By Pakistani writer Khaled Ahmed. EFL
The West is reacting against Muslim immigrants. In Europe more and more people are voting for far-right political parties promising a stop to the influx of immigrants, especially Muslims. In the United States there is much paranoia against Muslim Americans. After 9/11 the mosques are being watched and the Muslims have come under attack from 'patriotic' Americans. One has to admit that the presence of Muslims in the West brings out the dark side of Western civilisation. It has become tough for Muslims to live in the West, even in America, which was more 'free' with its rights for immigrants than any other state in the world. It didn't ask its immigrants to give up their cultural identity to be accepted as normal citizens. Now all that is changing. Khalid Hasan writing in Daily Times (20 June 2004) from Washington is worried about the way Islam is being blackened by a new publicist, Robert Spencer: 'Millions in this country believe that the Muslims of the world are on the warpath against the West in an attempt to destroy the Judaeo-Christian way of life. The tabloids, certain cable TV networks and a number of Christian evangelist groups have played a major role in spreading this myth. Every other day, there is something new on the "great Islamic conspiracy"
including such "startling revelations" as "details about the numerous footholds that jihad warriors have already established right here in the US," "radical Muslims' open contempt for our free society and their plans to destroy it" and the bad news that the "the clash of civilisations — which many would rather ignore — is already upon us." Coming from Khalid Hasan, the plaint is worth paying attention to. He is not the kind of Muslim that the new brand of Islam would accept as a proper believer. He is a liberal modernist who fights for the underdog and breaks easily away from the new Muslim tendency of allowing feelings of compassion only for fellow-Muslims. He has been living in the United States and is aware that America did not burden its immigrants too much with the duty of assimilation. You could be 'separate' and yet have 'equal' rights, unlike continental Europe. The United Kingdom was more liberal than France but it could not beat America for the kind of freedom it gave to its immigrant population. At the social level, the UK did react negatively to the unassimilated immigrant communities. The US believed in absorbing the new faiths and cultures and making them American. After 9/11, however, things have changed and assimilation is being subliminally demanded. |