Muslims: New Europeans or Trigger for the Clash of Civilizations?

Dear Dr. Hany El-Banna,

I really enjoyed running the master-class on European advocacy and funding for Muslim-led charities with you. You have a unique way of communicating. It reminds me of the poets of the ancient times like Homer. Every concept you describe takes life as a hero in a legend.

I recognize in you, Abdurahman and all the people who work with you in the Muslim Charities Forum, Humanitarian Forum, Zakat House and International HIV Fund, the same passion for humanity that keeps me going.

I found it exciting that you didn’t need many words to understand my engagement with Muslim civil society organisations. We both want them to become the bridge between the Muslim community and greater society.

As an ageing society with a growing economy, Europe needs Muslims. They have supplied the demand for labour. Today it’s just cheap labour. Tomorrow they will be the innovators and ambassadors to the rest of the Islamic world, especially in the Mediterranean. Look at the US: an heir of slaves now rules the country.

We believe this is the new Europe but others preach that this is a clash of civilizations. Whose opinion will prevail?

I’m sure you know the film Des hommes et des dieux – it was a blockbuster in France. It’s the story of a group of monks who decide to stay in their monastery in Algeria despite death threats from Islamic fundamentalists.

Just before the end of the film the leader of the monks explains why they decided to stay because they want to testify to the rest of the world that there is an alternative to violence and power struggles. They wanted to live this alternative up to its extreme consequence. They love the Arab village nearby, and respect Islam. Therefore they didn’t leave.

They were eventually kidnapped and never returned.

That story is somehow connected to the debate at the end of our master-class. You had already left. All the delegates were very excited to discuss what to do next. They wanted a follow up plan, a path to engagement with the European Union but didn’t know exactly why or how .

A woman – her name was Tahamina, if I remember rightly – proposed an awareness campaign on Muslim-European identity. She highlighted the difficulty of this double identity but, at the same time, her absolute conviction that it works.

I was fascinated. For the first time someone made European citizenship an exciting topic. We must put her forward for an EU award!

You might laugh at this point but trying to connect Europe and Islam really could be a trigger for innovation on both sides. Opposites attract, you might say.

I might be mad, I prefer to think of myself as a visionary. In any case I will pursue this course – next stop Saudi Arabia. Insha’Allah!