9-Narrating religious insecurity: Islamic–Western conceptions of mutual threat
Type
Publication
Authors
Category
Publication Year
2012
Publisher
Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom
URL
[ private ]
Pages
16p
Subject
Religious, Insecurity, Islam
Tags
Abstract
One does not need to travel very far these days before encountering
complaints that Islam poses ‘a fundamental threat to the survival of
Western Europe’s cultural identity’, and even to Western civilization as a
whole.2 For some, this is no longer just a threat, as Europe has already
been taken over by Islam and should now be christened ‘Eurabia’.3
The challenge is to recover it, if at all possible. These claims are as revealing as
they are intriguing. To start with, they are usually made by groups on the far right of the political spectrum (even though increasingly leaders from the ‘centre’ are joining in with their own laments about the ‘failure of multiculturalism’ or the refusal of Muslims to integrate). But these same groups depict Islam as a primitive, violent and backward religion, which should not, according to this perception, pose as a serious competitor to Western civilization, let alone overwhelm it. No less remarkable, however, is that these dual (and apparently self-contradictory) claims are a mirror image of the discourse of radical Islamist groups, which regard Western civilization as a threat to Islamic culture and never cease to rail against its moral bankruptcy and degenerate nature
complaints that Islam poses ‘a fundamental threat to the survival of
Western Europe’s cultural identity’, and even to Western civilization as a
whole.2 For some, this is no longer just a threat, as Europe has already
been taken over by Islam and should now be christened ‘Eurabia’.3
The challenge is to recover it, if at all possible. These claims are as revealing as
they are intriguing. To start with, they are usually made by groups on the far right of the political spectrum (even though increasingly leaders from the ‘centre’ are joining in with their own laments about the ‘failure of multiculturalism’ or the refusal of Muslims to integrate). But these same groups depict Islam as a primitive, violent and backward religion, which should not, according to this perception, pose as a serious competitor to Western civilization, let alone overwhelm it. No less remarkable, however, is that these dual (and apparently self-contradictory) claims are a mirror image of the discourse of radical Islamist groups, which regard Western civilization as a threat to Islamic culture and never cease to rail against its moral bankruptcy and degenerate nature
Description
16 p.; 18 cm
Number of Copies
1