There are an estimated 20 million Muslims among the 500 million people comprising the European Union, with some of them native, mainly in the Balkans. Many of them are already second or even third generation Muslims such as in France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands, among others, have even accepted more recent arrivals. Islam is now Europe’s second largest religion, a fact that cannot be wished away.
Islam has always remained a potent issue in European consciousness. But it would be facile to suggest that the Swiss decision points to Europe facing an identity crisis. The Swiss, like the French, or Germans or British are clearly worried about the Muslims living in their countries. But this would certainly not be tantamount to facing an identity crisis. Much rather, it shows fear and intolerance that made the Swiss react in the way they did.
It would be instructive to note that in the past, debates about Islam in Europe involved issues other than religion. The 2004 French ban on headscarves in schools was more about the submission of women in society, and the 2005 publication of the Danish cartoons lampooning the Prophet was about free speech. French President Sarkozy’s hard line against the hijab this year was on the grounds of “full veils and face coverings” being “a sign of women’s debasement” and hence unwelcome in French society. And the burqua, also under attack in France, is rationally viewed. The popular Le Monde editorialised that this apparel, “however offensive it may be to a woman’s dignity, is hardly a threat to secularism”. It is worn today by exactly 367 French women.
Khaleej Times Online - Look Beyond the Minarets
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