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The Islamization of Europe?

(Commentary)David Pryce-Jones - In the opinion of Bassam Tibi, an academic of Syrian origins who lives in Germany, Europeans are facing a stark alternative: "Either Islam gets Europeanized, or Europe gets Islamized." Institutions that have been affected by Islamophile correctness run the gamut. In Britain, a judge has agreed to prohibit Hindus and Jews from sitting on a jury in the trial of a Muslim. A British bank boasts that it will comply with shari'a prohibitions on the uses of money. Or consider the European reception of Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the religious authority of the Muslim Brotherhood who is wanted on charges of terrorism in his native Egypt. Like Tariq Ramadan in Switzerland, he emphasizes that Muslims must keep apart from liberal democracy as it is practiced in the West while also availing themselves of its benefits and advantages. But unlike Ramadan, he approves of wife-beating in the forms sanctioned by the Qur'an; as for homosexuals, he is agnostic on whether they should be thrown off a high cliff or flogged to death. Yet this year, in an official ceremony at London's City Hall, al-Qaradawi was welcomed as "an Islamic scholar held in great respect" by the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, an enthusiastic supporter of gay pride.
2004-12-02 00:00:00
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