Islam and Society VKW the WEA Global Issues Series 4 Essays Women Inislam Sharia Law -Jihad - Islam and Society Christine Schirrmacher
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The Challenge of Muslim Immigration to Europe The Challenge of Islam: Are we Equipped? Christine Schirrmacher Is Multi(Culti) at an End? Islam – Religion of Peace? How Muslims view Christians What is a Fatwa? Islamic “Mission” (Da’wa) Apostasy and Sharia The Significance of Islamic Tradition Islam and Society Women in Islam “Islam” is not just “Islam” Sharia Law - Jihad - Suicide, Martyrdom and Jihad Women in Islam Honor Killings and Ideas of Honor Christine Schirrmacher, born 1962 (MA in Islamic Stu- Essays dies 1988, Dr. phil. Islamic Studies 1991) has studied Arabic, Persian and Turkish and is presently Professor of Islamic Studies at the Department “Religious Studies Society and Islam Schirrmacher Christine and Missiology“ of the “Evangelisch-Theologische Fa- culteit” (Protestant University) in Leuven/Belgium. She is director of the “Institut für Islamfragen“ (Institute of Islamic Studies) of the German Evangelical Alliance as well as an official speaker and advisor on Islam for the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA). She lectures on Islam and security issues to authorities, is author of several books on Islam, sharia and family issues in Islam, has visited many countries of the Muslim world and is engaged in current dialogue initiatives, like the conference “Loving God and Neighbour in Word and Deed: Implications for Muslims and Christians” of the Yale Centre for Faith and Culture, Yale University, New Haven/Connecticut, in July 2008. sponsored by: ISBN 978-3-938116-64-7 The WEA Global Issues Series 4 Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft (Culture and Science Publ.) Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher VKW VKW Christine Schirrmacher Islam and Politics The WEA Global Issues Series Editors: Geoff Tunnicliffe, International Director, World Evangelical Alliance Thomas Schirrmacher, Director, International Institute for Religious Liberty and Speaker for Human Rights of the World Evangelical Alliance Volumes: 1. Thomas K. Johnson – Human Rights 2. Christine Schirrmacher – The Islamic View of Major Christian Teachings 3. Thomas Schirrmacher – May a Christian Go to Court? 4. Christine Schirrmacher – Islam and Society 5. Thomas Schirrmacher – The Persecution of Christians Concerns Us All “The WEA Global Issues Series is designed to provide thoughtful and practical insights from an Evangelical Christian perspective into some of the greatest challenges we face in the world. I trust you will find this volume enriching and helpful in your Kingdom service.” Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe, International Director, World Evangelical Alliance Christine Schirrmacher Islam and Society Sharia Law – Jihad – Women in Islam Essays The WEA Global Issues Series Volume 4 Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft Culture and Science Publ. Bonn 2008 World Evangelical Alliance Suite 1153, 13351 Commerce Parkway Richmond, BC. V6V 2X7 Canada Phone +1 / 604-214-8620 Fax +1 / 604-214-8621 www.worldevangelicals.org While this volume does not represent an “official” position of the World Evangelical Alli- ance we are distributing it to promote further serious study and reflection. International Institute for Religious Freedom of the World Evangelical Alliance www.iirf.eu / [email protected] Friedrichstr. 38 PO Box 535 32, Ebenezer Place 2nd Floor Edgemead 7407 Dehiwela 53111 Bonn Cape Town (Colombo) Germany South Africa Sri Lanka © Copyright 2008 by Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft (Culture and Science Publ.) Prof. Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher Friedrichstraße 38, D-53111 Bonn Fax +49 / 228 / 9650389 www.vkwonline.de / [email protected] © Photo of the Cover: Franz Englbrecht ISBN 978-3-938116-64-7 Printed in Germany Umschlaggestaltung und Gesamtherstellung: BoD Verlagsservice Beese, Friedensallee 44, 22765 Hamburg www.rvbeese.de / [email protected] Verlagsauslieferung: Hänssler Verlag / IC-Medienhaus D-71087 Holzgerlingen, Tel. 07031/7414-177 Fax -119 www.haenssler.de / www.icmedienhaus.de Privatkunden: www.genialebuecher.de The WEA Global Issues Series is sponsored by: Gebende Hände gGmbH / Giving Hands International Adenauerallee 11 • D-53111 Bonn • www.giving-hands.de Martin Bucer Seminar European Theological School and Research Institutes Bonn – Zurich – Innsbruck – Prag – Istanbul www.bucer.eu Contents 1 The Challenge of Muslim Immigration to Europe.................................... 7 2 The Challenge of Islam: Are we Equipped?........................................... 19 3 Is Multi(Culti) at an End?....................................................................... 27 4 Islam – Religion of Peace?..................................................................... 45 5 How Muslims view Christians – What does the Koran Teach? ............. 55 6 What is a Fatwa? .................................................................................... 67 7 Islamic “Mission” (Da’wa)..................................................................... 69 8 Apostasy and Sharia ............................................................................... 77 9 The Significance of Islamic Tradition .................................................... 85 10 Women in Islam ................................................................................... 89 11 “Islam” is not just “Islam“: Sunni and Shiite Islam compared........... 107 12 Suicide, Martyrdom and Jihad............................................................ 111 13 Honor Killings and Ideas of Honor .................................................... 119 About the Author..................................................................................... 127 1 The Challenge of Muslim Immigration to Europe 1 The Present Situation – History and Background Globalization is a subject of great significance for Europe, too. The world has moved closer together. This is true also for the Islamic world and Europe. New chances for the shaping of a shared future in the twenty- first century, as well as challenges, result from this situation. North Africa is closely linked with France by virtue of its colonial past, as are Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India with Great Britain. Nearly two mil- lion Muslims live in Britain; in France about six million; in Germany 3.2 million. The immigration of Muslims to Germany began roughly 45 years ago when, in the post-War period, the recruitment of workers from south- ern (and southeastern) Europe and, later, also from Anatolia (Turkey) ap- peared to be the solution for an expanding labor market. The first ten thousand Muslims came to Germany beginning about 1960. They were primarily male workers without families; women and children followed later. Through revolutions and wars (above all, the Iranian Revo- lution of 1979, the war in the Balkans, and the Iran-Iraq war from 1980 to 1988), through the influx of refugees and asylum-seekers, and by virtue of a higher birth-rate compared with the Western population, the number of Muslim immigrants in Europe increased to roughly sixteen to twenty mil- lion persons. Even in the last twenty years, when this development was foreseeable, European countries found it difficult to consider themselves as countries “open to immigration”. There was repeated failure to discuss cultural, so- cial, and political as well as religious commonalities and differences, to consider the mistakes that were made, and to work out rules for life to- gether in the future. The German society, for example, assumed all too 1 Conference paper presented at Europe International House Pécs/Hungary, November 22, 2005 at the conference “Continents – Globalisation – Security”, November 22- 23, 2005 8 Islam and Politics naturally that these people would prefer the Western, secular way of life to their own tradition, would give up their religious-cultural roots over time, and would “assimilate” themselves. Today, it is clearly evident that in many parts of Europe a contrary development – a return to tradition and a retreat into a world of one’s own – long since has begun. Most of the Muslims who live in Europe today will remain; their number will continue to increase. The political or economic situation in their home countries frequently offers them no perspective for a return; their children and grandchildren have grown up in Europe and they, too, will not return. In view of this situation, several challenges result: 1. Social Aspects Never before have so many people from the Islamic cultural sphere lived permanently in Europe. But, are they also at home in Europe? Many young people of the second and third generation speak too little German (or French, Spanish, or Dutch) to be successful in a vocation. What future do these young people face? Not a few of them retreat into their own world, their own language, the mosque, and the Turkish or Arab neighborhood. Forced marriages and murders of honor occur precisely within the paral- lel society in which its members take justice into their own hands. At long last, the duty of speaking the language of the host country finally is being discussed openly in Europe. Without the command of the language, there is no integration; without integration, there is no vocational success and no shared future. Neither the immigrants nor their host countries originally reckoned with a permanent life together. Both sides at first thought their coexistence would last only a few years. Especially the majority society concerned itself too little and not intensively enough with the cultural and religious peculiarities of the immigrants. The “other culture” was either admired uncritically or ignored and rejected. The knowledge about Islam among many people in Europe is still