Haunted Presents: Europeans, Muslim Immigrants and the Onus of European-Jewish Histories by Amikam Nachmani

Author:Amikam Nachmani [Nachmani, Amikam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Middle Eastern, Social Science, Political Science, World, General
ISBN: 9781784993078
Google: VjOoyAEACAAJ
Goodreads: 33376760
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Published: 2017-01-15T09:49:54+00:00

5

East meets the West: Fiqh al-Aqalliyat (Muslim jurisprudence on minorities); Dina de-Malchuta Dina (the law of the kingdom is the law); Dar al-Islam (abode of Islam); Dar al-Harb (abode of war)

You will please neither the Jews nor the Christians unless you follow their faith. Say: ‘God’s guidance is the only guidance.’ And if after all the knowledge you have been given you yield to their desires, there shall be none to help or protect you from the wrath of God. Those to whom We have given the Book, and who read it as it ought to be read, truly believe in it; those that deny it will surely be the losers. Al-Baqarah (The Cow) (Koran 2:120)

Classical Islamic sources and theology do not raise the possibility of Muslims living as minorities. A single case is mentioned in the Koran in which Muslims lived among infidels; this exception proves the rule, viz., Muslims should not live among a non-Muslim majority. A Muslim community was formed in Medina; those who remained as a minority in Mecca should not expect their Medinan co-religionists to rush to their help:

Those that have embraced the Faith and fled their homes, and fought for the cause of God with their wealth and with their persons; and those that have sheltered them, and helped them, shall be as friends to each other. Those that have embraced the Faith, but have not left their homes, shall in no way become your friends until they have done so. (Koran 8:72)

Interaction or cooperation with non-Muslims (and, by extension, living among non-Muslims and non-believers) is not favoured by the Koran. On the contrary, Muslims should always prefer Muslims to non-Muslims. Socialising with or living among non-Muslims causes the Muslim to resemble the non-believers, or worse, causes them to turn into infidels:

He has instructed you in the Book that when you hear God’s revelations being denied or ridiculed, you must not sit and listen to them until they engage in other talk, or else you shall yourselves become like them. God will surely gather in Hell the hypocrites and the unbelievers all. (Koran 4:140)

True, in special situations and as a cautious conduct, exceptions are allowed. ‘Let not believers make friends with infidels in preference to the faithful – he that does this has nothing to hope for from God – except in self-defense.’ (Koran 3:28).

Islam contributed much to the rise of European medieval culture, but its contribution was much less during the post-medieval era. The emergence of modern European and Western philosophies, liberal democracy, modern social achievements and scientific discoveries occurred largely without Muslim contributions. Jews, by comparison, have been a built-in element, part and parcel, and in certain areas the fulcrum, of modern European cultures and civilisation. Notwithstanding historical, and in particular twentieth-century, attempts to exclude, alienate and exterminate the Jews, they are citizens of their European countries, eligible to vote and be elected to office. In comparison, many Muslim migrants, including second and third generations, are not citizens and are not allowed to vote.

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