Muslims of Europe: A British Pakistani Teenager’s Voyage of Discovery
By Mina Hoti
Islamabad, Pakistan
Growing up as a Muslim, even in a beautiful and peaceful town like Cambridge in the UK, I was aware of the negative images of Muslims. Sensationalist news headlines told me Islam was a terrorist threat: schools in Birmingham were preaching Islamic, non-British values as a Trojan horse, British Muslims were going to fight for the terrorist state ISIS, and, as one result, the United Kingdom Independent Party had won the most seats in the European Union assembly with their policy of anti-immigration. At school I learnt that European history was ethnically white and religiously Christian.
However, my travel with Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, my grandfather, and his team of scholars on their international research project, Journey into Europe: Islam, Immigration, and Empire, challenged these very ideas of Islam in Europe. It revealed a hidden past, one where Muslims played a progressive role and coexisted peacefully alongside Christians and Jews. From the Muslims in Spain (711-1492) which is seen as the Golden Age of Europe, to the Ottoman Empire, to present day Europe, Muslims have been very much a part of European society.
There were many highlights of the research trip. I was constantly kept busy taking notes, filming, editing, or conducting research interviews. It was a grueling trip. My grandfather had half-joked: “You are my granddaughter and I love you very much. But as an intern on this project, you will have to prove your worth and pull your weight like every member of the team so that we both feel proud of your contribution.” This I suppose is what Americans call “tough love.” Here are some highlights of my trip.
By the time the team reached Germany, I came to realize that immigration was a vital part of European history. From the early Germanic tribes to the Holy Roman Empire, Germany was a state with constantly changing borders. It was only with the recent concept of the nation state that borders and immigration have become such a big issue. Germany is a country with a history of positive revolutionary thinking (for example, Martin Luther’s Protestantism, Goethe, Schopenhauer and so forth) but also of tragic genocide (the Holocaust). Even in the nineteenth century, prominent German historical figures like Goethe respected and wrote about Islam. In fact, Goethe dedicated an entire poem in honor of the Holy Prophet of Islam. His love for the Persian poet Hafez was legendary. As we traveled from Berlin, to Cologne, Heidelberg and Munich, viewing the different landscapes and people in Germany, I felt there was much to learn from its history, and the honesty and discipline of its people.
In Munich, we woke one morning before dawn on Eid day. After a drive through the misty forests of the German Alps, we arrived at the bright and unconventional looking minaret of the Penzberg Mosque. As the sun came out, the very spacious and modern mosque flooded with Muslims from all over the world, including Germany. After Eid prayers were said, men and women wished each other a “Happy Eid” and sons gave their mothers flowers in celebration. We sat down in the sunny library of the mosque, to talk to Nermina Idris, the wife of Imam Benyamin Idris. Nermina was from Bosnia and told us how she was forced to leave her country when it was attacked in 1992. This was a good introduction to Bosnia, our next stop.
Let me first mention the extraordinary impact Allama Iqbal has had in Germany. There is a road named after him in Heidelberg and there are monuments in parks honoring him in Heidelberg and Munich. The house he lived in in Heidelberg has a plaque recording the time he was there. With my Pakistani background, I felt that he was a true ambassador between Europe and the Muslim world.
In Bosnia, as we drove from the airport in Sarajevo, past buildings covered with bullet holes—you could see the ghost of war still hanging over the city. The city of Sarajevo was under siege between 1992 and 1995, making it the longest siege of a capital city in modern history. The Army of the Republic of Serbia was stationed on the hills surrounding the city, armed with snipers and tanks under the instruction of president Karadzic who declared “Sarajevo will be a karakazan, a black cauldron, where 300,000 Muslims will die”. The majority Bosniak population, who are ethnically European but also Muslim, had been subjected to persecution and extermination in their own country. Water supplies were cut off from the city, forcing children to run through the streets, dodging snipers to collect water from the United Nations station for their families. Across one street, a large cloth sheet was put up to block the view of the snipers and allow people to leave their houses. Nermina Idris explained to us how her Serb neighbors and friends suddenly turned against them in support of the Serbian army. However, there were still many Serb Bosnian and Croat Bosnian soldiers who died fighting to free Sarajevo.
Despite all the conflict suffered by Bosnia in the past twenty years, the Bosnian people and the city of Sarajevo itself was a great symbol of hope. Even the city’s architecture made this evident, as a ‘meeting place of cultures’; it consists of tall Austro-Hungarian buildings surrounding a beautiful Ottoman market place. It is a city where both church bells and the Azaan (five-times-a-day) can be heard.
The Bosnian people reflect great humility and forgiveness and yet are so strong in their religious and cultural identity. In the midst of a history of ethnic cleansing and tensions between communities, Father Nikica Zujica at the Franciscan monastery in Fojnica, several hours from Sarajevo by road, was also a symbol of hope for me. He talked about the Imam as his good friend and was one of the few people to speak of both Christianity and Islam as different, yet equally credible religions. Despite the conflict they had faced in the past, Father Nikica Zujica based his views on his personal encounters, not just on a certain portrayal of history.
Even during the siege of Sarajevo there are several examples of enormously heroic actions. Ambassador Jakob Finci, head of the Bosnian Jewish community, used his neutrality and bravery to counter Karadzic’s statement by helping 3,000 people escape Sarajevo. Along with his charity, Benevolencija (meaning benevolence from an Al Andalusian root), which was made up of Serbs, Croats, Muslims and Jews, Finci was able to get medical supplies and humanitarian aid to the population. Benevolencija ended up providing the population with 40% of their medical needs.
In conclusion, I discovered on this journey that Islam is not a terrorist religion, nor is it new to Europe. It has existed in Europe for over a thousand years, from 711 in Spain to now, 2014. Similarly, from what I have learnt traveling around Europe and what I have experienced as a British Muslim myself, I can confirm that Muslim identity and European identity are very compatible. Muslims want to live in peace and share in the prosperity, they want to contribute to their host societies, and they believe in all the fundamental values that define Europe —democracy, human rights, and civil liberties. Despite the stereotype of a confused European Muslim, a dual identity, for me, is in no way a lack of identity; it is simply an enriched one. It has always been hard for me to understand how one can swear unconditional allegiance to a group of people while disregarding universal human values and morals, whether that be a Serb who turns against their Bosniak neighbor or a German against their Jewish friend.
If one is able to wholeheartedly accept both of their identities, instead of mindless loyalty governing their decisions, they are able to start to see the other as a human being, transcending nationality, religion and race. Perhaps that was the greatest lesson that I learned on this project to understand Muslims in Europe.
(Mina Hoti is an intern on the Journey into Europe: Islam, Immigration, and Empire research and film project and currently working at Al Jazeera, Islamabad)
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