrated in region-specific areas, often linked with high crime rates and poverty, stating that immigrant Muslims are “mostly driven by socioeconomic realities, than cultural choice.”

“A key issue in Europe is the perceived irreconcilability of Islam with the increasingly secular and sexually liberal outlook of Europe,” he commented.

“Muslim piety, often represented with symbols [such as head scarves] and conservatism, is perceived to contribute to a recipe of non-integration. But statistics show that religious affinity does not make Muslims less likely to identify with their host countries.”

According to recent surveys conducted by Gallup, YouGov and the Brookings Institution, Muslims in London are more likely to associate with the United Kingdom than most of the city’s population, whilst one in two French taxpayers support extra-marital affairs as morally acceptable, with 80 percent of French Muslims agreeing.

The surveys indicate that European Muslims are as likely to reject violence, associate with their host countries, and uphold democratic institutions as their indigenous counterparts, he said.

Despite this, YouGov has recently released data that 58 percent of the UK populace associates Islam with extremism, and 69 percent associates it with the repression of women. Four out of 10 members of the UK population disagreed that Muslims have a positive impact in UK society, he highlighted.

“I use these statistics not to raise alarm bells, but to reflect on the challenge that we face. Europe is a very international place. The UK is very comfortable with foreigners, but the problem lies in times of socioeconomic stress, where people turn to the other as a source of blame.”