The Pathologisation of Muslims in Europe


By Farish A. Noor

‘No we are not racist. It is just that we need to preserve and protect our German identity and culture, and our Judeo-Christian heritage. The more Turkish Muslims come here, the less we know who and what we are. We cannot allow our identity and culture to be confused like that…’

How many times have I been fed such pedestrian drivel, and how long have I been trying to play the role of bridge-builder between communities, only to find my efforts reduced to naught thanks to the asinine and facile platitidues that spill forth time and again? The gem quoted above was the comment made by a rather ordinary German at a public debate on Islam and the Rule of Law in Berlin; and just one week after an equally gruelling series of public talks in Amsterdam I could not help but feel as if Europe’s slide to the right is accelerating faster than ever.

That a public forum on Islam and the rule of law could degenerate into a senseless round of Turk-bashing speaks volumes about the shallowness of public debate in some parts of Europe these days. That the debate took place in Berlin, the much-hyped cosmopolitan capital of Germany was itself a less than startling revelation: Judging by some of the comments uttered it might as well have been a local talk in some village tavern in the deepest recesses of the Black Forest. The only things that were missing were the leather shorts and bust of the Kaiser on the mantlepiece… for those present had reduced themselves to caricatural stereotypes of the worst order.

What was most alarming, however, was the manner in which a host of complex issues and dilemmas were reduced and pathologised to a single problem: The Muslims and their non-Western culture and belief system. That some of the commentators were right-wing politicians was bad enough, worse still was the evident lack of self-critique, irony and objective distance to the things that were meant to be discussed in the first place.

The list of complaints were many: One man in the audience produced a fatwa — with a stamp no less – calling for the punishment of a non-Muslim in Egypt; and then proceeded to ask the Muslims present what they thought of the death penalty. Oblivious to the fact that most of the Muslims he was addressing were second generation migrants to Germany who were probably as rooted and as German as he was, he seemed to be assuming that Muslims in Europe were still undecided over the choice between democracy or the fabled Caliphate. Yet how many times has the random Catholic been picked out in the street and asked if he or she agreed with the latest ruling of the Pope from the Vatican?

This was the first essentist misunderstanding that sadly coloured the entire debate, and by extension most debates about Islam and Muslims in Europe today. It is still assumed that Muslims are a homogenous bloc; that they are defined primarily and solely by their religion; and that they are unable to take objective distance from their creed, culture and history. Yet does Islam decide which football team Muslim kids support in the inner cities? Is it Islam that tells them which musicians to listen to, which novel to read, which movie to watch?

Taking a further step back from the sordid goings-on in the debating hall, I reflected on the times I had heard the same sort of nonsense from Muslims in the Muslim countries I have visited and lived in. The cornucopia of racist essentialisms came thick and fast I recall: ‘The West has no religion, no ethics; Westerners are decadent drug addicts with no morals; Western women are loose and Western men are promiscuous’ etc. The list of racist bile directed to the West is as long as Western complaints about Muslims. On both sides there is no attempt to understand or communicate with the Other; on both sides the framing of the stereotype of the Other suffices for the semblance of a non-dialogue to take place; and on both side the values of self-reflection, auto-critique and introspection are totally absent.

Yet surely the root of the problem is this: Both the Western and Muslim worlds are facing unprecedented changes thanks to the ravaging effects of unrestrained global capital, that has radically altered social relations, overturned social hierarchies, exposed long-held misperceptions and misconceptions that have been around too long; and is now totally changing the way we live, think and see ourselves in the world.

In the face of such challenges, it is all too easy to demonise minorities in our midst and reconstruct the other in dialectical terms. The debate in Western Europe has framed Muslims as the root cause for all that is wrong with multiculturalism and pluralism in Europe today, and posited the idea that Muslims are the ones who cannot assimilate, integrate and adapt to the realities of Europe. Related to this is the idea that the presence of Muslims in Europe threatens the continents sense of self-identity and self-representation, leading to caricatural accounts of an Islamic takeover of the West and the proliferation of mosques and minarets all over the European continent.

But look around the capitals of Europe and we will see that the colonisation of the continent has already happened. A short walk down Kudamm, the main street of Berlin, will show that contemporary German popular culture comprises of MacDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken, Coca Cola, Pizza Hut and Starbucks. What is more it wasnt the dreaded Turks who imported all this American junk pop culture to Germany or Europe, but the Europeans themselves.

The fact is that the world is indeed shrinking and becoming more homogeneous and uniform at an alarming rate. From the ‘Hiltonisation’ of urban life to the less than subtle exchange of Cafe Latte for drinking water, we are all plugged into global consumerism more than ever before. Failure to accept our complicity in the spread and hegemonisation of global capital has led us instead to search for scapegoats to blame for all that is wrong in our countries, from rising unemployment to the loss of job security and educational opportunities. The stigmatisation of Turks and other Muslims in Europe today is just the tip of the iceberg, reminiscent of the campaigns against the Jews and other cosmopolitans in Europe in the past.

How do we escape from this blind impasse of our own making? Perhaps the first step involves the recognition of our own role in the mess we have created around us; and to begin to re-forge the common links of universal human solidarity across class, gender and communal boundaries that may inject some meaning into the concept of Society again. In the long run, apart from a minority of trouble-makers who have hijacked some of the mosques of Europe, the overwhelming majority of European Muslims want to be part of Europe and accepted as such. What needs to happen next is the development of genuine bridging capital between all these communities to counter the dislocating effects of globalisation that has really damaged the world we live in, be it in the East or West.

  1. #1 by k1980 on Tuesday, 11 September 2007 - 8:26 am

  2. #2 by TheWrathOfGrapes on Tuesday, 11 September 2007 - 8:34 am

    Farish,

    Maybe better to focus your energy on the country of your birth.

    ‘No we are not racist. It is just that we need to preserve and protect our Malay identity and culture, and our Islamic heritage. The more Chinese/Indians come here, the less we know who and what we are. We cannot allow our identity and culture to be confused like that…’

    Now, isn’t that better? Isn’t that much closer to home and the truth?

  3. #3 by Jeffrey on Tuesday, 11 September 2007 - 8:56 am

    Farish, I don’t understand – what has the ‘ravaging’ effects of ‘unrestrained global capital’ altering “the way we live, think and see ourselves in the world” got to do with the demonising ‘minorities in our midst or the clash between Islamic and Judeo-Christian heritage and culture?

    Minorities have been demonized and persecuted by all sides since time immemorial before the Industrial Revolution and advent of ‘unrestrained global capital’!

    If anything on of the beneficent effects of ‘unrestrained global capital’ is that it bridges communities of diverse heritage by the common unity of capital and money : the liaison of Dodi al-Fayed and Princess Diana the acquisition and ownership of English upmarket retail group Harrods by rich muslim Mohamed al-Fayed!
    Even today, the casinos of the world are enriched not just by inveterate Chinese gamblers by rich Arabs!

    But seriously, are the Europeans excluding Muslims or the other way around the Muslims excluding themselves from mainstream anywhere in which they are minorities?

    There is, however, a rationale for Muslims excluding themselves.

    Europe like North America is in the grip of global capital.

    And Global capital thrives in a cultural milieu and legal regime based an amalgam of the following seamless values : economic and political freedom based on freedom of expression and individual liberties, secular laws and governments playing neutral to all Gods including the Money God, the belief that man carves his own destiny and devises his own laws – something of an antithesis to Global Islam, and certainly its variant Political Islam which believes in an individual’s complete submission to the sovereignty of the Almighty’s laws and prescribed way of life tolerating no diversity or apostasy and uniting under global Muslim brotherhood of Ummah.

    Increasingly, then, the battle is shaping not so much between Islamic and Judeo-Christian heritage/culture (ala Samuel Huntington’s version) but between global capitalism and global Islam. …

  4. #4 by sotong on Tuesday, 11 September 2007 - 10:30 am

    The world only hear the voices of terrorists, extremists and fundamentalists Muslims with their narrow and damaging political objectives.

    It is long overdue for moderate and progressive Muslims to come forward and express their views on Islam.

  5. #5 by k1980 on Tuesday, 11 September 2007 - 1:53 pm

    The U.S. Muslim population is three million, less than 2 percent of the population. In France (Algerian, Moroccan) that population reaches 7 to 10 percent, that is five to seven million Muslims. The Netherlands Muslim (Moroccan) population reaches one million or 6.2 percent of the country’s 16 million people. Germany’s Muslim population (Turkish) is about 3.7 percent (approximately three million) and Belgium’s 3.7 percent. The U.K number is 2.7 percent or about two million, but radical fundamentalism prevails in many British mosques and communities. Thus France and the Netherlands have the largest Muslim populations as a percent of their population, followed by Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Britain at around 3 percent. Norway, Finland, and Ireland have among the smallest Muslim populations in Western Europe, under one percent.

    2 million Muslim terrorists in Britain if….
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=404525&in_page_id=1770&in_a_source

  6. #6 by k1980 on Tuesday, 11 September 2007 - 2:10 pm

    Are the millions of Muslims in Europe, the US ect given special priviledges such as govt contracts, employment preference, university entry and the like? The answer is NO. So why don’t umno take up their case to the World Court?

  7. #7 by devilmaster on Tuesday, 11 September 2007 - 2:57 pm

    “So why don’t umno take up their case to the World Court?” – k1980
    ______________________________________________________

    UMNO can only function under half-past 6 govt. They cannot survive outside of it. Just like sperm. They can only live inside the body. Once outside, they will struggle, and eventually die.

  8. #8 by karaoke singer on Tuesday, 11 September 2007 - 9:32 pm

    Osama ben Laden calls for the embracing of Islam to achieve world peace. But why would Muslims want to leave their country of origin and settle in a country where Islam is not an official religion and not an Islamic state ? If Islam can guarantees world peace, these Muslims should all the more stay back in their trouble stricken countries. Their countries should be like Eden pre sin era. One of the Barisan Nasional politicians said that the people and here it means the Malays who burned the glorious stripes should get out of Malaysia and go elsewhere. See it makes no sense. And when you do get to the other country, you find that people do not want you around. That is call peace ? Religion is not the actual provocating factor. It is money. Muslims talk about money. Other religion believing people talk about money. The end of the world will come when the power of money no longer rules.

  9. #9 by undergrad2 on Tuesday, 11 September 2007 - 9:54 pm

    Today is 9/11 – a day to reflect how the world has changed since. Where were you when the first plane struck the World Trade Center? I was on a bus 30 minutes away and heading towards Ground Zero. Had I not been running late for an appointment, I would be right under the first tower when the first plane struck.

  10. #10 by awesome on Wednesday, 12 September 2007 - 1:00 am

    Wrathofgrapes, don’t stir trouble and spill your wrath. Malays are lovely people not selfish like you. Islam probably makes us like that. What a heritage!

    I think you should come out of your shell and narrow frame of mind and read more – not on Islam and islamic books. Read and widen your prespective on other beliefs and understand our fellow citizens. Stop treating them like aliens.

    Indians and Chinese had contributed so much to our economy. They have been discriminated a lot. Sure they are upset. We are pampered can’t you see.

    You should have walked through their struggles and be compassionate towards them. We want peace right? Why spark off unnecessary strife and anger by your hurting remarks.

    You know there are many malays living overseas and just imagine how terrible it would be for us if the same treatment is given. So be cool if you love your people and culture. Sow love not hatred.

  11. #11 by Jeffrey on Wednesday, 12 September 2007 - 7:52 am

    Gee Undergrad2, by the bus being 30 mins late, as destiny would have it, you have failed to secure a place in history of being the first Malaysian casualty of a terrorist attack! :)

  12. #12 by TheWrathOfGrapes on Wednesday, 12 September 2007 - 9:14 am

    ///awesome Says:
    Wrathofgrapes, don’t stir trouble and spill your wrath. Malays are lovely people not selfish like you. Islam probably makes us like that. What a heritage! ///

    awesome – how can that be stirring trouble? I am just paraphrasing Farish’s words. Doesn’t what Farish said apply to the creeping Islamization of Malaysia, the Linda Joy & Moorthy cases? The massive influx of Illegal Indonesians? The “balik Cina dan India” if you don’t like it here?

    Let me tell you what is stirring trouble and incurring the wrath of the people. It is the politicos stating that Malaysia is an Islamic State. It is the wet-behind-the-ears politicians waving the keris and wanting to bathe it in Chinese blood. It is the culling of pigs in pig farms without any compensation. It is instigating riots and shooting by policemen. Get the true picture? I know, I know, the truth hurts…….

  13. #13 by TheWrathOfGrapes on Wednesday, 12 September 2007 - 9:31 am

    Jeff – what a pity!
    ;)

  14. #14 by awesome on Wednesday, 12 September 2007 - 10:01 am

    Hey Wrathofgrapes, we both speaking the same language.

    Ya it is not nice la to tell chinese and Indians to balik their country of origin. They are legal citizens unlike the illegal Indonesians. The fanatism of forcing Islam into people throat is ridiculious. Like Osama threat to US, ‘convert or…..’

    Where is merdeka? Where is freedom to choose what you believe from your heart not because you are forced to or given special benefits? Are we held bound? Are the chains of control imprisonating us?

    Would oneday the liberty be granted? Who knows? What is the truth?

  15. #15 by undergrad2 on Wednesday, 12 September 2007 - 11:30 am

    “Gee Undergrad2, by the bus being 30 mins late, as destiny would have it, you have failed to secure a place in history …” Jeffrey

    The bus over here unlike in Malaysia is always on time. It was me who was running late otherwise I would have turned to pulp like some 3,000 plus others out of which some 1,000 plus have yet to be identified. Some have their remains identified as recently as a few weeks ago through the advancement of technology – DNA.

    Like you say “As destiny would have it…” I live to see another day. But I thought intitial reports indicate there was a Malaysian Chinese woman among the casualties?

    I still have the bus ticket. The bus fare read $12 for a round trip. The date stamped on it 9/11 and the time 9.50am. Yes, otherwise my name would be on the plaque preserved for eternity and Malaysians will remember me – but of course it would not read “Undergrad2”!

  16. #16 by Jeffrey on Wednesday, 12 September 2007 - 12:16 pm

    Undergrad2,

    Not aware of a Malaysian Chinese woman among the casualties!

    That is why much of what happens in our lives, whether for the good or bad, is beyond control (say about 70%) leaving the rest of 30% to our ingenuity and effort to shape destiny and outcome favourable to our selves.

    I would imagine that had you not been 30 minute late, you might still have survived to tell the tale provided you weren’t heading towards inside the World Trade Towers and oblivious as to what’s happening. Passing by when the plane crashed into the first or second towers didn’t cause it to instantly collapse, did it? Unless one stayed on below the tower to look at the phenomenon with jaws agape for 56 minutes, one should be out of harm’s way. It is not as if it were a tsunami – instantaneous.

  17. #17 by undergrad2 on Wednesday, 12 September 2007 - 7:24 pm

    Jeffrey,

    When the first plane struck the building, someone on the bus got a call on his cell phone. He told us some small plane had struck the World Trade Center – an accident. Then later he received another call to say that there was an explosion at the Pentagon. At this point the driver got a call from his head office that he was to turn back and the guy with the cell phone simply fled. The sun that morning was suddenly blocked by dust like there was a solar eclipse. (Thank God it was not a mushroom cloud!).

    For those familiar with NYC, underneath the bus terminal where my bus was heading is an underground train connection to Times Square from where you continued to the base of the World Trade Center – Building 1. I could have been trapped at the last stop at the base of the World Trade Center when the first plane struck! All these underground stops are within walking distance from each other. You don’t need to take the tube. But if you do that day you’d be oblivious to what was going on up on the ground.

    Today when somebody asks me, “Where were you on 9/11?” I would pull out my bus ticket which tells its own story.

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