History Acceptance of Muslims in the World - Essay Example

Muslim and the World The Relationship Between Immigration and Islam in Europe Since 1798, beginning with the arrival of Napoleon in Egypt, the Middle East has been occupied by, ruled by, warred with, and made peace with European nations1. Muslims have bent to the occupations and influences of Western forces, which left a political residue on the Middle East that has not yet dissipated2. A problem that continues to loom significant today is that Europeans were never able to grasp the language of the Islamic world in terms of the body within which the context of the language had meaning, and that was in the context of the teachings of the Prophet Mohammad as represented by the Koran3. The Koran discusses government and justice, and it gives specific instructions to the faithful as to what they should do with regard to ruling with consultation, meaning consulting the various social levels within Muslim society, and especially with respect to despotism, for which the response should be one of revolution against the despot as despotism is contrary to the laws of Islam4. Under European influences, the Middle East adopted a mixture of political ideologies based on their experiences with the French, Germans, and British5. After World War II, when the Middle East was experienced Soviet Communism, it again adopted a non-Muslim model of Communist government6. It was a government that encompassed a mixture of Nazi, Fascism and Soviet Communism as reflected by the governments of Syria and Iraq, and led by what emerged as the Baath Party7. All of these political ideologies are in stark opposition with the teachings, and the practice in governing, of the Prophet Mohammad8. Given the Middle East’s European experience and the tradition of government adopted from the Europeans, some light is shed on the anger that Muslims have towards the West. That anger, however, is a powerful tool in the hands of Islamic fundamentalists whose own agenda it is to return the Middle East to a pre-European ancient interpretation of Islamic law9. Since September 11, 2001, when terrorists were successful in destroying New York City’s World Trade Center towers, and, since then, subsequent acts of terrorism in Spain and England, the world community has been forced to examine its relationship with the Muslim world, and especially the Muslim communities that exist in countries outside of the Middle East. In so doing, European nations have had to face the fact that immigration programs, which allowed large numbers of Muslims to immigrate from the Middle East to European countries post World War II, were poorly planned, implemented and lacked review and oversight to determine whether or not those people being received from the Middle East under the programs had achieved successful assimilation into the European societies into which they had immigrated10. Europe’s post World War II guest worker programs, which allowed Muslims to immigrate to Europe in order to rebuild Europe, worked against the immigrants and their host countries because the programs allowed jihadist networks to infiltrate and grow within the host countries, and failed the non-fundamentalist Muslim communities by failing to provide a framework of social and cultural opportunities that might allow for a successful assimilation11. The Muslims clustered in communities within the host country, essentially isolated communities representing Middle Eastern and African nations of origin, within the host country; and often times their very presence within the host community and country where they now resided was met with resentment by citizens of that host nation12. By the time the immigrants had settled into their isolated communities and began having families, those first generation host country born Muslims, their children became more familiar with the ways of their parents than the ways of the country where they were born, and remained strangers within their own homelands, which in turn gave rise to a bitterness and reaction that was antisocial and often times violent in nature, and whose feelings of and confusion the radical fundamentalists, now imbedded within those communities, were set to exploit for purposes of carrying out their jihad13. Moreover, the host countries continued to ignore the problems which were no brewing internally, but did nothing to stem the influx of immigration from Muslim countries14. If it was the host country’s policymaker’s hope to establish a multi-cultural community base that reflects that which exists in the United States, those policymakers failed to consider the fact that the United States arose out of a wilderness, coming into its full civilization on the basis of a multi-cultural immigration policy that began evolving more than 200 years ago. America is a country that for the most part celebrates and honors its cultural diversity, which allows for successful assimilation into its society15. European nations now find themselves forced to confront the problems that stem from dispossessed first generation Muslim heritage, and a generation whose population clings to traditions that remain foreign to the host country16. Moreover, it is a generation more connected to a traditional heritage, than with their birthright, and who are susceptible to the recruiting tactics employed by a violent and radical fundamentalist leadership within their communities that have an agenda that is tangential to the host country’s inability to cope with or address the social issues that stem from their Muslim communities17. Currently, as the European Union look for the first time to admitting a country that is Muslim in nature as opposed to European, there are concerns that must be addressed18. The Muslim country in question is Turkey, and once admitted Turkish citizen, as members of the EU, will enjoy unrestricted access through other EU countries, giving Islamic fundamentalists unrestricted movement across European borders19. These are problems that the EU appears reluctant to address20. A memo by the EU’s Frits Bolkestein of the Netherlands, written for internal communications, was given to the European and America press corps; in which Bolkestein discussed the problems of admitting Turkey to the EU21. In the memo Bolkestein raised issues that no EU member country representative has been willing to publicly express, not the least among which concerns are, first, that having admitted Turkey to the EU, it would then become incumbent upon the EU to consider admission of other countries that are culturally less European in nature, and that by admitting Muslim countries to the EU, Europeans would essentially by sheer number become minorities in the EU22. The concerns are valid, but, given the tension between Europeans and immigrant Muslims, one can understand why Bolkestein’s comments were meant to be considered internally. Still, there is hope for the relationship between Muslims and their European host countries, and especially for first generation European born Muslims. That is to address the problem of violence under the existing legal systems within the countries where the violence is being perpetrated. European nations must deport back to their countries of origin radical Islamic fundamentalists who incite violence and hatred of non-Islamic peoples. So, then, what lessons can be taken from a still evolving European/Muslim relationship that might serve to lessen the potential social and cultural clashes between Muslims and non-Muslims in southern Thailand’s provinces? First, the Buddhist majority Thai government must acknowledge the cultural and traditional differences of their Islamic Muslim population, which Europe failed in doing, and as a result saw first generation Muslims were born to European nations who felt disconnected from their land of birth23. Thailand, taking a lesson from Europe’s failings, must give their Muslim populations recognition within their governments so that their Islamic populations feel a connection to the homeland through representation and a voice in policymaking. Being treated as second class citizens in their own country is a complaint made by Thai Muslims24. It will serve no purpose to pretend that Muslims who constitute a minority in their birth-lands do not exist, or that they should look away from their religious and historical traditions. Rather, Europe and Thailand must encourage Muslims to celebrate their culture and traditions, afford them the respect due them as citizens, and, lastly, as Muslims. Bibliography AsianNews.it, “Malaysia to Help Thailand Spread Moderate Islam,” (2005); [database on-line] (AsiaNews.it; accessed February 9, 2006), available from http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=4048. Caldwell, Christopher, “Islamic Europe,” When Bernard Lewis Speaks…vol 10, no.4 (2004); [database on-line] (bonnardata; accessed February 9, 2006), available from http://bonnarddata.com/Essay.zip. Leiken, Robert S., “Europe’s Angry Muslims,” Foreign Affairs, July/August (2005), [database on-line], (Foreign Affairs.org; accessed February 9, 2006); available from http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20050701faessay84409/robert-s-leiken/europe-s-angry-muslims/. Bernard Lewis, “Freedom and Justice in the Modern Middle East,” RealClear Politics, (2005), [database on-line], (RealClear Politics; accessed February 9, 2006); (Foreign Affairs, May/June, 2005); available from http://www.realclearpolitics.com/commentary/fa-5_05_BL.html. Read More