This is a guest post from Jan Jaap de Ruiter, an Arabist at Tilburg University (Netherlands).
A debate has erupted in European and American media on the question of whether and to what extent Muslims in Europe are to be considered fundamentalists. The debate was sparked by a report from the Berlin Research Agency for Social Research (Wissenschaft Zentrum Berlin f r Sozialforschung). On the basis of a survey conducted in 2008 by Ruud Koopmans among 9,000 persons, around half of whom were Muslims of Turkish or Moroccan background in six European countries including the Netherlands and Germany, Koopmans concluded that “Islamic fundamentalism in Europe is widespread.” The Dutch newspaper NRC interviewed Koopmans, who declared that “alarmingly high numbers of Muslims, some 45 percent, believe that Jews cannot be trusted.” The survey also showed that 60 percent of the respondents did not want gay people as friends, and that 54 percent think that the West is out to destroy Islam. Furthermore, 65 percent of respondents said that religious law is more important than the laws of the country of residence (see here, here and here for earlier reporting on this survey on the Monkey Cage) . Reported by Washington Post 23 hours ago.
A debate has erupted in European and American media on the question of whether and to what extent Muslims in Europe are to be considered fundamentalists. The debate was sparked by a report from the Berlin Research Agency for Social Research (Wissenschaft Zentrum Berlin f r Sozialforschung). On the basis of a survey conducted in 2008 by Ruud Koopmans among 9,000 persons, around half of whom were Muslims of Turkish or Moroccan background in six European countries including the Netherlands and Germany, Koopmans concluded that “Islamic fundamentalism in Europe is widespread.” The Dutch newspaper NRC interviewed Koopmans, who declared that “alarmingly high numbers of Muslims, some 45 percent, believe that Jews cannot be trusted.” The survey also showed that 60 percent of the respondents did not want gay people as friends, and that 54 percent think that the West is out to destroy Islam. Furthermore, 65 percent of respondents said that religious law is more important than the laws of the country of residence (see here, here and here for earlier reporting on this survey on the Monkey Cage) . Reported by Washington Post 23 hours ago.