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Europe as an open society with multiple identities
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There is a miracle
and a puzzle in Muslim history that cannot be rationally explained.
The miracle is the speed and scope of the early seventh-century spread
of Islam, from a poor Arab-Bedouin perspective, into the two great
civilizations of the time — the Persian and the Byzantine. The
puzzle is the rapid decline of Islamic civilization by the 18th
century, after it had proved its unprecedented vitality and
capability. By that time, Muslims had lost the geographical, cultural,
economic, and political impact on world affairs to the point of their
being put to the margin of so-called modern history. This state of
affairs made Muslims for the last two centuries struggle for their
comeback to the mainstream of modern or global history. Consequently,
Muslims have been busy with two main movements aimed at regaining
their place in history: secularization and re-Islamization.
We may recognize the
problem of the modern Muslim identity in the debate about the kind of
secularization of Muslim history and the method of (re-)Islamization
of the Muslim mind. The idea of secularization did not come to Muslims
as a result of their own experience. The majority of Muslim ulama
(scholars), and some Muslim intellectuals as well, have always felt
that the idea of secularization of Muslim societies has come from the
West by political and sometimes even military pressure.
This is one of the
reasons why the secularization of Muslim history, except perhaps in
Turkey and Tunisia, has failed, and this is why the drive for a kind
of re-Islamization of the Muslim mind is taking place. Muslims have
refused to give up the idea of a universal community of Islam (the
Ummah) even if it means, at least for the time being, a utopia. To
Muslims who believe in the concept of Islamization, secularism is
nothing more than an ethnic, racial, and national conception of
cultural identity.
Nevertheless,
Muslims did accept the concept of the nation state identity for
whatever reasons. Thus they are aware of the idea of multiple
identities, meaning that one can find a satisfaction for a universal
identity such as an Islamic identity in a presumably non-Islamic
state. And this is why I asked, is there an identity of European
Muslims?
Who Needs European Muslim Identity?
But, first, we
should ask, who needs European Muslim identity? It seems that Muslims
do not need it because their Islamic identity is so universal and so
inclusive that they do not need any additional identity. Europe is not
dar al-Islam (the abode of Islam) and so they cannot identify
themselves with it. Europeans do not need the European Muslim identity
either because it seems that they care less for anybody's religious
identity.
However, I believe
that both the Muslims who live in Europe and the Europeans who can now
see a Muslim in their neighborhood and so need not go to Afghanistan
to find one, need to recognize that there is such a thing as the
European Muslims or the Muslim Europeans. It is exactly because Islam
is a universal and inclusive faith and religion that Muslims should be
open for new cultural and national identities. Unlike Judaism, which
is more concerned about its missionary work in the sense of political
support for Israel, both Islam and Christianity are missionary faiths
in the sense of cross-cultural and cross-national religious
activities. And Europeans should care for an identity of the European
Muslims because it is not correct to say that Europe is exclusively a
Christian continent. It is a historical fact that many centuries have
witnessed not only Muslims but also Jewish people living in Europe.
Both of them made significant contributions to European life and
culture.
Europeans should not
only become aware of the fact of the presence of Muslims in their
neighborhood; they should also know that because of that presence,
their own identity is strengthened and is becoming more meaningful.
Let me remind you of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. The German
physicist Heisenberg discovered that it is difficult to truly know and
measure everything about an object, whether it is an electron or a
rabbit, because the very act of observing it changes its behavior.
Therefore, everything else other than humans can only be known through
isolation.
We humans are
completely different. We can only be known, and we can only know
ourselves, through interaction with the world around us. In contrast
to electrons and rabbits, we come to know ourselves through the
research, experimentation, and modification of our relationship toward
the world we live in.
Isolation is torture
and destroys all self-awareness. Only relationships provide the
identity that derives as a consequence of meeting people. In addition,
loyalty to the society in which we live determines our individual and
collective identity. A community or society is not only a necessary
choice; relationships are that which define us, through which we come
to know ourselves, and through which the world comes to know us.
People live their identity through relations with the world around
them. Those who spend their time in isolation or segregation thinking
they will come to know themselves in that way are mistaken. Quite the
opposite: Man comes to know himself through contact and interaction
with that which surrounds him, alive or dead.
Common Values
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Because of the presence of Muslims in Europeans neighborhood, their own identity is strengthened and is becoming more meaningful.
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In order to
understand the meaning of the identity of the European Muslims, we
need to know basic common values with which we may identify ourselves.
As much as they are
universal, the values are common. The most important of all values
that are universal and thus common to all of us are the value of life,
the value of freedom, the value of religion, the value of property,
and the value of human dignity. Therefore, the European values are
common as much as they are universal, and they are universal as much
as they are common to all of us.
Let us begin with
the value of life and the idea of the Ten Commandments: You shall not
kill, which means you shall not commit the holocaust, you shall not
commit genocide, and you shall not commit ethnic cleansing. What is
more common to all of us than the value of life?
Freedom is an
important value; without freedom life has no real meaning. The road
from slavery to freedom has been one of the most important journeys in
human history. In addition, the value of freedom is a European value
that is so precious, it was earned by the priceless human blood
through many generations.
Respecting religion
is another common European value in the sense that the Europeans have
had the freedom to choose one of many religions that have been
arriving at the European continent throughout history: Judaism,
Christianity, Islam, as well as many other Eastern religions. None of
the main European religions — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam —
has originated in Europe. All of them have come from the East.
The right to have
property as a means of decent human life is a value of Europe that
should be asserted as a common human value. Europe is now a haven for
many people who are becoming independent through the European economic
prosperity.
Finally, the value
of human dignity is a common value that must be developed further in
Europe, especially in terms of fighting against xenophobia, racism,
fascism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, etc.
Some Definitions of Europe
Writing in 1751,
Voltaire described Europe as
A kind of great
republic divided into several states, some monarchical, the others
mixed … but all corresponding with one another. They all have the
same religious foundation, even if divided into several confessions.
They all have the same principle of public law and politics, unknown
in other parts of the world. (Davies 7)
In his attempt to
demonstrate the unity of European culture (Die Einheit der
Europaeischen Kulture), T.S. Eliot wrote in 1946
The dominant feature
in creating a common culture between peoples, each of which has its
own distinct culture, is religion … I am talking about the common
tradition of Christianity, which has made Europe what it is, and about
the common cultural elements, which this common Christianity has
brought with it … It is in Christianity that our arts have
developed; it is in Christianity that the laws of Europe—until
recently—have been rooted, it is against a background of
Christianity that all our thought has significance.
An individual
European may not believe that the Christian Faith is true; and yet
what he says, and makes, and does, will all … depend on (the
Christian heritage) for its meaning. Only a Christian culture could
have produced a Voltaire or a Nietzsche. I do not believe that the
culture of Europe could survive the complete disappearance of the
Christian Faith. (Davies 9)
On the relationship
between Europe and the other cultures and religions, Hugh Seton-Watson
has a more inclusive approach when he wrote in 1985
The interweaving of
the notions of Europe and of Christendom is a fact of History which
even the most brilliant sophistry cannot undo … But it is no less
true that there are strands in European culture that are not
Christian: The Roman, the Hellenic, arguably the Persian, and (in
modern centuries) the Jewish. Whether there is also a Muslim strand is
more difficult to say. (Davies 15)
Europe should be
guided by the individual right to life, freedom, religion, property,
and dignity that will lead to a collective consciousness of a common
human destiny.
The broad pluralism
of values of the European Union should follow these noble principles
of human conduct:
1.The argument of
the might of big nations should be replaced by the argument of the
right of small nations.
2. The argument of
historical myth should be replaced by the argument of historical
responsibility.
3. The argument of
poor political compromise should be replaced by the argument of
strong moral commitment.
4. The argument of
sinful behavior should be replaced by the argument of Adam's
humble repentance.
5. The argument of
falsehood should be replaced by the argument of Abraham's truth.
6. The argument of
revenge should be replaced by the argument of Jesus's love.
7. The argument of
war should be replaced by the argument of Muhammad's peace to all
mankind.
Identity as Continuity of Memory
Europe has to face
many essential questions:
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What is the
European memory, if any?
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What is the
continuity of the European memory as its identity?
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Is it political
only? It is cultural in nature? Is it religious in focus?
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Is the European
memory only a past memory?
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Does Europe have
a present memory?
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Does Europe dare
to have a future memory with many faiths?
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Is Europe ready
to accept the memory of Islam as its continuity of memory as its
multiple identities?
I am afraid that
Europe is still hesitant to accept the memory of its future in which
Judaism and Islam are equal along with Christianity.
I see Europe as an
open society with multiple identities of a particular political mind,
of a unique cultural heart, of a pluralistic religious soul that is
happy in its unity of purpose with a diversity of spiritual
opportunities.
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