As a result of globalization, a burka-clad girl from some backwater Afghan or Turkish village can now find herself inhabiting the same space as female college student in Paris sporting a bare midriff. What role does Islam play in the West today? Is its influence possible to manage?
Discussion Club moderator Yevgeny Shestakov discusses this issue with Alexander Ignatenko, Ph.D in Philosophy, head of the Russian Institute of Religion and Politics and a member of the Presidential Council for Interaction with Religious Associations and the Council for Foreign and Defense Policies, who specializes in Arab and Islamic studies and has written extensively on various aspects of Islam.
Anti-Islamic sentiment is quite widespread in Europe these days. But therere Islamophiles out there, too. For instance, 66% of Frances population have a negative attitude toward Islam whereas about a quarter (23%) feel positively and 11% have no opinion.
On the flip side of the coin, theres the attitude of Europes Muslim communities toward their non-Muslim fellow citizens. In France, 41% of Muslim residents have a favorable attitude toward non-Muslims while 58% have an unfavorable attitude. In the UK, this gap is much wider: 23% and 62%, respectively. I wont cite any more figures here. Anyone interested can find this information on the Internet. The important thing to realize is that the animosity in Europe between indigenous populations and immigrants from Muslim countries is on the rise.
According to Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, this increasingly pronounced trend shows that multiculturalism has failed. She said recently that the multicultural approach, saying that we simply live side by side, and live happily with each other, has failed, utterly failed.
What were facing in reality is a clash of cultures rather than their harmonious and meaningful co-existence. As a result of globalization, a burka-clad girl from some backwater village in Afghanistan or Turkey and a female Sorbonne student in Paris with a bare midriff now often find themselves living side by side. The culture clash has nothing to do with one set of values being right and the other wrong; it arises because the two girls were shaped by different cultural milieus.
There are several reasons why sociologists and politicians are so concerned by European attitudes toward Islam and Muslims attitudes toward European culture. First of all, the percentage of Muslims both immigrants and native born converted to Islam has increased sharply in recent years and they have gained prominence in the European landscape. Another reason, I think, is the emergence in Europe of anti-Islamic and anti-immigrant parties and movements, such as [Geert] Wilders Freedom Party.
Also, it seems that immigrants from across the Muslim world are more reluctant to integrate with the native population of their adopted countries, in comparison with representatives of other traditions, such as Judaism, Buddhism, Orthodox Christianity, or Confucianism. Which may have something to do with the circumstances in which Islam emerged on the Arabian Peninsula back in the 7th century. In its early years this religion had to compete with Christianity and Judaism, two traditions that had spread here before, but ultimately Islam prevailed. The record of Islams triumph can be found in its two main holy books, the Quran and the Sunna. Small wonder, then, that devout Muslims, educated in the Islamic tradition, should experience something of a culture shock upon their arrival in Europe, which is still dominated by Christian values.
Let me give you one example. Muslims believe that Jesus, known in Islam as Prophet Isa, a son of the Virgin Mary (or Marium), was carried up to Heaven by Allah when the Romans, led by Judas Iscariot, came to arrest him. Allah then made Judas look like Isa, and, as a result, the traitor ended up crucified instead of Jesus. So, according to Islam, it is Judas, not Jesus, who is actually worshiped in Christian churches. Sounds shocking, doesnt it?
Full version of the interview was published on valdaiclub.com
Discussion Club moderator Yevgeny Shestakov discusses this issue with Alexander Ignatenko, Ph.D in Philosophy, head of the Russian Institute of Religion and Politics and a member of the Presidential Council for Interaction with Religious Associations and the Council for Foreign and Defense Policies, who specializes in Arab and Islamic studies and has written extensively on various aspects of Islam.
Anti-Islamic sentiment is quite widespread in Europe these days. But therere Islamophiles out there, too. For instance, 66% of Frances population have a negative attitude toward Islam whereas about a quarter (23%) feel positively and 11% have no opinion.
On the flip side of the coin, theres the attitude of Europes Muslim communities toward their non-Muslim fellow citizens. In France, 41% of Muslim residents have a favorable attitude toward non-Muslims while 58% have an unfavorable attitude. In the UK, this gap is much wider: 23% and 62%, respectively. I wont cite any more figures here. Anyone interested can find this information on the Internet. The important thing to realize is that the animosity in Europe between indigenous populations and immigrants from Muslim countries is on the rise.
According to Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, this increasingly pronounced trend shows that multiculturalism has failed. She said recently that the multicultural approach, saying that we simply live side by side, and live happily with each other, has failed, utterly failed.
What were facing in reality is a clash of cultures rather than their harmonious and meaningful co-existence. As a result of globalization, a burka-clad girl from some backwater village in Afghanistan or Turkey and a female Sorbonne student in Paris with a bare midriff now often find themselves living side by side. The culture clash has nothing to do with one set of values being right and the other wrong; it arises because the two girls were shaped by different cultural milieus.
There are several reasons why sociologists and politicians are so concerned by European attitudes toward Islam and Muslims attitudes toward European culture. First of all, the percentage of Muslims both immigrants and native born converted to Islam has increased sharply in recent years and they have gained prominence in the European landscape. Another reason, I think, is the emergence in Europe of anti-Islamic and anti-immigrant parties and movements, such as [Geert] Wilders Freedom Party.
Also, it seems that immigrants from across the Muslim world are more reluctant to integrate with the native population of their adopted countries, in comparison with representatives of other traditions, such as Judaism, Buddhism, Orthodox Christianity, or Confucianism. Which may have something to do with the circumstances in which Islam emerged on the Arabian Peninsula back in the 7th century. In its early years this religion had to compete with Christianity and Judaism, two traditions that had spread here before, but ultimately Islam prevailed. The record of Islams triumph can be found in its two main holy books, the Quran and the Sunna. Small wonder, then, that devout Muslims, educated in the Islamic tradition, should experience something of a culture shock upon their arrival in Europe, which is still dominated by Christian values.
Let me give you one example. Muslims believe that Jesus, known in Islam as Prophet Isa, a son of the Virgin Mary (or Marium), was carried up to Heaven by Allah when the Romans, led by Judas Iscariot, came to arrest him. Allah then made Judas look like Isa, and, as a result, the traitor ended up crucified instead of Jesus. So, according to Islam, it is Judas, not Jesus, who is actually worshiped in Christian churches. Sounds shocking, doesnt it?
Full version of the interview was published on valdaiclub.com
