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11 August 2005
THE ISLAMIZATION OF EUROPE
On Friday 20th May 2005 a crowd of some 300
Muslims burned a wooden cross outside the American embassy
in London. This was part of a protest against the rumoured
desecration of a Qur'an by American soldiers in Guantanamo
Bay, during which British and American flags were also
burned. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this event was
that it was not deemed to be newsworthy, receiving little
attention in the national press.
The whole scenario is reminiscent of what
happens in so many Muslim-majority countries: a rumour of an
insult to Islam, a violent and blasphemous anti-Christian
reaction, police watching idly, and a complete lack of
public interest let alone outrage. It could have been
Pakistan, Egypt, Indonesia or Northern Nigeria. But it was
the UK.
Europe is undergoing a rapid process of change
as Muslims make their presence felt in politics, economics,
law, education and the media. While there is a wide range of
attitudes amongst Muslims in Europe, with many who are
broadly content with the status quo and just want to live
their lives peacefully, others are striving deliberately to
drive forward the changes. As a result of the efforts of the
latter, Europe is gradually being transformed into a society
in which Islam takes its place, not just as an equal
alongside the many other faith communities, but often as the
dominant player. This is not purely, or even primarily, a
matter of numbers, but is more a matter of control of the
structures of society. It is not happening by chance but is
the result of a careful and deliberate strategy by certain
Muslim leaders.
Though the effects are only now becoming
noticeable, the planning was done decades ago. In 1980 the
Islamic Council of Europe published a book called Muslim
Communities in Non-Muslim States which clearly explained the
Islamic agenda in Europe. When Muslims live as a minority
they face theological problems, because classical Islamic
teaching always presupposed a context of Islamic dominance;
hence the need for guidance on how to live in non-Muslim
states. The instructions given in the book told Muslims to
get together and organise themselves with the aim of
establishing a viable Muslim community based on Islamic
principles. This is the duty of every individual Muslim
living within a non-Muslim political entity. They should set
up mosques, community centres and Islamic schools. At all
costs they must avoid being assimilated by the majority. In
order to resist assimilation, they must group themselves
geographically, forming areas of high Muslim concentration
within the population as a whole. Yet they must also
interact with non-Muslims so as to share the message of
Islam with them. Every Muslim individual is required to
participate in the plan; it is not allowed for anyone simply
to live as a "good Muslim" without assisting the overall
strategy. The ultimate goal of this strategy is that the
Muslims should become a majority and the entire nation be
governed according to Islam. (M. Ali Kettani "The Problems
of Muslim Minorities and their Solutions" in Muslim
Communities in Non-Muslim States (London: Islamic Council of
Europe, 1980) pp.96-105)
Not all Muslims would support this action
plan. The more secularized are happy to become integrated
within the majority society. Even amongst those who agree on
the ultimate goal of creating an Islamic state, there are
differences about methodology i.e. whether this should be a
slow and peaceful transition, or whether it should be
hastened by means of political dominance or even &endash;
say some &endash; by violence.
Despite the variety of opinion amongst
Muslims, it is not hard to recognize the different stages of
the Islamic Council of Europe's strategy being put into
practice within today's Europe. Muslims do tend to live in
tightly concentrated areas, and show little sign of
integrating into wider society. Saudi funding is paying for
the erection of large and beautiful mosques, staffed by
imams brought over to Europe from the "home countries".
Sweden's third largest city, Malmø, is effectively
ruled by violent gangs of Muslims, and some of the Muslim
residents of the city still cannot read or write Swedish
though they have lived there for 20 years. Denmark has
recently seen the Nordgårdsskolen in Aarhus become the
first school in the country to have 100% Muslim pupils.
Britain's Muslim population (variously estimated at between
1.6 and 3 million) is concentrated in three areas:
north-west England, the midlands and London. In some of
these areas Muslims are now targeting the remaining
Christian presence, arsoning churches, physically attacking
church leaders and their property; the aim seems to be to
"cleanse" these areas of non-Muslims.
European Muslims are Islamizing many aspects
of life that also affect non-Muslims. Spanish Muslims have
expressed their desire to "regain" the mosque of Cordoba.
This building was originally a church, then turned into a
mosque, and then turned back into a place of Christian
worship. Halal meat is now routinely served in many British
prisons, schools and hospitals, sometimes to Muslim and
non-Muslim alike, and the hijab [Islamic headscarf]
is worn in British schools. Muslims in the London borough of
Tower Hamlets have forced name-changes for districts and
local amenities if the existing name sounds too Christian
for their liking.
In the UK, where Islam is making its most
rapid advance, Islamic law (shari'a) is already practised
unofficially, with shari'a councils and shari'a courts
giving judgments on Muslim family matters. In education
numerous concessions are being made to British Muslims,
Islam often being given more prominence and respect than
other faiths at state schools. An increasing number of
university posts are being funded from Saudi Arabia and
other Muslim countries on condition that a certain line of
thinking is promoted.
The ultimate goal of taking control of
society, as depicted by the Islamic Council of Europe in
1980, is clearly in the minds of atleast some Muslim
leaders. A Dutch Imam has stated that Islamic law is
superior to other forms of legislation so there is no need
to obey other laws. Some Finnish imams preach on the Islamic
duty to kill a Muslim who converts to another faith, adding
that it is difficult to carry this out in Finland at present
because Muslims do not yet "own the state". Furthermore, the
freedoms of European society are being exploited by Islamic
militants and their supporters to plan terrorist activities
around the world. London &endash; or "Londonistan" as it is
becoming known &endash; is one of the most important bases
for Islamic terrorism worldwide. This has been illustrated
by the July bombings in London itself.
Despite all these advances, Muslims still tend
to portray themselves as victims in European society, while
the majority society in turn struggles to affirm them and to
avoid giving any accidental offence. But this kind of
reaction by non-Muslims can be seen as the typical behaviour
of dhimmi. In classical Islam, Christian and Jewish
minorities within an Islamic state were called dhimmi. They
were free to worship and live out their faith, but had to
submit to a raft of discriminatory and humiliating laws.
They learned to be subservient, and to consider the
dominance of Muslims as normal as the Muslims themselves
did.
It is typical of dhimmi not to protest if a
Christian cross is burned by an angry crowd, nor even to
feel that anything outrageous has occurred. Likewise the
Muslim scheme to turn the cathedral of Cordoba back into a
mosque has the backing of some Spanish government leaders in
the city.
At a political level, European countries are
responding in different ways to the challenge of Islam.
France is determinedly protecting its secularism, and has
banned the hijab in school. The Netherlands have recently
swung from one extreme to the other, following the
ritualized killing of Dutch film director Theo van Gogh by a
young Muslim in November 2004; they are turning against
multiculturalism and becoming concerned to control
immigration. The UK seems to be seeking to replicate the
segregation and communalism of the British Raj in India,
whereby the various religious communities were each given
their own laws. This policy would certainly mesh well with
some Muslim leaders' own plans for Britain. If Britain is to
be sub-divided in this way, perhaps geographically as well
as legally, it raises the question of how the Church would
survive in areas of Islamic rule. What form would Christian
ministry be able to take in these areas?
Muslims are still a minority in numerical
terms in Europe, with an estimated 20 million living in the
European Union. No country apart from Albania has a Muslim
community amounting to more than about 10% of the
population. However, demographic studies indicate that
Muslim populations are growing far faster than the
non-Muslim populations. This is due partly to continued
immigration, partly to conversion, but mainly to the larger
number of children which Muslim families typically have. The
growing Muslim community is a mosaic of different ethnic,
linguistic, cultural, sectarian and geographical
backgrounds, and characterized by increasing internal
tensions particularly over how to relate to the host
society.
Some Christians have decried as faithless
pessimism those who predict the Islamization of Europe
before the end of the century. But it must be remembered
that the region which is now Pakistan and Afghanistan was
once Christian, as was North Africa. The Church was
completely eradicated from these areas by the advance of
Islam. It would surely be arrogant to think that this could
never happen to the Church in Europe.
As individual Christians we must love our
Muslim neighbours and forgive any wrongs done to us. But as
a community the Church must defend herself, as well as the
Judaeo-Christian heritage with which Europe is blessed. For
this her leaders need great wisdom and courage.
Dr Patrick Sookhdeo
11 August 2005
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