For many decades, the European Union has been using an institutional approach to integrate various religions within the European social and political order. However, the state structure of the European states varies across the regional zones, especially when it comes to the relationship between the Church and state. Moreover, the political culmination of these states also varies in terms of their policy formulation regarding the religious subgroups living in these countries. For the last one and half decades, Islam has been central to routine discussions across the European political and intellectual circles. Today, the question of religious tolerance poses a great challenge to the European identity construction.
Many scholars have often criticized the imaginary conception of the Enlightened West regarding the Orient, which was explained by Edward Said in his famous book “Orientalism”. Basically, through this standpoint; Islam was unavoidably a non-Western religion, whose values could not be accepted as complimentary to the intellectual, political, social and scientific spheres of the Occident of the enlightenment. This concept was actually borrowed through a binary manner of thinking.
Moreover it was the binary perception of the modern European scholars, who affirmed Islam as the vicious enemy of the free-thinking and liberal democratic order. Perhaps this kind of historical symbolism has given birth to a new kind orientalism within the European frontiers.
The mainstream culture and politics of Europe is entrenched in the Judeo-Christian heritage but with the dawn of the 19th century, cross-culture migration began across Europe for various purposes. By the middle of the 20th century, the whole socio-political dynamics of the European civilization had changed because of the weighty presence of different ethnic and religious groups. And, with the dawn of the new Millennium, the European mainstream identity appeared more heterogeneous: multi-cultural and multi-lingual and the existing European identity turned into a paradox.
According to the contemporary European formation, Islam is posing a severe threat to Judeo-Christian traditions in Europe. On the contrary, it was unavoidable that over the last six decades, Islam hasbecame an integral part of the European culture and politics. However, it is the rising number, of the European Muslim population that is bringing this subject into the political spotlight
According to the contemporary European formation, Islam is posing a severe threat to Judeo-Christian traditions in Europe. On the contrary, it was unavoidable that during the last six decades, Islam has became an integral part of European culture and politics. However, it is the rising number of the European Muslim population that is bringing this subject into the political spotlight and that has deliberately attracted the attention of the ultra-orthodox and far-right groups. Presently, there are 4.7 million Muslims living in France, more than 4.4 million (2015 estimates) in Germany and 4 million in Britain — three major powers of Europe. In addition, there is a parallel existence of the symbolic and institutional form of racism across Europe. In the recent years, there has been systematic discrimination against these minorities in the form of Islamophobia; and anti-Semitism, which has further conflagrated the issue of racism.
On the other hand, there are “visual identifiers” in the form of far-right groups, who identify minorities through appearance such as dress code, in order to harass them and the Muslim women who choose to wear a Hijab are easy prey for these visual identifiers. Thus, it seems that aesthetics are fundamental in the expression of socio-political tensions in Europe. The escalation in the level of distrust, discrimination, and violence against Muslims across Europe basically stemmed from 9/11 in the US and the 7/7 bombings in London. Muslims across Europe are facing structural problems because of institutional insolence, and existing associative structures are threatening the very survival of Muslims living across Europe.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to re-examine identity construction in Europe by involving all the ethnic and religious minorities that shape the cultural and political characteristics of Modern day Europe. This re-examination would involve incorporating the vision of European history, with reference to the intricate relations between European colonialism, nationalism and racism. The process of rethinking the European identity also ought to include the names and tags, used to discriminate against immigrants and minorities, and there is a need to appeal to social, political and economic domains to integrate these groups.
The writer is a postgraduate student of Politics and International studies, and a freelance writer with a keen interest in History, Current Affairs, Geopolitics and International Political Economy. He can be reached on Twitter: @rahimabbas
Published in Daily Times, September 23rd 2018.