Magazine / Society / Euro-Islam / Analysis | 02/05/2007

Islam in Europe – The Exception to the Rule?

Can one today speak of a return of religiousness to European culture due to Muslim immigrants? According to Olivier Roy, the new order of religious identities is to be viewed within the context of a globalised world.

By replacing the often-used catchphrase of the "clash of civilizations” with the term "dialog of cultures", one principally concedes that the defenders of the "clash of civilizations” and their fundamental idea that the world is divided into "cultures” are right. However, how does one define culture?

Multicultural architecture in Pasing, Munich: a modern mosque stands next to an old farmhouse
Photo: AP

According to standard usage of the term "culture,” it is shaped by religion (such as the Christian culture of the West, Islamic culture) and refers to a geographic area (cultural spaces such as the Near and Middle East or the "Islamic world") and, at least originally, an ethnic group (the "Arab” culture). As a result of migration and the mixing of people, a culture is no longer necessarily endemic to a certain region or an ethnic group. Today, we naturally assume that every culture is built upon a certain religion and each religion is embedded in a specific culture.

This idea also forms the basis of the debate on Islam in Europe. European Islam originated from a massive migration wave in the 1960s and 1970s. Two paradigms – multiculturalism in northern Europe and assimilationism in France – which at first glance may seem to contradict each other, serve to illustrate how Europe has dealt with this development. Both models failed for similar reasons. Both assume that religion and culture are fundamentally connected, which means that by holding on to one's religion, a person also retains his or her culture. Multiculturalism assumes that people tend to practice their religion, which remains embedded in their cultures of origin. By definition assimilationism assumes that integration leads to a secularization of one's faith and behavior because the impact of the cultures of origin disappears. However, the problem is that one may claim the religious beliefs (be it of fundamentalist or spiritual nature) of one's ancestors. But these can be detached from their cultural foundations. Religion thrives on deculturation. French Muslims want to be recognized as French citizens and as Muslims. Young born-again Muslims in the Netherlands or Great Britain do not want to be identified by their parents' culture. Both models – multiculturalism and assimilationism – have difficulties handling these new forms of "pure" religion, which, by the way, can come in very different shapes and forms such as for example the construction of mosques or wearing a veil or political radicalism.

The decisive question is whether the phenomenon of deculturation affects Muslims only, since deculturation is the result of changes in the subsequent generations of immigrants and the ongoing westernization of Islamic societies or whether deculturation is a common feature of all major religions of our times, including Christianity. In this case, according to my analysis, the manifestations of religiousness as displayed by Islamic immigrants in Europe are a dimension of the phenomenon of realigning religious identities in a globalized world.

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