BRUCE BAWER
347
the texts." The purpose: to shape an Islam that preaches tolerance,
respects diversity, supports the separation of church and state, and
embraces integration wholeheartedly and without hesitation.
Bencheikh would seem to be precisely the kind of leader that Euro–
pean Islam so desperately needs. Yet the French government, instead of
throwing its support behind him and other reformists, is, he charged,
"choosing the most reactionary, the most politicized, and the most
fanatic" of Islamic leaders for participation in that country's new Mus–
lim Council. Why? Because they are viewed as more representative.
Indeed, as the
Herald Tribune's
John Vinocur noted, "In Europe, where
sixteen Islamist organizations with suspected terrorist ties were banned
in Britain in the past year, and where Germany has identified twelve
extremist Muslim Arab groups within its borders with
3,100
members,
Mr. Bencheikh's views have an uncertain following." Yet as Bencheikh
argued, the French government, by confirming and reinforcing the
power of extremists, is in effect "legitimiz[ing] the forces we decry in the
Muslim world" at a time when the only hope for genuine integration in
Europe lies in a rapid and radical reformation of the Muslim faith.
Then there's the case of Denmark.
In
Norway, when people dare to
discuss the issue of Muslim integration, they sometimes speak ominously
of
danske tilstander:
"Danish conditions." What they are referring to is
a state of affairs in which there exists not only
de facto
segregation
between native and Muslim communities but also a routine and open
expression of mutual hostility and distrust. Such a situation has existed
for some time now in Denmark, where recent years have seen, for exam–
ple, the movement of children out of integrated public schools and into
private "white" and Muslim schools . After September
I I,
however, the
tensions between native Danes and the Muslim community became
more heated than ever.
In
Denmark, as elsewhere, Muslims took to the
streets to celebrate the terrorist attacks. A few days later, a thousand
Muslims gathered in the Danish town of N0rrebro for a protest against
democracy; one speaker called for "holy war" against Danish society.
In
the run-up to a November parliamentary election, politicians from a
range of parties spoke out bluntly on the topic of Islam: one referred to
Muslims' "infiltration" of western countries; another called Islam "not
a proper religion" but "a terror organization"; a third offered the stag–
geringly undemocratic suggestion that, in order to promote integration
of Muslims into Danish society, members of the immigrant community
be prohibited from marrying people from their ancestral countries. After
a new study showed that the persistence of current trends would make
Denmark (now about 3 percent Muslim) a majority Muslim nation
