08-24-2006, 04:49 AM
European Islam and Islam from the Subcontinent
22/08/2006
Mshari Al-Zaydi
[From: Asharq Alawsat]
http://www.asharqalawsat.com/english/news....ction=2&id=6094
The European commission's vice president Franco Frattini called for
the emergence of a "European Islam", in London last Wednesday.
He told journalists, after a meeting of European ministers gathered to
discuss the foiled plot to bomb transatlantic flights, "We want a
European Islam". His comments reflected the problematic integration of
Muslims in Europe and their inability to integrate into western
societies. Before discussing the different levels of assimilation for
each community and especially the Pakistani complex, I feel it is
necessary to examine European Islam more closely.
Some of us might believe that Frattini's call is part of the fight
against Muslim identity, in a post September 11 world, and seeks to
dissolve "our Islam" in order to transform it into a pawn between East
and West.
This might be true if it weren't for the presence of a real problem,
with social and security implications for the Muslim communities in
the West, especially after members have committed terrorist acts.
Calling for the emergence of a European Islam does not mean that the
religion should be torn down because <b>its main principles, the Quran
and the Hadith, will remain as is and are non-negotiable</b>. It does
mean, however, that religious and community leaders should be aware
they are living in Europe, are subject to laws other than those of
their countries of origin, and should not be the only social outcasts.
Some might ask: How can Chinese, Indian and Mexican immigrants live in
the west and preserve their identity, which is what Muslims are
demanding? This is a harsh but necessary question that we ought to ask
ourselves before others do so.
I thought about these issues as I read about the British group
implicated in the foiled terror plot to bomb commercial jetliners and
the Pakistani link, headed by Rashid Rauf, an alleged key mastermind
behind the plot, and his brother, both from Birmingham.
According to press reports, Rashid Rauf led a complicated life in
Britain and suffered from the contradicting influences of two
cultures, as Pakistan continued to lure him. He eventually moved there
in 2002, after his uncle was stabbed in murky circumstances and joined
a radical Islamist group.
His youngest brother, Tayyib, also visited Pakistan, as the family led
an isolated existence, away from mainstream British society.
Is this because of racism against them in Britain? Perhaps, but blacks
and Asians also suffer from racism. Why is the Pakistani response
different?
Friends and colleagues of Abdul Rauf, the men's father, remember him
as a polite, unobtrusive and very devout man who held on to Pakistani
traditions, after coming to Britain in the early 1980s and settling in
Bordesley Green, a south east suburb of Birmingham. He managed a
successful bakery, producing items from Asian sweets to iced sticky
buns. He also founded the Crescent Relief organization to provide
assistance to survivors of the deadly earthquake which shook Pakistan
in October 2005 and the 2004 Asian Tsunami. Questions have been raised
about whether these funds were diverted for terrorist purposes.
Rauf, like many other Pakistani immigrants, visited his village,
Haveli Beghal, in the traditional Mirpur district, on several
occasions. Friends claim he was attending a wedding there when his
sons were arrested. Salma, his wife who never left the house without a
hijab, taught girls the Quran in an outbuilding behind the family home.
If we examine the lives of the young men of Pakistani origin who were
behind the 7/7 attacks in London, we notice a similar story:
individuals living in almost complete isolation from society. Why is
the Pakistani immigrant community unable to integrate into mainstream
British society?
Even Arabs, who are in the spotlight following the September 11
attacks, are more integrated than Pakistanis!
Is Islam from the subcontinent behind this extreme attachment to
identity and the readiness for extremism, considering the large number
of Islamist groups in Pakistan, which have put the government under
pressure? Or are British colonial rule and the partition of India,
following independence in 1947, to blame?
The fall of the Muslim Moghul Empire and the bitter colonial rule that
followed have, undoubtedly, bequeathed the people of the Indian
subcontinent an extremist disposition and the entrenchment of Muslim
identity.
The questions asked above need to be examined if we are to analyze the
characteristics of Islam from the subcontinents and its products,
including the Taliban and Rashid Rauf, as their might be many more
like him.
<i>Mshari Al-Zaydi
A Saudi journalist and expert on Islamic movements and Islamic
fundamentalism as well as Saudi affairs. Mshari is Asharq Al-Awsat's
opinion page Editor, where he also contributes a weekly column. Has
worked for the local Saudi press occupying several posts at Al -Madina
newspaper amongst others. He has been a guest on numerous news and
current affairs programs as an expert on Islamic extremism.</i>
22/08/2006
Mshari Al-Zaydi
[From: Asharq Alawsat]
http://www.asharqalawsat.com/english/news....ction=2&id=6094
The European commission's vice president Franco Frattini called for
the emergence of a "European Islam", in London last Wednesday.
He told journalists, after a meeting of European ministers gathered to
discuss the foiled plot to bomb transatlantic flights, "We want a
European Islam". His comments reflected the problematic integration of
Muslims in Europe and their inability to integrate into western
societies. Before discussing the different levels of assimilation for
each community and especially the Pakistani complex, I feel it is
necessary to examine European Islam more closely.
Some of us might believe that Frattini's call is part of the fight
against Muslim identity, in a post September 11 world, and seeks to
dissolve "our Islam" in order to transform it into a pawn between East
and West.
This might be true if it weren't for the presence of a real problem,
with social and security implications for the Muslim communities in
the West, especially after members have committed terrorist acts.
Calling for the emergence of a European Islam does not mean that the
religion should be torn down because <b>its main principles, the Quran
and the Hadith, will remain as is and are non-negotiable</b>. It does
mean, however, that religious and community leaders should be aware
they are living in Europe, are subject to laws other than those of
their countries of origin, and should not be the only social outcasts.
Some might ask: How can Chinese, Indian and Mexican immigrants live in
the west and preserve their identity, which is what Muslims are
demanding? This is a harsh but necessary question that we ought to ask
ourselves before others do so.
I thought about these issues as I read about the British group
implicated in the foiled terror plot to bomb commercial jetliners and
the Pakistani link, headed by Rashid Rauf, an alleged key mastermind
behind the plot, and his brother, both from Birmingham.
According to press reports, Rashid Rauf led a complicated life in
Britain and suffered from the contradicting influences of two
cultures, as Pakistan continued to lure him. He eventually moved there
in 2002, after his uncle was stabbed in murky circumstances and joined
a radical Islamist group.
His youngest brother, Tayyib, also visited Pakistan, as the family led
an isolated existence, away from mainstream British society.
Is this because of racism against them in Britain? Perhaps, but blacks
and Asians also suffer from racism. Why is the Pakistani response
different?
Friends and colleagues of Abdul Rauf, the men's father, remember him
as a polite, unobtrusive and very devout man who held on to Pakistani
traditions, after coming to Britain in the early 1980s and settling in
Bordesley Green, a south east suburb of Birmingham. He managed a
successful bakery, producing items from Asian sweets to iced sticky
buns. He also founded the Crescent Relief organization to provide
assistance to survivors of the deadly earthquake which shook Pakistan
in October 2005 and the 2004 Asian Tsunami. Questions have been raised
about whether these funds were diverted for terrorist purposes.
Rauf, like many other Pakistani immigrants, visited his village,
Haveli Beghal, in the traditional Mirpur district, on several
occasions. Friends claim he was attending a wedding there when his
sons were arrested. Salma, his wife who never left the house without a
hijab, taught girls the Quran in an outbuilding behind the family home.
If we examine the lives of the young men of Pakistani origin who were
behind the 7/7 attacks in London, we notice a similar story:
individuals living in almost complete isolation from society. Why is
the Pakistani immigrant community unable to integrate into mainstream
British society?
Even Arabs, who are in the spotlight following the September 11
attacks, are more integrated than Pakistanis!
Is Islam from the subcontinent behind this extreme attachment to
identity and the readiness for extremism, considering the large number
of Islamist groups in Pakistan, which have put the government under
pressure? Or are British colonial rule and the partition of India,
following independence in 1947, to blame?
The fall of the Muslim Moghul Empire and the bitter colonial rule that
followed have, undoubtedly, bequeathed the people of the Indian
subcontinent an extremist disposition and the entrenchment of Muslim
identity.
The questions asked above need to be examined if we are to analyze the
characteristics of Islam from the subcontinents and its products,
including the Taliban and Rashid Rauf, as their might be many more
like him.
<i>Mshari Al-Zaydi
A Saudi journalist and expert on Islamic movements and Islamic
fundamentalism as well as Saudi affairs. Mshari is Asharq Al-Awsat's
opinion page Editor, where he also contributes a weekly column. Has
worked for the local Saudi press occupying several posts at Al -Madina
newspaper amongst others. He has been a guest on numerous news and
current affairs programs as an expert on Islamic extremism.</i>