Muslims and the State in Britain, France, and Germany

"The reason why I chose this book is that Muslims now are not limited to Muslim-majority societies. There exist increasing numbers of Muslims in North America and Western Europe. This is intellectually very important because since many Muslim societies are dominated by authoritarian regimes, intellectual life has limited opportunities there. In the West, Muslims have more opportunities to have freedom of speech and new Muslim ideas may emerge, but most Western states also consider the rising Muslim population as a security issue. If we want to understand how Western European states regard the issue of the minority Muslim populations, Soper and Fetzer’s book is a classic. It is a very good example of comparative methodology, analysing three major Western European states and asking, ‘Why is the French state more restrictive against Muslim minorities’ religious symbols, while the British state is more tolerant and Germany is in between?’ Their argument is, again, historically informed. They say that these states mostly repeat their historical institutions of church-state relations. Since the secularism that emerged in France is what I call ‘assertive secularism,’ the French state is restrictive against Muslims as well. In the British case, there was a much closer relationship between the Anglican church and the British state. In Germany, there was the Kulturkampf against the Catholic Church under Bismarck, but there were also periods of toleration. Germany was in between France and the United Kingdom in terms of the level of state accommodation of church, and that’s reflected in its in-between position toward Muslims today. Since the publication of Fetzer and Soper’s book about two decades ago, we still see the same trends. France is aggressive in passing laws. Just a few months ago, the French Parliament passed a law called the anti-separatism bill, which banned home-schooling and required even bus drivers not to wear headscarves or other Muslim symbols if they have any engagement with public schools. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, gave a speech saying that Islam is a religion that is in crisis worldwide. Get the weekly Five Books newsletter There are certain differences between France and other Western democracies. Because of the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States, there is now more emphasis on race, colonial history, economic exploitation and other problems. In France, despite the fact that the Muslim minority comes mainly from African immigrants and their descendants, French politicians generally ignore racism, discrimination, unemployment and other problems related to race. They only focus on Islam and secularism. But even with secularism, there are multiple models in Europe and elsewhere. I think we will have to keep discussing how democratic states deal with the issue of religious diversity. This is a global challenge beyond Muslim minorities in the West. I am optimistic about the future because I look at things from a broad historical perspective. If you focus on certain political controversies today, you will see Islamophobia promoted by right-wing populists in the West, and anti-Westernism promoted by right-wing populists in the Muslim world. This may make you pessimistic. Many people assume that Islam and Christianity or Muslim societies and Western societies are mutually exclusive because the values they espouse have inherently contradictory characteristics. I disagree because I know what Muslims achieved between the eighth and twelfth centuries in terms of religious coexistence, scientific and philosophical dynamism, and economic productivity. That was repeated in Europe after the Renaissance. Unfortunately, Muslim societies lost their dynamism. Just blaming Western imperialism now for the problems of Muslim societies is not the solution. If Muslims reach a level of self-criticism, as well as getting lessons from the diversity of their early history, they can once again reproduce their creativity and dynamism. This does not mean embracing the Western model, but it implies being inspired by their own history. I am also optimistic that Western societies will increasingly recognise the positive contributions of Muslims and recognize how Muslims expand the religious and cultural diversity of the West."