Here’s one principle for reaching that goal: an ethics of citizenship should itself reflect the diversity of the citizenship. For while we agree that no one has the right to impose their beliefs on another, we also understand that our common life should be defined in such a way that it includes the contributions of all the religious and philosophical traditions within it. Further, the way to bring about such inclusion is through critical debate.
When it comes to the new Muslim presence in western countries, that critical debate is hard to achieve. Islam is perceived as a "problem", never as a gift in our quest for a rich and stimulating diversity. And that’s a mistake. Islam has much to offer – not least when considering how individuals in politics and business have recently been behaving, within the limits of the law, but with a clear lack of ethics.
Islamic literature is full of injunctions about the centrality of an education based on ethics and proper ends. Individual responsibility, when it comes to communicating, learning and teaching is central to the Islamic message. Muslims are expected to be "witnesses to their message before people", which means speaking in a decent way, preventing cheating and corruption, and respecting the environment. Integrity in politics and the rejection of usurious speculation in economics are principles that are pushing Muslim citizens and scholars to explore new avenues that bring public life and interpersonal ethics together.
More broadly, the Muslim presence should be perceived as positive, too. It is not undermining the Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian ethical and cultural roots of Europe. Neither is it introducing dogmatism into the debate, as if spiritual and religious traditions automatically draw on authoritarian sources. They can operate within both the limits of the law and in the open public sphere. On the contrary, the Muslim presence can play a critical role in thinking about our future and shaping a new common narrative. It can help recall and revive some of the fundamental principles upon which the cultures of Europe are based.
To put it another way, Muslims remind their fellow citizens that one cannot simply get rid of older ethical traditions and replace them with a supposedly neutral rule of law or by impartial values formed in a free market. To agree on the rule of law, equality and democratic transparency is surely not enough. Contemporary crises within societies, and at the international level, remind us we need more ethics in our public life, not merely more efficiency.
Whether we can agree on the content of a common ethic is another question entirely. But this is where critical and indepth debates should take place, and it’s in this way that the issue of our plural future together should be determined. That future cannot be shaped by superficial discussions of national identity, values or Britishness. Similarly, we must stop treating diversity as a hindrance, for it should be exactly the opposite. Rather, an ethics based on our common citizenship must be forged from a serious and profound engagement with the meaning of our common humanity.
Totally agree: islam is a gift. But we must show that for people to believe it. The experience now is the people who are muslim (not necessarily islam itself) cause problems, seldomly help solve them.
I think islam´s role in theory is to bring back the sense of togetherness, collective responsibility. I say in theory, because in practice muslims have become just as individualized as others and communities have fallen apart. I think that´s a mistake and I personally (and with me a whole generation) feel guilty of letting this happen. We came out of tight communities and families but we wanted more personal freedom. We got what we wanted but maybe we didn’t take care enough of the relational aspect. I don’t know. I think especially we women found ourselves ‘forced’ to untie ourselves from strict family-ties, because they didn’t have much to offer, but were too often restrictive. I think it’s ironic, because we women are the ones who need to feel the ‘connection’ most. In ‘European muslims and the future of islam’ you warn against islamic feminism becoming about women ‘fighting’ against men, and I think that’s a real scenario; there is the danger of becoming antagonistic. Not only women against men, but also men against women, newer genarations against the older, and so one, because people haven’t been taken care of each other.
This has been bothering me lately because I think practicing islam needs family ties and more broadly a bond amongst muslims (call it ummah if you like). You need people to remind you of what is important. I think experiencing spirituality needs a community, just not the kind of community we left behind; one that has nothing to offer to individuals, but only brings them down.
…. Of course I mean WESTERN muslims and the future of islam… I always mix the two: To be a European muslim/ Western muslims and the future of islam. Luckily they are not mutualy exclusive:-)
Salaam
Asa Brother Ramadan,
Your ideas resonate with ideas the likes of Amartya Sen, Nobel prize winning economist and Martha Nussbaum who jointly developed the Capability Approach in Welfare Economics which rejects the utilitarian view in favor of a absolutist ethical framework based on what we value ( as opposed to what we desire) and based on how well people can function( be or do something) rather than just consume a certain commodity to derive pleasure.
It would be nice to see a public debate between you and Amartya Sen to see the similarities and differences between your views. Which in turn should contribute to healthy debate, inshallah.
Wassalam,
Farhan