Supervisors: Prof. Claire Firth

Dr. Jaroslav Miller

Student: Narine Hakobyan

Muslims in Europe: Clash of Civilizations?

Samuel Huntington (1993) Foreign Affairs Magazine

´The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural. 

Clashes between Cultures define geopolitical conflicts or political/ideological wars replaced by culture

Francis VS Samuel The End VS Clash of

Fukuyama Huntington of History Civilizations

Thesis argument: Whether Huntington’s theory is correct within the specific context of Muslim immigration to Europe.

Huntington´s assumptions Decline of Christianity vs Rise of IslamIslam-threat for the WestImmigration change demographics Islam´s bloody borders European antipathy towards Muslims- a clash

of civilizations ?

Critique of ´´Clash of Civilizations´´

Incompatability of islamic and western civilizations is not about democracy,but sex

Ali Mazrui three fault lines Factual fallacy, Temporal fallacy, conceptualPaul Berman criticism Amartya Sen

Alternative approaches Francis Fukuyama -Liberal demoracy ideology

Dialogue among civilizations -Giandomenicco Picco

Western and Islamic civilizations are not in conflict

Alliance of Civilizations-Jose Zapatero, Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Historical Interaction between the European and Muslim Civilizations within Europe

Reconquista 8-13

Crusades 11-13 Principal Nature of conflicts-Religious

Benign interaction: cultural,scientific, geo-political spheres trade and cultural exchanges political alliances millet-religious concept

Immigration Identities and Value Conflicts The modeate Muslim-Tariq Ramadan

Euro-Islam-Islam compatible in EU if adapted in its context

One can be both a Muslim and a European

Islam nothing to do with its culture of origin- culture and religion different

There is no ´´Us´´ versus ´´Them´´

Propagator of Euro-Islam- Bassam Tibi

Islam should not be reformed, but Westernised

Ayaan Hirsi Ali-an apostate of Islam

Advocate of total assimilation through rejecting Islam

Germany Netherlands

Angela Merkel Pim Fortuyn,

Thilo Sarrazin Geert Wilders

Cem Ozdemir Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Muslims in Germany

Immigre 1950-60ss

2010 -3.5 Million Muslims

Islam second largest religion

Anti-Immigration parties

German Republican party(RED)

German People´s Union(DVV)

National Democaratic party (NPD)

Thilo Sarrazin anti-Muslim Ideology

´´Germany abolishes itself´´(2010) Muslims - economic and cultural threat to Germany Western Assimilation, not Integration, Language and host culture adaptation Islam incompatible in Europe-´´Little-headscarf girls´´ Muslim resisstance to intermarriages-fear of assimilation? Contra -Muslim women clothing and headdress Muslim-inferior and lacking intellect

There exists a clash between civilizations.

Angela Merkel-Islam a part of Europe?

German identity-Judeo-Christian memoryMulti-culti failure in GermanyImmigrants to obey the local laws Immigrants to be integrated , not accomodated Integration not to be limited to cultural assimilationGermany´s integration is not forced assimilation

Cem Ozdemir-Euro-Turk

Pro-Integration, pro-EuropeanSpirit of linguistic and cultural adaptabilitiesAcculturation-respect of differences Assimilation through relinquishment of foreign identityRightous interpretation of Islam in accordance with EU values

Muslims in Netherlands

Muslim Immigre 1980-1990 Dutch -more socially conservative Social inclusion and acculturation -part of Multicultural Europe Linguistic adaptability of immigrants in the host population

Dutch anti-Muslim Parties

Centre Democrats –either repatriation or assimilation LPF (‘Pim Fortuyn List) –closing borders for Muslim immigration Party for Freedom(PVV)Geert Wilders- either assimilation or deportation

Applicability of the Clash of Civilizations Paradigm

Do civilizations differ?

e.g. christians, atheists and secularists share Western Civilization (ancient Greece and Rome, the Middle Ages,the Enlightenment) and Sunni and Shi’a, Sufi, Druze, Alawite-Islamic civilization (the Abbassids, the Ottoman Empire)

Are they in conflict?

EU value upon free speech versus Islamic Lese majeste concerning Mohammed

Western Monogamy vs Islamic Polygamy

Free style clothing vs Women headdress

Greatest inapplicability- Sharia law conflict

Integration of Muslim Immigrants

Integration-Muslim immigrants are not required to totally relinquish their original identities but rather to adapt and blend those identities with the new identity and culture of the European country to which they immigrate.

Assimilation, by contrast, requires abandonment of the original Identity and the adoption of the new identity. This entails little or no compromise by the host population and places culture as a requirement for citizenship.

Contrasting points? Serbia, Greece and Austria-Christian identity

Hostility towards Muslim immigrants and Islam derives more directly from historical and recent memories of wars with Muslims (e.g. – Austrian opposition to Turkish EU membership and the ‘gates of Vienna’ dictum).

Islam contradicts the Christian faith?

Geert Wilders-agnostic, Ayaan Hirsi Ali -atheist, Thilo Sarrazin’s religious beliefs – unknown,

whereas Marine le Pen-- Roman Catholic.

Yet all believe that Muslim immigrants should be required to conform to ‘Western’ culture.

Assimilation of immigrants EU lifestyle contradicts the Islamic values and culture total abandonment of the Islamic identity in favour of European identity E.g forbids Muslim men from marrying non-Muslim women and Muslim women from marrying men who were not born

Muslims. Apostates condemned to hell and Muslims are said to have a duty to kill apostates (e.g. – the Khomeini fatwa against Salman

Rushdie or the case of Abdul Rahman, an Afghan convert to Christianity, who was disowned by his parents and reported by his own family to the police and sentenced to death for apostasy in 2006 but later granted asylum by Italy.

Inter-marriage, as noted by Sarrazin, is one of the key hallmarks of assimilation and is one which Muslims have particular difficulty accepting.

anti-Muslim prejudice, Muslim poverty, Muslim failures to learn the host language and culture and generally the ghettoisation of Muslim immigrant communities (e.g. – the banlieues in France or the Turkish ghettos in Germany).

Ayaan Hirsi Ali apostate This reinforces the sense of Muslims being under pressure or siege, which makes them less willing to even integrate – let alone assimilate. This leads to a vicious cycle in which the host population perceives Muslims more negatively for their demands for accommodation. Muslims tend to seek a physical presence in Europe but no accommodation with European society. Tibi argues that racism is a European invention, and that Europeans must overcome what he calls "Euro-arrogance" and

xenophobia to integrate immigrants. it requires Muslims to renounce all of their original identity that is based upon Islam. Someone who wears the hijab, goes to pray in a mosque, pays the zakat or keeps a Qu’ran has clearly not assimilated. Muslims who refuse to inter-marry with non-Muslims cannot be ‘Europeans’. In short, Muslims who remain Muslims culturally cannot be Europeans.

Thank you for the attention