In an article for the National
Secular Society, based in Britain, Rumy Hasan argues that until it became
absolutely necessary, British policymakers at large have taken a very
roundabout approach to the different ethnicities that populate their country in
ever growing numbers from the vast reaches of the former Empire. What they have
done seems, to Hasan, questionable – the government has appointed a Minister for
Faith and Community rather than a Minister for Integration, as in other
European countries. He feels that this is not promoting universalism and the “transformation
from multiculturalism to mulitfaithism.”
What arises
instead are ethnic-religious enclaves, similar to the ones that developed in
cities like New York in the United States. There is not much mixing among
different cultures, which creates “parallel lives” and a further “segregation”
of nonwhite children from white society as well as from other ethnic groups
that also allows politicians to “divide and rule.” However, despite perceived Islamophobia
that has developed post 9/11 in Britain, many Muslims continued to choose to
live there. It was to white Britons that the issue existed – they felt that
Islam had negative connotations and that “Muslims create problems.”
This
phenomenon is not limited to Great Britain; people in the Netherlands are on
the whole uncomfortable with Islam and what they think are aspects of Muslim
life, however incorrect, such as the domination of women. This is also true in
France and Germany as well as the United States (though the focus of the
article remains on Europe). However, Hasan thinks that this distaste for Islam
is not born of generic Islamophobia on the margins of society, but that it is widespread
and mainstream. Moreover, what he dubs “psychic detachment” also “alienates” ethnic
groups and makes them feel segregated even if they are not so physically.
“Public
policy, above all in regard to school education, can significantly rein in the
artificial division engendered by religion,” Hasan says, and his argument is
most persuasive. He does not feel that religious identities are wrong, or that
they are detrimental to society, or even that they are harmful to those who
have them. However he is aware that sectarian violence, such as in Northern
Ireland, arises when people of all faiths and identities are not willing to, at
some point, become part of a larger group.
That this
article is focused on Muslims in Great Britain is not indicative of a problem
that only exists in one country amongst people of one faith. This is the story
of immigrants everywhere, for better or worse – while the mixture may resemble,
as the cliché goes now, more of a salad than a soup, and there is the retention
of traditional identities and practices, people form a society rather than
separate enclaves within a society that they do not feel a part of. If
non-Muslim Britons can accept that there are Muslim people living in their
country without feeling afraid or without being prone to prejudice, and if
Muslims living in Britain can accept that they are now part of British society
and do not need to seal themselves off from it, then, Hasan argues, society
overall will be more cohesive and peaceful.
The tensions between Muslim identity and Western
citizenship
Posted at 10:00 AM on 4/5/13
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