MIXED SITUATION OF ISLAM IN
EUROPE: ON THE RISE IN BRITAIN, RISING ISLAMOPHOBIA IN FRANCE AND TERRORIZED BY
GREEK NEO-NAZIS IN ATHENS
by Syarif Hidayat
In many cases, the
media’s reports about Islam are incorrect due to ignorance. This is one of the
reasons why the West often hates Islam.
In contrast to what many Westerners think of Islam, Islam is a peaceful
religion, which does not promote any injustice or crime. Stereotypes about
Islam are not new to Western culture. Problems can be traced back 1400 years.
At that time, Islam and Christianity were involved in the Crusades in the
1100’s and in the Ottoman and Moorish control in Europe. Islam spread quickly
to the West, and started to threaten the position of the Christian Church and
the ruling class.
The Western elites,
mainly the governments and the churches, then became highly involved in seeing
that negative images were presented about Islam. As a result, not only were
battles fought against Islam, but also a war of words was initiated to make
sure that Islam would not have any converts or sympathizers in the West. These
kinds of actions and feelings that the West had long ago still seem to be the
case in the West today.
Today, the West, with
little or no understanding of Islamic history, has identified a new enemy,
"a new demon that has replaced the Red menace of the Cold war, i.e.,
radical Islam". This "radical Islam", a stereotype common to
Western thought, portrays Muslims as fundamentalists or potential terrorists.
Some of these ideas that the Western people have about Islam are due to the
mass media of the West. Reporters who cover the Muslim world often know very
little details about it. The media then develops a distorted image of Islam
that Western culture adopts.
A major factor which
contributes to Islamic stereotyping in the West is due to the media’s ignorance
of selecting their words that describe Muslims. Some common names heard or seen
in the news about Muslims are "extremist" or "terrorist".
These words are misleading and are mainly anti-Islamic. The media rarely uses
more neutral terms such as "revivalist" or "progressives".
The Western media also creates the idea that Muslims are "returning"
to Islam. This is not true in most cases, because many Muslims have never left
Islam in the first place. Islam has always been a big part of their lives.
"Islamic
Fundamentalism" Misinterpreted
A fundamentalist, in fact,
only represents a normal Muslim who follows his or her religion. Fundamentalism
means an attitude, an effort, or a movement that an ideology, group, or
religion tries to promote in its fundamental beliefs. The
"fundamental" beliefs of a Muslim is to believe in only one God (Allah)
and the Prophet Mohammed is His messenger(PBUH), to pray five times a day, give
alms to the poor, fast the month of Ramadan, and make a pilgrimage to Mecca.
This means that all
Muslims are fundamentalists if they believe in their own religion’s
fundamentals. Although the media is uncomfortable with religious groups, it
focuses heavily on "Islamic fundamentalism". A majority of the
media’s reports that talk about Islamic fundamentalism usually describes most
Muslims as extremists. This shows how the media is ignorant, because Islam
specifically prohibits any forms of extremism.
The Prophet Muhammad PBUH said, "Those persons who go to extremes (in
practicing their religion) were cursed (by God)". The media most often portrays Muslim
"fundamentalists" prostrating themselves before God in prayer. For
example, in the October 4 issue of Time,
Muslim soldiers were shown performing prayers with guns. The caption on the
bottom of the picture said, "Guns and prayer go together in the
fundamentalist battle". The part that the reporters omitted or failed to
state was that the Muslim soldiers were praying on a battlefield in
Afghanistan.
Common sense of the
situation meant that the soldiers had to remain armed at all times in case of
an ambush at any time. This is a clear example of the media’s biased and
inaccurate reporting.
Another Great Misconception
Al Quran (Muslim Holy Book) says:
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
وَقَـٰتِلُواْ فِى سَبِيلِ
ٱللَّهِ ٱلَّذِينَ يُقَـٰتِلُونَكُمۡ وَلَا تَعۡتَدُوٓاْۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا
يُحِبُّ ٱلۡمُعۡتَدِينَ (١٩٠)
وَٱقۡتُلُوهُمۡ حَيۡثُ ثَقِفۡتُمُوهُمۡ وَأَخۡرِجُوهُم مِّنۡ حَيۡثُ
أَخۡرَجُوكُمۡۚ وَٱلۡفِتۡنَةُ أَشَدُّ مِنَ ٱلۡقَتۡلِۚ وَلَا تُقَـٰتِلُوهُمۡ
عِندَ ٱلۡمَسۡجِدِ ٱلۡحَرَامِ حَتَّىٰ يُقَـٰتِلُوكُمۡ فِيهِۖ فَإِن قَـٰتَلُوكُمۡ
فَٱقۡتُلُوهُمۡۗ كَذَٲلِكَ جَزَآءُ ٱلۡكَـٰفِرِينَ (١٩١) فَإِنِ ٱنتَہَوۡاْ فَإِنَّ
ٱللَّهَ غَفُورٌ۬ رَّحِيمٌ۬ (١٩٢)
وَقَـٰتِلُوهُمۡ حَتَّىٰ لَا تَكُونَ فِتۡنَةٌ۬ وَيَكُونَ ٱلدِّينُ لِلَّهِۖ
فَإِنِ ٱنتَہَوۡاْ فَلَا عُدۡوَٲنَ إِلَّا عَلَى ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ (١٩٣) ٱلشَّہۡرُ ٱلۡحَرَامُ
بِٱلشَّہۡرِ ٱلۡحَرَامِ وَٱلۡحُرُمَـٰتُ قِصَاصٌ۬ۚ فَمَنِ ٱعۡتَدَىٰ عَلَيۡكُمۡ
فَٱعۡتَدُواْ عَلَيۡهِ بِمِثۡلِ مَا ٱعۡتَدَىٰ عَلَيۡكُمۡۚ وَٱتَّقُواْ ٱللَّهَ
وَٱعۡلَمُوٓاْ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ مَعَ ٱلۡمُتَّقِينَ (١٩٤)
سُوۡرَةُ
البَقَرَة
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
"Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you but do not
transgress limits; for Allah loveth not transgressors. (190) And slay them
wherever ye catch them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out;
for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter; but fight them not at the
Sacred Mosque, unless they (first) fight you there; but if they fight you slay
them. Such is the reward of those who suppress faith. (191) But if they cease,
Allah is Oft-Forgiving Most Merciful. (192) And fight them on until there is no
more tumult or oppression and there prevail justice and faith in Allah; but if
they cease let there be no hostility except to those who practise oppression.
(193) The prohibited month―for the prohibited month―and so for all things
prohibited there is the law of equality. If then anyone transgresses the
prohibition against you, transgress ye likewise against him. But fear Allah and
know that Allah is with those who restrain themselves. (194) (Surah Al-Baqara,
verse 190-194)."
Jihad literally means "The struggle in the path of God".
However, the Western media often abuses the meaning of jihad by referring to it
as a holy war where Muslims unreasonably kill non-believers. But the fact is,
is that jihad can mean a numbers of things that a Muslim does for the sake of
God.
Jihad (English pronunciation:
/dʒɪˈhɑːd/; Arabic: جهاد ǧihād [dʒiˈhæːd]),
an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād
translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad is commonly
misunderstood as "Holy War", Jihad means "to struggle in the way
of Allah". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in
the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God (al-jihad fi sabil
Allah)". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the
plural is mujahideen. Jihad is an important religious duty for Muslims.
Rarely has the Western
media used this kind of a definition in their reports. The way the media
represents jihad is wrong. The media often takes the word "jihad" out
of context to propagate negative views on Islam. The association of Islam and
violence is a common misconception that the general Western public has
developed about Islam.
An example of this kind of misconception is that the Western media and some historians often say that Islam was a religion spread by the sword, meaning that Muslims went from one end of the world to the other forcing people to either convert or die. Islam spread by people learning about it and some by holy wars, but they did not force people to convert or die. Since majorities of the American public only get their information about Islam through the media, they believe this wrong idea.
The media’s reports about Arab or "Islamic" events, such as the Gulf War, are often misunderstood. The media usually fails to give background information about these Islamic events that it reports on. The media infrequently distinguishes between the religion Islam and the political affairs that occur in most Islamic countries. For instance, what Saddam Hussein, the former president of Iraq, did in the Gulf War was not Islamic and totally wrong (to attack other people for no reason).
An example of this kind of misconception is that the Western media and some historians often say that Islam was a religion spread by the sword, meaning that Muslims went from one end of the world to the other forcing people to either convert or die. Islam spread by people learning about it and some by holy wars, but they did not force people to convert or die. Since majorities of the American public only get their information about Islam through the media, they believe this wrong idea.
The media’s reports about Arab or "Islamic" events, such as the Gulf War, are often misunderstood. The media usually fails to give background information about these Islamic events that it reports on. The media infrequently distinguishes between the religion Islam and the political affairs that occur in most Islamic countries. For instance, what Saddam Hussein, the former president of Iraq, did in the Gulf War was not Islamic and totally wrong (to attack other people for no reason).
But the media still makes
reports about Islam and how Islam is made of war-crazed people. For example, to
help put things into perspective, Hitler was a person of the Christian faith.
This does not mean that all of his actions were consistent with the Christian
beliefs.
Likewise,
Saddam Hussein is of the Islamic faith, but all of his actions do not necessarily
represent Islam. So you can see that the media’s reports about "war-crazed
Muslims" are incorrect. The notion of associating of Islam and Muslims
with the terms Arabs and Middle East are in fact misleading. Arabs only account
for 18% of the Muslim population across the world.
Study shows Islam growing in
the UK
John
Bingham in his article
titled “Study shows Islam growing,
Christianity declining in the UK” writes a new analysis of the 2011 cencus shows that a decade of mass immigration helped mask the scale of decline in
Christian affiliation among the British-born population – while driving a
dramatic increase in Islam, particularly among the young. It suggests that only a minority of
people will describe themselves as Christians within the next decade, for first
time.
Meanwhile almost one in 10 under 25s in Britain is now
a Muslim.
The proportion
of young people who describe themselves as even nominal Christians has dropped
below half for the first time.
Initial results from the 2011 census published last
year showed that the total number of people in England and Wales who described
themselves as Christian fell by 4.1 million – a decline of 10 per cent.
But new analysis from the Office for National
Statistics shows that that figure was bolstered by 1.2 million foreign-born
Christians, including Polish Catholics and evangelicals from countries such as
Nigeria.
They disclosed that there were in fact 5.3 million
fewer British-born people describing themselves as Christians, a decline of 15
per cent in just a decade.At the same time the number of Muslims in England and
Wales surged by 75 per cent – boosted by almost 600,000 more foreign born
followers of the Islamic faith.
While almost half of British Muslims are under the age
of 25, almost a quarter of Christians are over 65. The average age of a British Muslim
is just 25, not far off half that of a British Christian.
Younger people also drove a shift away from religion
altogether, with 6.4 million more people describing themselves as having no
faith than 10 years earlier.
Secular campaigners said the new figures showed that
Christianity had now dropped below “critical mass” making the case for
disestablishing the Church of England stronger. But the Church insisted that while
there had been a significant drop in “nominal” Christians, the core of the
Church remained firm.
Prof David Coleman, Professor of
demography at Oxford University, said: “This is a very substantial change – it
is difficult to see whether any other change in the census could have been
remotely as big.
“But I wonder how far it reflects an
overarching change in society where it is more acceptable more normal to say
that you are not religious or are not Christian.”
Dr Fraser Watts, a Cambridge
theologian, said it was “entirely possible” the people identifying themselves
as Christians could become a minority within the next decade on the basis of
the figures.
“It is still pretty striking and it
is a worrying trend and confirms what anyone can observe – that in many
churches the majority of the congregation are over 60,” he said.
Keith Porteous Wood, executive
director of the National Secular Society, said the long-term reduction of
Christianity, particularly among young people, was now “unstoppable”. “In another 20 years there are going
to be more active Muslims than there are churchgoers,” he said.
“The time has now come that institutional Christianity
is no longer justified, the number has dropped below critical mass for which
there is no longer any justification for the established Church, for example,
or the monarch going through a religious ceremony at coronation.
“The expressions of optimism by the church are just
completely misplaced.”
But a spokesman for the Church of England said: “These
figures highlight the diversity of Christianity in this country today,
something which has been increasing for decades and shows the relevance of
Christianity to people from all backgrounds.
“These figures once again confirm that this remains a
faithful nation and that the fall in the numbers identifying themselves as
Christians is a challenge but – as you can see from the stability of Church of
England attendance figures – the committed worshipping centre of the church
remains firm.
Islamophobia on the rise in France
According to the Observatory of Islamophobia in
France, the total number of registered cases has gone up by 28 percent in just
one year.
The figures also show that the Internet has become the
new battlefield.
According to
the Observatory, a rising number of hate mails are being circulated through
internet, which describe Muslims as terrorists, extremists and a danger to
other cultures.
Last month, a Tilder Opinion poll
revealed that over 70 percent of the French have a negative idea about Islam.
More than one in four think the Hajj
pilgrimage is compatible with life in France. But the figures drop sharply when
it comes to questions over a Halal diet, the Muslim festival of Eid, and
fasting during the month of Ramadan.
Only one in ten consider the
headscarf in public areas as acceptable.
Nearly a decade
ago, France officially banned the headscarf in state run schools to preserve
secularism. A move, which did more harm than good.
While the headscarf ban was
initiated by right wing politicians, it was a communist party MP who called for
a ban on burqa which is worn by just 2000 women out of an estimated 4.5 million
Muslims in the country.
By and large, women have borne the
brunt of anti-Muslim sentiments. And a future law could prevent women with
headscarves from taking up any job in childcare.
Many Muslims live in the poor
suburbs of big French cities. There are fears that such laws will marginalize
Muslims even further.
TERRORIZED BY GREEK
NEO-NAZIS IN ATHENS
Accelerating their
hostile campaigns against Muslims, A neo-Nazi party has threatened to fight
against plans to build a long-sought mosque in the Greek capital.
"If a mosque is
constructed for Islamist criminals in Greece, a front of 100,000 Greeks headed
by Golden Dawn will be created," Ilias Kasidiaris, spokesman for the
far-right Golden Dawn party, told supporters at a rally late on Sunday, May 19,
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Greek Muslims have long
called for building a grand mosque in Athens to accommodate the religious needs
of the growing Muslim minority.
Despite objections from its
powerful Orthodox Church, Greece had pledged to build a mosque in Athens to
serve the city's growing Muslim minority.
But the crunching economic
crisis, coupled with public enmity associating mosques with the Ottoman
presence, has prevented the pledge from being translated into action.
Decked with minarets two
centuries ago, Athens has not had a functioning mosque since the end of Ottoman
rule in the early 1800s.
About 130 windowless,
airless basements or warehouses in Athens currently serve as makeshift mosques
for an estimated 200,000 Muslims in the Greek capital.
Tens of thousands of Muslim
immigrants perform prayers in private homes and have had to travel hundreds of
kilometers to northern Greece for weddings, burials and other ceremonies.
The Orthodox Church has for
years insisted that Greeks were not ready to see a minaret in downtown Athens.
Ultimatum
The threat came days after the
far-right party has given a one-month ultimatum for Muslims to leave Greece or
they will be “slaughtered like chickens”.
The Muslim Association of
Greece said it has received a letter with the emblem of the far-right party
threatening that “there will be blood” if Muslims do not leave the country.
Police said they were
examining the threatening letter, which was written in Greek, English and
Arabic.
Aided by current economic
woes in Greece, the far-right Golden Dawn has been gaining popularity over its
hostile rhetoric against immigrants.
The party, which has 18
seats in parliament, has been blamed for recent attacks against immigrants in
Greece, which is a major gateway for mostly Asian and African migrants trying
to enter the European Union.
Muslims account for
nearly 1.3 percent of Greece’s 10.7 million population.
Anti-Muslim tide has
been on the rise in debt-hit Greece, which is battling a growing recession that
has brought thousands of job layoffs.
In 2011, Muslims
holding an open-air prayer near the city centre in Athens to celebrate `Eid
Al-Adha, were harassed by local residents who threw eggs at them and blared
loud music from windows. (HSH)
Sources:
1. Muslimvillage.com
1. Muslimvillage.com
2. OnIslam.net
4. presstv.ir
5. International news agencies
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