When in Europe do as the Europeans do – Can Europe Integrate its Muslims?

Muslim integration has been, for many years now, the centre of the debate on immigration and now after the Paris attacks the topic is more relevant than ever. Since 9/11 and the terror attacks committed by Islamic extremists on European soil, the West looks at the Muslim minority with suspicion and fear. After the Charlie Hebdo terror attack both France and Great Britain decided to introduce stricter immigration laws. According to the EU justice commissioner Vera Jourova between 5,000 and 6,000 Europeans joined ISIS since 2014 and many experts believe this number is much higher. At least 5 of the Paris attackers were French citizens, which makes this issue very real. Now Europe has to face the current migration crisis, which only adds to the already existing matter. Many experts are afraid that Europe does not have a good solution to the problem of integration. There has been controversial steps from European nations like the ban on burka in France, the ban on building new mosques in Switzerland, many believed these harmed the rights of the Muslim people. A great difficulty European countries face is how to maintain national values but at the same time also guarantee democratic rights and freedom to all people regardless of religion and culture.

Islam will dominate the world. Or will it?

Facts about the Muslim population in Europe

According to Pew Research Center as of 2010 there were 4.8 million Muslims in Germany (5.8 % of the population and 4.7 million in France (7.5% of the population). The overall percentage of the Muslim population in Europe is 6%, this number is steadily growing and is expected to reach 8% by 2030 or, because of the current flood of migrants, probably sooner. Also according to Pew Research Muslims are younger than other Europeans. Their median age in 2010 was 32 in contrast with the European median, which is 40.

Parallel societies

According to a 2011 Pew Global Attitudes Project research: many people in the West believe that Muslims are not willing to take up the national identity of their receiving country. "There is a widespread perception that Muslims living in the West do not want to assimilate. Majorities in Europe and the U.S. think Muslims wish to remain distinct from the rest of society, instead of embracing the way of life in Western nations. More than two-thirds in Germany and Spain believe Muslims do not want to adopt national customs." (http://www.pewglobal.org/files/2011/07/Pew-Global-Attitudes-Muslim-Western-Relations-FINAL-FOR-PRINT-July-21-2011.pdf) Their children go to segregated schools, they marry between themselves, they practice their own religious laws, they have whole areas that have become known as „no go zones” because Sharia law automatically applies to all in there. This creates the sensation of parallel societies where a different world exists within a modern society. The Washington Times even wrote about „mini-states” that are areas all over France where the police do not go. These are mostly areas inhabited by lowly educated Muslim immigrants, who are mostly unemployed or work illegally. In Sweden the police declared 55 „no-go zones” which means going there is highly unadvised because even police patrols can be attacked. Last month jihadwatch.org reported an incident when a Swedish journalist was attacked in an area like this when she tried to film there. It is important to note that this is a very controversial issue and even though there are a lot of evidence that these areas exist, the mainstream media fiercely denies their existence and reject even the idea of them

Paralell Societies

Fear of terror

According to the Pew Global Attitudes Project "Worries about Islamic extremism remain widespread in Western Europe. At least seven-in-ten in Germany (73%), Britain (70%) say they are very or somewhat concerned about extremism in their country; 68% of French and 61% of Spanish respondents express similar concern." After the terror wave of the early 2000s the Western nations introduced several laws to tackle Islamic extremism. By close surveillance and good counter terrorism measures many attacks have been prevented most notably in 2006 when, according to the British police, terrorists wanted to detonate liquid bombs on ten planes travelling to the U.S. and Canada from Heathrow. Many times the first step to radicalization starts in mosques where the state’s hand cannot reach. Even if the imam preaches in favour of extremism the authorities cannot take a step against them. The most absurd situation was the case of Abu Hamza al-Masari who preached Islamic extremism in London and was found guilty of terrorism in the USA but could stay in England for 8 years because EU laws didn’t allow England to extradite him to the American authorities. Now Europe possibly faces a new terror wave. What happened in Paris will only add to the already existing fear.

Policies

In order to secularize the Muslim communities European countries introduced controversial measures like the ban of wearing a burka in public in France and Belgium. This step was criticised by Muslim groups, but many civil rights groups stated that the burka was the symbol of female oppression. However there are several policies which are less known. In Denmark for example every immigrant has to sign a statement saying they would respect individual freedom and gender equality. In most Western countries Muslim religious schools get state funding, and the states provide religious education in public schools in order to prevent extremism.

Source: The Economist

Religious Freedom or Democratic values

One of the biggest obstacle of integration is the Muslim religious law, the Sharia. Many countries introduced Muslim councils, which represent the interests of the religious communities. The Sharia law is something that sparked many debates. In order to allow religious freedom countries like Sweden, England, and France allowed fundamentalist Muslims to practice the Sharia. However finding accommodation between religious law and secular law is very difficult. The biggest problem is posed by family laws. The cruel retribution laws cannot be practiced in Western countries, if they are carried out they simply count as murder. However, when it comes to family issues like divorce, religious councils may overrule what the secular court decided.

Failure of integration: ISIS

Nothing shows the failure of integration better than the huge number of European born ISIS recruits. Most of them are third generation immigrants. Many of them are young and unemployed with no college degree. According to a UN working group ISIS pays families $10,000 for each new recruit. This can be a motivation for young people to join the terrorist group. According to a Pew Research, many of the Muslims find the European population immoral and selfish. They feel isolated and sometimes revolted by western societies. They see a purpose in Radical Islam, a life goal, and many of them are easily radicalized due to the lack of education and the easy access to the terrorist sites. The number of recruits keeps growing. The greatest number come from France and Belgium. This sensation poses as the biggest threat to European security. It seems now that France will introduce laws to detain French citizens returning from Syria and Iraq. But sadly for the hundreds who were killed or injured in the 11/13 attacks these policies come too late. After what happened in Paris we can already state that Europe paid a bloody price for their failure to integrate Muslims

Integration of the newly arrived Muslims

Even though she stated in 2010 that "German multiculturalism utterly failed" Angela Merkel now says Germany will be able to integrate the new hundreds of thousands of migrants. Immediate housing is almost impossible; most of them have to live in camps. Most of the migrants don’t speak the language of the receiving country, which makes it difficult for them to find a job. Even if they had a good education, the language barrier is still a huge problem.

According to The Economist the hardest part is integrating the unskilled masses. Training these people takes up time and money. And even if Germany can turn the migrants into a workforce the question of cultural integration remains. However, the question is not only if Europe will be able to integrate but if it is possible at all to integrate a culture into a completely different one? Europe believes in equality for all. Islam does not recognize equality, a man is superior to a woman, the Islamic faith is superior to other religions, and a Muslim is superior to an Infidel. Can we accept that they will never accept the fundamental rights we believe in and that are the foundation of our society? Many articles have dealt with the failure of multiculturalism in Europe. If every attempt failed in the past, can we hope that in the future we will find a way to succeed? Only time will tell.

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