An 'Islamic' Civil Society in Europe? As the Muslim population continues to expand within Europe, concern from certain sectors of society has been growing.
Oriana Fallaci argued Muslim immigrants in the West had "multiplied like rats" and both she and Bat Ye'or speak of Europe as 'Eurabia'; a soon-to-be colony of Islam. Daniel Pipes suggests a possible Muslim majority in the continent within decades as a robust, assertive, and ambitious Islam fills the void left behind by falling birth rates. Demographer Wolfgang Lutz goes further to speak of a 'tempo effect' as the postponement of motherhood by so many European women leads to subsequent generations having fewer potential mothers, thus cementing the decline of their ageing populations relative to others much younger and fertile, especially Muslims. Mark Steyn has called this demographic crisis the 'Eurabian civil war'.
However, for the more reasonable citizens of Europe, the primary concern is not about the presence of Muslims. It was almost inevitable they would become part of the furniture ever since European governments, reacting to the 1972-74 recession, introduced family reunification policies. This meant the immediate families of existing migrants, many of whom were from the Muslim world, were able to begin lives as European citizens leading inevitably to new levels of interaction and settlement.
This process led to Muslims becoming so firmly a part of Europe in two to three decades that we have witnessed the emergence of central or 'institutional' representation for Muslims. This has followed various patterns whether as a result of state imposition such as in France's 'Conseil Français du Culte Musulman', legally recognised confederations of several independent groups like in Spain's 'Comisión Islamica de España' or more loose umbrella-like federations such as the 'Islamic Council Norway' (cf. Veit Bader, 2006).
Since the serious discussion does not centre on the presence of Muslims it is left for us to focus on Muslim participation, seen by many as problematic. The spheres within which Muslims can engage are already defined. Political scientists view society as being made up of three elements; public, private and civil.
The public sphere is generally filled up by the state and so is outside the scope of this discussion. The private sphere is made up of commercial business and other individuals leading their personal lives. The final sphere, known as civil society, spans an area between both the public and private where private individuals pursue the public interest or common good. This space is occupied by non-state actors and NGOs including charities, pressure groups, lobbies and development agencies.
The moment Muslims knew they were not in Europe merely as sojourners but as citizens a decision had to be made if it would be as followers or leaders. We clearly could not be both. If we were to be leading others by setting an example it would be through the third sector, of civil society. Today it appears as though the community's contribution is maturing as it is within this sector that we can sense the growing participation of Muslims in Europe. It is fair to label this involvement as mature since it has developed from a once disparate collection of communities from myriad nations and multiple dialects with diverse histories to one engaging based upon a common identity, an Islamic identity. Today Muslim citizens are finding their voices as Muslims.
This is in stark contrast to the previous state of affairs where Muslim migrants would organise themselves locally on an ethnic basis on single or specific issues. In East London, for instance the same occurred with Bengalis, Pakistanis, Somalis, Gujaratis, Iranians, Tamils and others having their own masajids, shops, funeral services, youth clubs and liaising with the local councils for funding all without a semblance of contact or cooperation between them. The same picture was replicated across Europe.
The community was disjointed, split along boundaries of race and tribe. Of course these organisations still exist, run predominately by the first wave of migrants who still dream of the 'old country' but a sea-change occurred as newer forms of self-identification emerged. More people see themselves as part of the Muslim Ummah first and being of national descent later. Younger Muslims have also acknowledged that in order to exert influence on a national scale, they will have to organise nationally (cf. Schwerzel, 2004).
More and more organisations are reaching out wider than their local communities as well as profiling themselves as Muslims as Islam replaces the fragmenting forces of nationalism and ethnicity. The new breed are more vocal, media-savvy, entering into discourse on issues within civil society and displaying enviable confidence on the big debates of the day. This is perhaps no more evident than in the media and in the UK the Islam Channel would perhaps be a prime example of a successful, cross-ethnicity, nation-wide and multi-issue organisation. The same can be said of businesses proudly displaying their credentials as Muslim businesses and carrying Islamic values into the marketplace such as the Muslim Green Pages.
In doing so these businesses seem to be following the lead of other more settled competitors in sustainable development and corporate social responsibility i.e. taking into account the social and environmental factors of their decisions rather than just the profit imperative. However Muslim businesses, to their credit, have largely appeared to have avoided allegations of disinformation or misconduct in this regard in contrast to firms such as BP, Shell, Coca-Cola, Nestle or McDonalds.
There are however still too few organisations either aiming to unite Muslims within civil society or displaying a strong visible Islamic business identity. A direct result is that all Muslim communities in Western Europe suffer from unnecessary duplication of effort, which compounds the already serious challenges Muslim communities face as illustrated by almost every possible indicator.
There is no doubt Muslims are most likely to suffer social deprivation. Allegations of Islamophobic discrimination persist and statistics for unemployment, education and life expectancy are not encouraging in the least. Muslims also appear to have failed thus far to convince the non-Muslim populations amongst who they live that Islam is not intrinsically associated with extremism and violence but the path forward is becoming clearer by the day.
The actions of Muslims as Muslims within civil society and the identification of Islamic values through trade highlight the growing unity and self-assurance in the community and presage a future where Muslims can build a stable platform to live in Europe as productive, honest citizens. This also means Muslims in the West can proceed to outline a unique vision of how to live for others to follow. The question now is whether we want to be followers or leaders. We cannot be both.
Hassan Choudhury, 10th July, 2006
Adapted from a speech delivered 7th July, 2006 at the first Annual Islamic Media Conference held at Islam EXPO, 2006 by Hassan Choudhury, a writer, author and television presenter for the Islam Channel. www.tagworld.com/hassanmac
Endnotes
(2006) Trial over Italian Islam 'insult' BBC News Online. Tuesday, 24 May, 2005. Retrieved on 9th July, 2006 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4576663.stm
Ye'or. B (2005). Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis (Hardcover) by Fairleigh Dickinson University Press (January 31, 2005)
Fallaci. O (2006) The Force of Reason (Hardcover) by Rizzoli Press
(2004) Pipes. D. 'Muslim Europe' in The New York Sun, May 11, 2004. Retrieved on 9th July, 2006 from http://www.danielpipes.org/article/1796
(2003) Press Release - American Association for the Advancement of Science 'Europe's population has developed new tendency to shrink, Science study reports Timing of childbirth cited as key factor'. Retrieved on 9th July, 2006 from http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-03/aaft-eph032103.php
Steyn. M (2005). 'It's the demography, stupid'. The Spectator. 12 November 2005. Retrieved on 9th July, 2006 from http://www.spectator.co.uk/archive/features/14444/its-the-demography-stupid.thtml
(2006) "Dilemmas of institutionalization: Regimes of religious governance, church autonomy and equal treatment" by Veit Bader (U Amsterdam). Retrieved on 9th July, 2006 from http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~bisci/PluralismWorkshop/Papers/BaderPaper1.pdf
Schwerzel. J (2004) The Business of Muslim Integration - The Formation of Islamic Civil Society in Non-Muslim Countries. Lecture at St. Ethelburga's on October 27th, 2004. Retrieved on 9th July, 2006 from http://www.stethelburgas.org/documents/muslimintegration.pdf
(2004) The Green Life. Don't Be Fooled - America's Ten Worst Greenwashers. Retrieved on 9th July, 2006 from http://www.thegreenlife.org/reports/DontBeFooled.pdf
(2006) SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION (2004) 'ORDER INSTITUTING CEASE-AND- DESIST PROCEEDINGS PURSUANT SECTION 21C OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934, MAKING FINDINGS, AND IMPOSING A CEASE-AND-DESIST ORDER; 24 August 2004. Retrieved on 9th July, 2006 from http://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/34-50233.pdf
(2006) Coca Cola India MYTHS & FACTS. Retrieved on 9th July, 2006 from http://www.coca-colaindia.com/faqs/myths-facts.asp
(2005) Baby Milk Action - Press Release Nestlé's public relation machine exposed 21 April 2005 http://www.babymilkaction.org/boycott/prmachine05.html
Oliver. M (2005) McLibel Two win legal aid case, The Guardian. 15 February, 2005. Retrieved on 9th July, 2006 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,2763,1415031,00.html
(2005). The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights Intolerance and Discrimination against Muslims in the EU Are Muslims "An Enemy Within"?- Developments since September 11 - Press Release. 7 March, 2005. Retrieved on 9th July, 2006 from http://www.ihf-hr.org/viewbinary/viewdocument.php?doc_id=6242
About the Author
A writer, author and television presenter for the Islam Channel. www.tagworld.com/hassanmac