Islam in Europe

“Turkey’s integration with Europe is crucial from the metaphysical, dogmatic and geo-strategic angles”. Islamic scholar Abdelwahab Meddeb, professor of comparative literature at Université Paris-X, anchorman at “Cultures d’islam”, a program of “France culture” conveyed his view in an op-ed on the last issue of Études. In the contemporary culture review of the Jesuits of France (www.revue-etudes.com), Meddeb draws a snapshot of Islam in Europe underlining the need to overcome “the historical friction between Christianity and Islam”.“Islamophobia” and contradictions. “The ‘Europe’ concept – Meddeb remarks – crystallized half way through the 11th century in the name of Christianity against three enemies. These were: the Muslim, the Jew, the heretic”. In the continent Islam played a twofold role: as the “educator of Europe” and as “the banner of opposition”. Thus in the 11th century “islamophobia sparked off”, which led to “the recapture of Spain” (the capture of Toledo in 1082) and, in the following decades, to the Crusades (the conquest of Jerusalem in 1907)”. The fall of Constantinople triggered the second attack on Islam by Europe’s oriental fringes” with the challenge of “containing and rejecting it”, whereby Islam was no longer identified with the Arabs but with the Turks. But contradictions lingered on, such as the alliance (in the 15th century, ed.’s note) of Francis I with the Turks against Charles V. A “territory occupation” strategy. “ There is an ongoing strategy for the territorial occupation by the Muslim Brotherhood and by institutions representing the official voice of Islam. The Conference of Muslim States criticizes some of the achievements of Western societies and seeks to de-legitimize two of its dispositions accounting for the universal character of the human rights declaration, namely, freedom of conscience and the article on the juridical subject”. Instead of abolishing polygamy, “the gender hierarchy”, the law of retaliation, capital punishment for apostasy along with “penal and civil regulations that pose a threat to individual freedom and physical integrity”, Islam – the scholar underlines – claims its “right to be different”. For this reason, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan gave a positive response to China’s appeal to boycott, past December 10, the ceremony for the presentation of the Nobel Peace Prize to Li Xiaobo.Turkey and Europe. In this scenario, Meddeb said, “from the metaphysical, dogmatic, and geo-strategic angle, the integration of Turkey in Europe is crucial”, as it would enroot” the Country “in the heritage of the Enlightenment”, that calls to “overcome all reference to religion”. “Turkey’s EU adhesion is that of a European country with non-Christian origins” this “would enhance, as I strive to do in my profession and that many wish to conceal, the European trait of Muslim Turkey”. Indeed, “before the establishment of democracy” in Istanbul “Jewish and Christian communities lived in peaceful coexistence with Muslims”. Whereas today, according to the scholar, Islam “is loosing grounds in two terrains: it resists assimilated Western democracy and disgraces its traditional handling of diversity. Islamic Countries have excluded – and were not able to maintain – their Jewish population, they launch attacks on Christians forcing them to leave the country, as if ethnic or religious cleansing were under way”, whereas, “the Country’s traditional diversity management, if implemented, would have acted as the fruitful grounds for the establishment of democracy”. Overcoming Christianity-Islam antagonism. “Muslim-Christian divide could be overcome”, Meddeb admits, but “while Christianity is the fountainhead of European and Western culture, it is necessary to acknowledge Islam’s contribution to its cultural development, which – albeit minor – is a true contribution”. The Islamic scholar proposes, “vis a vis Judeo-Christianity” the “philosophical and heuristic concept of Islamo -Judeo – Christianity”. “Turkey’s entry into Europe”, he adds “would constitute its political and institutional model” and “it would strip Islamism of a decisive element in the discourse on the clash of religions”. In the 20th century “Turkey followed the direction of secularism and today it is a republic in the strict sense of the term” whereby “democracy compels Islamists to curb their demands”. According to Meddeb, “the latest referendum for the constitutional revision proposed by the government” appears to bring about changes “aimed at balancing the relationship linking the concepts of ‘democracy’ and ‘republic'”. This gesture “could form part of a policy capable of replacing Republican a-Islamic citizens with post-Islamist democratic ones”. “We ought to be vigil so as to ensure that Turkey’s democracy undertake the decisive path to deactivate fatal West-Islam confrontation thus overcoming the historical divide between Christianity and Islam”.