In Europe, presently the past is the future. First, the past. Around 1,300 years ago, an attempt was made to change the religious contours of Europe by war. This was ultimately thwarted at The Battle of Tours, fought in 732 CE between the Franks and the Umayyad army. It did much more than earn Charles Martel his cognomen 'Martel' ('Hammer'), for his ruthless pounding of enemy forces. Many historians believe that had he failed at Tours, Islam would probably have taken over Gaul along with rest of western Christian territories. If Martel had not halted the Islamic aggression, Umayyad armies from the greater Arab world - including a good component of the Berbers from North Africa - may have ruled from Rome to the Rhine. Between the 8th–10th centuries, the Umayyad conquest of Spain, Portugal, Sicily and Malta represented a real possible turn in European history, but the 'Green Revolution' could never progress beyond those southern limits. The 19th century British historian Edward Creasy gave these words to that 'What-if' of history: "The great victory won by Charles Martel...gave a decisive check to the career of (the) Arab conquest in Western Europe, rescued Christendom from Islam, [and] preserved the relics of ancient and the germs of modern civilisation."
Now, witness the progress of democracy in our day. In Britain, Labour won 411 out 650 seats - and 25 Muslims took the oath in the new Parliament, up from 19 in 2019. In France, the anti-Islamic, anti-immigration nationalist right was thumped by a coalition of left-wing parties; rioting and arson erupted soon after. Yet, elsewhere in Europe, the nationalists got enhanced endorsements. Switzerland, Italy, Finland, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia and the Czech Republic seem to seek liberation from liberalism itself. In Sweden, the rightist Sweden Democrats is the second-largest party in parliament. In the Netherlands, the anti-Islamic warrior Geert Wilders heads Party for Freedom, the engine of Netherland’s four-party coalition.
Right-wing political leaders like Italy’s Georgia Maloni still mould the anti-Sharia narrative in Europe while, even in France, Marie Le Pen is down but not out. Pen, who scored high in the EU polls but lost in the French elections, said: "Our victory is merely postponed" (to 2027). The war that had been thwarted in the Middle Ages seems to have returned to Europe, with the armies sporting modern names. The descriptors fly around everywhere: 'commie', 'woke', 'anti-Semitic', 'Islamophobe', 'neo-Nazi', with the verbal weapon of choice depending on your politics.
But regardless of your location, democracy could seem a more successful vehicle for radical Islam than medieval armies. If you see 'wokeness' as a sign of civilisational weakness, the softest part of Europe may yet be Britain. The Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2024 report calls it the most Muslim-friendly destination in the West. And yet, poll after poll has found that around 40% of UK Muslims want the Sharia as the rule of the land.
Across the Channel, the spiritual heirs of Martel may feel that the ghost of Robespierre has come back to haunt France, with a grim twist: that liberté is for jihadists or their sympathisers; égalité is with killers of concert-goers and journalists; and fraternité with the vanguard of a religion that seeks to replace churches with mosques. There is no dearth of those who feel their cultural identities are at stake, as is their physical security. That even the streets aren't safe in Europe anymore.
Try walking into a shopping mall or taking the tube or attending a cultural event; an ever-present sense of dread of fanatic violence is guaranteed. The people are afraid: a 2014 public opinion survey found that 57% of Germans believe Islam poses a threat; 61% feel Islam is incompatible with the West; 40% agree that, "because of Islam, I feel a stranger in my country"; and 24% think that Muslims should not be allowed to immigrate to Germany. An October 2012 YouGov survey in England revealed that 49% of Britons concurred with the proposition that there will be a clash of civilisations between British Muslims and native white Britons. Remember, this is the same pool that has now handed the Conservatives their worst-ever defeat.
The Crusades to wrest Jerusalem away from Islam ended in 1291 with the rout of the Roman Catholic Church. The greatest of Islamic warriors was Saladin the Great who was defeated by the British king Richard I, ‘the Lionheart’, with whom he signed an accord that ensured Christianity would survive in the Levant for another century. Saladin was generous and chivalrous. Now, a rather less generous set of his religious descendants has entered Britain. But with British help. Vote bank politics have turned British politicians into a generation of compromisers. Rishi Sunak lost partly because he was too wishy washy on immigration, and the far-right Reform UK succeeded in splitting the vote on that side.
Meanwhile, Muslims do not shy away from asserting their religious identity - the British Census found that "the proportion of the overall population who identified as 'Muslim' increased from 4.9% (2.7 million) in 2011 to 6.5% (3.9 million) in 2021". The number of mosques dotting the country has doubled during the past one decade. Data about conversions invites charges of racial profiling. However, decade-old research arrived at the "guesstimate" that around 5,200 Bruisers convert to Islam every year. Other published reports claim "conversions to Islam have doubled in the past 25 years in France, among the six million Muslims in France, about 100,000 are converts".
In truth, no part of the European Union is free of the surge of this demographic, in whose midst lives a misguided section of the religion that’s devoted to plotting and acting out a permanent jihad. The Economist wrote in April 2024: "Some 25 million Muslims live in the 28 member states of the European Union and around 50 million in entire Europe.... The vast majority of these Muslims came seeking work and they were needed as they worked in sectors usually referred to as ‘difficult, dirty and dangerous'. In the ’80s, they started to be perceived not as immigrants from Morocco, Pakistan or Turkey but as 'Muslims', eventually threatening the social fabric of European societies. The terrorist attacks by tiny groups of Islamist fanatics and the radicalisation of 'thousands' of native Muslim Europeans added fuel to the surging anti-Muslim sentiment in Europe". This is where leaders like Le Pen emerge. Her core agenda is to block almost all non-European immigration. But the right-wing can be as short-sighted and disunited as anyone else.
Read earlier columns by Prabhu Chawla
Tough nations win battles, but it may take wisdom to win the war. Muslim rule in India lasted about 500 years. India, once ruled by Europeans and the British, can offer a lesson in successful multiculturalism. In the United States too, from 9/11 till now, public displays of jihadism have been curbed effectively while ensuring cultural pluralism at the same time. If Europe doesn’t learn fast from its long-trusted ally and its former colonies, in the clash of civilisations it would be overtaken by its pietistic nemesis.
