An evaluation of the “Western abode” could be made on the basis of the comparative analysis of the two sets of considerations referred to earlier: on the one hand the conditions essential for the expansion of the Muslim personality and on the other the five general and fundamental rights already acquired in the West. It is immediately clear that many of the legal conditions we have set down are already met and that Muslims enjoy, to a large extent, the right to live as Muslims in Europe and North America, though we must not forget that there exist important questions on which we must reflect insofar as they appear to be obstacles to the positive and full existence of Muslims in the West. For example, we must not minimize the difficulty we have in protecting a living faith in industrialized countries subject to the logic of production and consumption. Spirituality is of great significance in Islam, and the neutrality of the public space in secularized societies has often been taken to mean a total absence of religiosity (even a categorical rejection of it), or the primacy of an atheistic ideology that does not call itself by its name. This is not an area where Muslims are in conflict with the legislation, laws or regulations: it is a fundamental problem rooted elsewhere. It is connected with an issue that is vital for Muslim communities in the West: the issue of how to preserve the vitality of a spiritual life in a society that has become so modern—modern in the popular sense of the word, which is to say secularized and industrialized—and then how to pass on the necessary knowledge, which alone is able to provide authentic freedom, the necessary condition for making any choice? This point uncovers another series of fundamental “problem areas” concerning issues of education in general and Islamic education in particular in a secular environment, issues of social and political participation and of culture, questions to which we shall return in part II. Nevertheless, we must add here a problem that grows daily more acute—the image of Islam that is conveyed by events taking place on the international stage. The fallout from political situations in Muslim countries and the active interests, and sometimes manipulations, of governments cast a very negative light on Muslims living in the West and give rise to a whole range of prejudices and preconceived ideas about Islam and Muslims. The consequence is that laws, whose letter protects the rights of Muslims, are read, interpreted, and used tendentiously because of this atmosphere of suspicion and so become the “official” and legitimate justification for obvious acts of discrimination. It would be stupid today to avoid this reality simply because it is not immediately quantifiable or “legally identifiable”: the fact is that it constitutes the daily experience of thousands of Muslims in the West who are confronted by the imagined vision of their interlocutors more often than they find themselves clashing with constitutions or laws. This representation of Islam and Muslims is at the bottom of the difficulties lived by Muslim communities at the present time. Perhaps it is even the main factor. This phenomenon is sometimes hidden behind the veil of a supposed “total legal incompatibility” that does not stand up to serious analysis. The security-based treatment of the question of Islam perceived as a threat raises the same kind of problems. Well before 11 September 2001 and the outrages in the United States, Muslims were already experiencing every day the reality of suspicion and discrimination. Since 11 September, things have worsened, and now the problem of “living together” in the pluralist societies of the West is dealt with more on the level of “representation” than on the level of seeking equal treatment for the religion and its laws. Responsibility in this is mutual, and we shall return to this in our next chapter.
Apart from all these pitfalls (though they should not be minimized), the West still appears to be a place where Muslims can live in securely with certain fundamental rights granted and protected. What name should we then give to this space? What appellation can we find that suits both the Islamic references and our current situation? There is no consensus (ijma) on the question of identification, definition, or appellation of the “Western abode” generally. We can broadly distinguish here three different—though not completely contradictory—positions that are the expression of three specific legal opinions on this question.12 Some ulama consider that the old concepts of dar al-islam and dar al-harb are still valid, even if all the relevant conditions are not completely met. Other ulama are of the opinion that the considerable changes that have taken place must be taken into account and that the conditions (shurut) referred to earlier that would allow an area to be defined as dar al-islam or dar al-harb today do not occur in the same way in one place as in another. In their view, these elements should be underlined when the situation of Muslims in the West is discussed. In order to define Western countries, they use the Shafii concept of dar al-ahd (“abode of treaty”) or dar al-amn (“abode of safety”). The third group believe these concepts are no longer valid: to continue to use them forces us to avoid questions about both the concepts and the reality we are facing. They think that the ulama should think of new appellations that are faithful to the Islamic sources and also appropriate for our current situation. Faysal al-Mawlawi, for example, states: “We are not, in the West, in the ‘abode of war’; we are either in an ‘abode of treaty’ or in an ‘abode of invitation to God’ [dawa]. If we wish to maintain the [traditional] classification of the world as set out in fiqh with the ‘abode of Islam,’ the ‘abode of war’ and the ‘abode of treaty,’ we are in that case, in the West, in an ‘abode of treaty.’ If, on the other hand, we consider that the old fiqh classification is no longer applicable in our current situation—and this is the view we prefer—then on that basis, we say that we are in an ‘abode of dawa,’ as were the Prophet and the Muslims in Mecca before the Hijra. Mecca was neither dar al-islam nor dar al-harb, but dar al-dawa13 and in the eyes of the Muslims, the whole of the Arabian Peninsula, was dar aldawa.”
It is important to note here a double phenomenon: first, the traditional appellations are discussed—and almost set aside—and a new name is suggested in the light of the source (the Meccan period) that corresponds more with our own reality in numerous points. This last approach (formulating a new appellation) is, in our opinion, following our analysis, the most correct and relevant. If the “abode” where Muslims live provides them with security—as we must honestly recognize is the case in the West—this must be taken into account. And, beyond all sectarian and inadequate classifications, Muslims should also remember, in this age of globalization and the “new world order,” that they must face up to their responsibilities in order on the one hand to bear authentic witness to their faith in the oneness of God and their respect for the values of justice and solidarity and on the other hand to take appropriate action, whether individually or as a society. Indeed, wherever a Muslim who declares, “I bear witness that there is no god but God and Muhammad is His messenger” lives in security and can fulfil his fundamental religious obligations, he is at home, for the Prophet taught us that the whole world is a mosque. This means that Muslims living in the West, individuals as well as communities from various countries, not only may live there but are also the bearers of an enormous responsibility: they must give their society a testimony based on faith, spirituality, values, a sense of where boundaries lie, and a permanent human and social engagement.
This vision reverses the perception based on the old concepts, which inevitably encouraged Muslims to adopt a reactionary stance as a minority and consequently led them to decide on, and work only to protect, their minimal rights. Even if this attitude was understandable during the first decades of the Muslim presence in the West and among the first generations of migrants, it should now have been superseded. It is high time to define the responsibilities of Muslims in the West, and first, with the insight provided by these considerations, we should be able to call the place where we live the “Western abode” generally.
