excerpted from : Eurozine June 25, 2009 _Jörg Lau_ (http://www.eurozine.com/authors/lau.html) Muslims and the decadent West Opinion surveys conducted in the UK and Germany report a growing tendency among young Muslims to reject mainstream norms. Their affirmation of Muslim identity and its critique of decadent western culture is an act of dissidence, argues Jörg Lau. The reservations of the non-Muslim majority towards self-segregating practices can be understood as a sign that the Islamic critique of decadence has been understood and its moral presumption rejected.
The beginning of 2007 saw the publication of findings from one of the first comprehensive surveys of British Muslims' opinions, entitled Living Apart Together._[1]_ (http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-11-23-lau-en.html#footNoteNUM1) They demonstrated the deep ambivalence felt by British Muslims towards the West, which vented itself through moralising cultural critique. Young Muslims have the impression of living in a decadent country that has forgotten its own values, pays too high a price for its freedoms, and is increasingly losing its sense of morality. Note, however, that this is not the usual case of the elderly complaining about the decadence of society in comparison to a morally intact past. It is the younger generation that is turning its back on the present. This is something new in the history of migration: instead of realising their parents' dream of social advancement and respect, the second and third generations are turning away from the majority in moral indignation and cultivating feelings of superiority. Instead of taking up the struggle for recognition with the established majority, they themselves refuse to recognise the majority society under the banner of an opposing religious identity. How should European societies deal with the fact that a considerable – and growing – percentage of immigrants and their children reject them as decadent and see cutting themselves off as the solution? This is an exact description of the situation in Britain and it is one that is leading to resentment against Islamic immigrants throughout Europe. ...how should we read [ studies ] by today's sociologists in the form of opinion surveys among European Muslims? 86 per cent of British Muslims between the ages of 16 and 24 say that religion is "the most important thing in life" for them. 36 per cent believe that apostasy should be punished with death. 37 per cent would prefer to send their children to an exclusively Islamic school. 37 per cent would rather live under sharia law than British common law. 74 per cent want women to wear headscarves. 13 per cent "admire organisations like Al Qaeda that are prepared to fight against the West". Religion is of increasing importance for British Muslims – and this is truer of the younger generation than it is of the first two generations of immigrants. Young Muslims feel they have less in common with non-Muslims than do their parents. They are more in favour of separate Islamic schools and sharia law than are their elders. The new religiosity among young people can't be understood as a return to their parents' traditional way of life. Young people's religion is highly politicised. Whereas their elders made an effort to assimilate, young people consciously stress their otherness in public through strict Islamic clothing. If every third British Muslim in the survey is in favour of sharia law and the punishment of apostasy with death, then this is a dramatic finding – especially in a country like Great Britain, which traditionally has dealt with questions of national identity in an emphatically casual way. The country had got into the habit of simply assuming that "Britishness" was attractive. Now, however, it is faced with a growing group within the population that is turning away both from the lifestyle of their parents and the mainstream and its norms. The affirmation of Islamic identity, in the sense in which it is understood by young people, is an act of dissidence in religious garb. The emotional core of this new politics of Islamic identity is, as can be seen in the surveys of public opinion, a cultural critique of decadent western society. In the language of cultural relativism, it lays claim to the "right to cultural difference". Once this right has been won, the moral absolutism of a superior culture, whose essence ought supposedly to have a rehabilitative effect on the West, asserts itself. The belief that the corrupt and compromised West has no values worth defending is the lowest common denominator of the statements that the British researchers heard from young Muslims. On the popular website Islamonline, famous sheikhs from the Arab world and the diaspora offer fatwa-chat for all situations. Can a Muslim make an April Fool of somebody as a joke? No: Imitation of the West. Can a schoolchild contact a Christian girl by e-mail in order to convert her to Islam? No: It could lead to prohibited contact. Can I as a Muslim eat synthetic bacon that is only made from halal ingredients? No: It might give you a taste for real bacon. Can a girl give a present to her sweetheart on Valentine's Day? No: Imitation of the West. Can I use a lipstick which contains alcohol? Double no. Can a Muslim taxi driver drop off his customers in front of a bar or casino? Only when he would otherwise lose his job. Can a Muslim celebrate mothers' day? No: Imitation of the West. A full-blown fatwa-industry is dedicated to the Islamicisation of the modern. The most intimate things are defined. All of life is neatly divided into what is permitted and what is not. There's always an episode from the life of the prophet from which a solution can be derived. There are no questions left open; every ambiguity is thoroughly disposed of. Those who submit themselves to the rigid regime of the sheikhs are rewarded with the good feeling of having clearly set themselves apart from the corrupt world of the infidel. Those who refuse to send their daughters on school trips, to sex education lessons, or to co-educational swimming lessons are making a stand against the moral abjection of these activities. Internally, the headscarf can be a symbol of orthodoxy; externally it is the practical expression of the cultural critique of the West and its lax customs. That's also why it provokes such hostility in our debates. The headscarf not only suppresses women and girls: the sexualisation of all contact between the sexes via the headscarf is also insulting to men. By turning girls and women into sex objects, the veil also intrudes on the privacy of the man. The veil accuses the male gaze of uncontrollable desire. While there's no doubt that racism and xenophobia exist in our society, it's foolish to dismiss the anger that accompanies the symbolic quarrels over Islamic self-segregation as "Islamophobia". The reservations of the non-Muslim majority towards these practices can be understood as a sign that the Islamic critique of decadence has been understood and its moral presumption rejected. In August 2006, the Australian Grand Mufti Taj Al-Din al-Hillali spoke of the woman's obligation to cover up: "Uncovered flesh" attracts the cats, said the mufti. "If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it [...] whose fault is it, the cats' or the uncovered meat's?" The de facto permission granted by an influential preacher to rape women without a headscarf provoked worldwide indignation.
_______________________________________________ Centroids mailing list: [email protected] http://radicalcentrism.com/mailman/listinfo/centroids_radicalcentrism.com Archives at http://radicalcentrism.org/pipermail/centroids_radicalcentrism.com/
