Islam has been a living reality and a growing religion in Europe for more than a millennium. There are 15-20 million Muslims in the EU and the number is expected to increase substantially by 2025. Islam is as alien to Europe as are Judaism and Christianity, as all three creeds originated from the Middle East and gradually spread into Europe. These religious traditions have a history of contention, conflict and coexistence, alternating in places, times and political environment. The post-9/11 wave of “irrational hostility, fear and hatred of Islam, Muslims and Islamic culture,” called Islamophobia, exacerbated from prejudice and discrimination to criminal acts of violence against Muslims. It has been a cause of grave concern and serious studies. Journey into Europe by Akbar Ahmed, the celebrated author of the Living Islam, is a scholarly effort to unravel the foundations of this phenomenon.
Journey into Europe is the last book of the quartet of studies by Akbar Ahmed examining relations between the West and the World of Islam. It is an erudite exploration of the turbulent Europe, based on intensive and exhaustive fieldwork. It explores the genesis of Islamophobia in European tribal identity, based in blood, lineage and land, besides the rhetoric of ethnic hate based on predator identity with its “chauvinistic, aggressive and militaristic”manifestations. The book also offers an enlightened and viable synthesis for the twenty-first century Europe, in the form of a vision of New Andalusia, characterized by humanism, knowledge, diversity, co-existence and Convivencia, based on co-habitation and pluralism.
Journey into Europe is part autobiographical, part anthropological overview and part travelogue, but as a whole it is infectiously readable and absorbing. It is divided into three parts. Part-one explores two contending interpretations of European identity, based on history and culture. It is constructed on the assumption that European society may be understood in terms of a model of primordial or tribal identity, or asabiyyah of Ibn Khuldun, with its strengths and weakness, especially its proclivity to exclusivity and extreme manifestations in aggressive predator identity. It also presents an opposing model of European identity expressed through Andalusia in Muslim Spain and tradition of Convivencia where three great religious traditions could co-exist and prosper. Such models were seen in Sicily and parts of Balkans also. These opposing models are discussed in detail as thesis and anti-thesis to evolve a synthesis for the future.
The book is encyclopedic in content and extensive in scope. It is a must read for those who wish to understand the undercurrents and dynamics of the on-going wave of hatred against Muslims and the rise of ultra-right Europe. It can also help us to understand the surge of similar extremism in our own neighborhood
Part-two is ethnographic survey of Islam and Islamic communities in Europe, in the form of fieldwork, with a focus on three type of Muslim groups-immigrants, native or indigenous European societies, such as Bosnians, Pomaks, Turks, Albanians, Tatars, Roma, and Cham, mainly in the Balkans, and the Muslim converts, striving to shape a Muslim European identity in the age of Secularism. It incorporates the views of those Muslim groups that are generally ignored or disregarded in the larger discourse about Islam and the West. The voices of second generation immigrants are also pertinent because they are unwilling to accept less-than-equal status and discrimination on the grounds of their ethnicity. It also unmasks cases of extreme hate and scars of atrocities which may take more words to heal.
Part-three discusses the lessons from Europe with a focus on Judaism and Islam in the context of European primordial identity and how it affects these religious traditions and their response, as seen during the golden periods of co-existence and pluralistic manifestations of Convivencia. Moreover, Terrorism, Immigrants, ISIS and Islamophobia, which together form a perfect storm, have been discussed in detail, including case studies of Bradford, England; Melilla, Spain; and Brussels, Belgium. The refugees, the asylum seekers, tribal Muslims, Far Right and interconnected issues, along with multiple dark forces, which if not contained, could wreak havoc in Europe, have been incisively analyzed. Part-three concludes with the Imperative for Convivencia and ends with solutions gleaned for the fieldwork.
Having discussed the specters, looming dark clouds, lurking dark forces and prowling monsters, menacing peaceful coexistence in Europe, Akbar Ahmed builds a strong case for recreating Convivencia-pluralistic co-existence based on the best of European humanism. He advocates a model of New Andalusia, drawn from the teachings of great European thinkers, such as Saint Thomas Aquinas, Dante Alighieri, Leonardo Da Vinci, Rene Descartes, Cervantes, Daniel Dafoe and Goethe that could build bridges between Europe and the World of Islam.
The book is encyclopedic in content and extensive in scope. It is a must read for those who wish to understand the undercurrents and dynamics of the on-going wave of hatred against the Muslims and the rise of ultra-right Europe. It can also help understand the surge of similar extremism in our neighborhood. Unfortunately, Islamophobia is driven more by prejudices than principles, like Lord Cantilupe’s political faith. One can only hope that Akbar Ahmad’s in-depth inquiry and analysis will strengthen the voices of reason to bring sanity to the situation, with a view to promoting inter-faith harmony in a humanistic Europe.
The writer is the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, School of International Service, American University, Washington, DC