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Forms of Muslim Self-Perception in European Islam

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Forms of Muslim Self-Perception in European Islam Sonderdrucke aus der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg RAINER BRUNNER Forms of Muslim Self-Perception in European Islam Originalbeitrag erschienen in: Hagar 6 (2005), H. 1 = Special issue: Muslims in Europe, S. [75] - 86 Forms of Muslim self-perception in European Islam Rainer Brunner ABSTRACT The growing importance of Islam in Western Europe has led to an intense discussion among Muslims on their position vis-a-vis Islamic values and the secular Western social order Three examples have been chosen to illustrate this debate. While the Mufti of Marseille, Soheib Bencheikh, argues in favor of Muslims adopting the French concept of laicit6, the Swiss intellectual Tariq Ramadan makes a European Muslim identity dependent on preservation of traditional legal prescriptions. Finally, the Central Council of Muslims in Germany has issued a charter aimed at reflecting Muslim attitudes towards Western society. Contemporary discussions about the role of Islam and the situation of Muslims in Europe usually focus on the societies of Western Europe.' Roughly 40 years ago, the first generation of Muslims came to Europe for various reasons and certainly not always voluntarily. Many of them, especially in France and Great Britain, arrived in the wake of the dissolution of old colonial empires. Others, such as was the case in Germany from the 1960s onward, were hired as "guest workers". In more recent times, this pattern has continued, as people were driven out of their countries of origin because of civil wars and a desperate economic situation. It was only in the second or even third generation after their arrival, when both sides started to realize that their stay in Europe was more than a temporary one, that Muslim reflection about their situation in Europe began. This is a discussion largely without precedent, as this question did not arise in classical Islamic law. Muslims were not expected to live permanently in non-Muslim countries, and when a Muslim country was conquered by non-Muslims, the Muslim population was expected to emigrate into 1 The literature on Islam in Europe has grown immensely in the last decade. For a bibliographical orien- tation, see Yazbek-Haddad and Qurqmaz (2000), as well as Dassetto and Conrad (1996). For a general introduction, see Nielsen (1999) and Kepel (1994). HA GAR • Studies in Culture, Polity and Identities • Vol.6 (1) • 2005: 75-86 Forms of Muslim self-perception in Europe the dar al-islam (for a summary of hijra doctrine, see Masud, 1990; Meier, 1991). Of course, there is no denying that this provision no longer can serve as a basis for cohabitation. The debate thus does not center so much around whether it is possible for Muslims to dwell in Europe at all. While there are some splinter groups and extremists who categorically deny this possibility and preach complete segregation, going even so far as to call for a theocratic Islamic state in Europe (see, e.g., Schiffauer, 2000; Thomas, 2003), these voices can on no account be taken as representative of the Muslim community as a whole. Rather, the question is how Muslim presence in Europe could look in practice. How is it possible to become European Muslims instead of remaining Muslims living in Europe more or less incidentally? This problem is the more complicated, as it is not merely one of Christian-Muslim relations. Religion in Europe has been by and large secularized and limited to the private sphere, leaving little space for public manifestations. It is therefore the question of how a much more religiously defined outlook on life may be integrated into a secularized environment, and the discussion of this concept is inevitably at the center of every attempt to shape a European notion of Islam. This paper briefly introduces some contemporary and intensely discussed approaches to this problem. While authors such as Soheib Bencheikh or Tariq Ramadan are living and writing in Europe and therefore directly reflect the needs and the discourse of their potential readers, there are nowadays also attempts to influence the discussion within the diaspora from outside, i.e., from institutions and individual scholars in the Muslim world. The arguably most prominent representative is at present Yusuf al-Qaradawi (born in 1926); he is considered one of the most influential scholars of contemporary Islam and one ofthe figureheads of the Islamic (re)awakening, who also very consciously makes use of the Internet (http://www.qaradawi.net; for his biography, see Kursawe, 2003). Almost 30 years ago, he wrote a short but momentous book on the relations between Muslims and non-Muslims within a predominantly Muslim society (Qaradawi, 1977). In recent years, he has become a leading judicial authority for Muslims living in Western societies, being also a member of the European Council for Fatwa and Research (Majlis Uruba li-l-ifta' wa-l-buhuth) in London. 2 In 2001 (Qaradawi, 1422/2001) he published, at the request and on behalf of the Mecca-based Muslim World League, 3 a book on the legal aspects of Muslims living in non-Muslim societies. Qaradawi's (ibid:30ff.) professed aim is to provide a specific interpretation of Islamic law that both takes into account the local circumstances of Muslims in Europe and guards the 2 Recently, Qaradawi was reported to have been present, also in London, at the foundation of another international council (Stalinslcy, 2004; see also Graf, 2005:47). 3 On the history and activities of the League (Rabitat al- 'alam al-islami, founded in 1962), as well as its confrontation with Christianity and imperialism, see Schulze (1990, esp. pp. 408ff.). 76 Rainer Brunner principles of the shari' a. But since such an approach does not reflect a European self- perception proper, this book — and several other writings of the same orientation (e.g., Fadlallah, 1421/2000; Su'udi, 1408/1988) — shall remain outside the scope of the present paper. In a sense, the most radical approach towards reconciling Islam and secularism among contemporary "official" Muslim representatives in Europe is taken by Soheib Bencheikh, the young mufti of Marseille. Originating from a scholarly Algerian family, he studied both at the Azhar University in Cairo and at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris, and is thus familiar with both types of society. In 1998, he published a book with the slightly provocative title Marianne et le Proph&e (Bencheikh, 1998). In view of the novelty of the situation, which makes it necessary for Islam to become a sort of "church", independent of the State, Bencheikh calls for a thorough discussion and ultimately acceptance of the concept of secular and laicist living. This, however, does not simply amount to a blind adoption of Western structures and conditions of living, but rather to an Islamic reform in light of the requirements of French society. His explicit aim is "the harmonious integration of Islam, and a search for compatibility of its re-read original message with French laicism, which has to be well understood and clearly defined" (ibid, ibid:14). Insofar, his book is not meant to attempt to prove the veracity of Islam or to defend its raison d'etre; he does not want to depict Islam as a friend or an enemy, but merely as a possible partner in society. Bencheikh begins by discussing the concept of laicism,' which he considers to be poorly and inadequately defined. For him, it is neither a philosophical concept, a transition to purely rational metaphysics, such as was intended by positivist thinkers (whom he accuses of a "blind belief in science"; ibid, ibid:46), nor is it the expression of a struggle of the State against everything religious. Instead, he pleads to keep the definition as simple and general as possible, stating that "laicism is nothing but the public authority's positive neutrality towards believers, on the one hand, and the legal guarantee of freedom of expression and worship, on the other" (ibid:57). As this is not an inherently anti-religious concept, it ought also to be accessible to Muslims. The fact that there had not yet been a Muslim minority in the country when the idea of laicism was formulated does not mean that the Muslims may be deprived of it. On the contrary, since positive neutrality is favorable to pluralism and defends society against totalitarian tendencies, it is even understood as a protective device for Islam. Bencheikh's understanding of modernity is thoroughly founded in this interpretation of laicism as a privilege; a separation of religion and politics is indispensable, he maintains, because 4 There is no common English equivalent for the French word larcit6; I chose the loanword laicism because the usual expression "secularism" is more diffuse and does not convey the political connota- tions of the French concept. 77 Forms of Muslim self-perception in Europe "the modem state that intends to function according to reasonable and verifiable criteria cannot adopt the criteria of religion whose authenticity and practicality remain without proof by reason" (ibid:71). However, he goes on to explain, this has not yet been adequately understood in the Muslim world. Consequently, there is not even an appropriate term for expressing the idea of laicism. Bencheikh proposes "religious neutrality" (al-hiyad ad- dini) or the outright neologism la'ikiyya, and at the same time vehemently opposes current descriptions of secularism ( 'almaniyya or `ilmaniyya), as suggested by thinkers such as the aforementioned Yusuf al-Qaradawi (Bencheikh, 1998:29ff.). It is for this reason also that the debate over laicism in the Islamic world inevitably falls back on the old dichotomy of belief (=Islam) vs. unbelief (=laicism), because most Muslims are not able to imagine a separation between religion and politics, given the strong social commitment of Islam.
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