Mort au Musulman? (Death to the Muslim?)

The position of Muslims in the West is a topic which has received extensive attention, more so since the rise of the terrorism phenomenon. Contemporary Muslim thinkers are urging their brethren to be active members of society, to contribute to their communities and be “good citizens”. Professor Tariq Ramadan, Abdel-Hakim Murad and Hamza Yusuf are but a few of the eminent scholars/thinkers who have adopted this stance.

Ramadan refuses to separate between the “them” and “us”, ‘I am Muslim, and I am also Western; therefore I am a Western Muslim.’ My faith is part of my identity, and so is my citizenship. Muslims have assimilated and continue to do so every day, and those who have not, must do so.

This assimilative rhetoric has become widespread amongst the so-called “modern” Muslims; scholars and populous alike. For many of the second, third or even fourth generation Muslims residing in Europe, their identity is intrinsically Western. They have grown up in the West, attended schools, acquired friends and lived in the West. Europe is their home, and their visit to Pakistan, Palestine or Somalia is often as culturally-shocking for them as it would be for an indigenous Westerner.

What will these attempts to assimilate and integrate lead to? Will Muslims become active members of Western society? And can faith and citizenship be amalgamated within a single entity?

The responses to these questions will vary according to each person’s view/understanding of Islam. Those, such as Ramdan et al., will continue to propagate an integrationist perspective. Others, who view the world in “abode of Islam” and “abode of war” terminology will emphasise the need for Muslims to “return” to “Islamic countries” and insist on the impossibility of being a “Western Muslim”.

One recalls the Dreyfus affair which occurred in France at the turn of the previous century—no, it was not a Moulin Rougeisque bohemian affair! Dreyfus was a captain in the French army who was convicted of treason; his “Jewishness” was the clear evidence in an otherwise shambles of a trial. An infamous Theodor Herzl was present at the trial and witnessing this vulgarity—whilst listening to the anti-Dreyfusards calling for the Mort au juif, death to the Jew—he reached the conclusion that Jews can never be assimilated in European countries. Soon afterwards, Herzl published The Jewish State and founded the World Zionist Organisation; Zionism was the only perceived solution to the “Jewish issue”.

Until our present day, Zionism insists on its racist and discriminatory ideology—not my words but those of the UN General Assembly resolution no. 3379 which states that ‘Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination’. The Jews have achieved their dream state, their racist state. Is this what the Muslims want? An Islamist Zionism?

But if—God forbid—the calls of Mort au Musulman are heard, then what are we to do?