Often I\u2019m asked\nto speak on the topic of Islam in Europe and\nhow the church should deal with the presence of millions of Muslims on their\ndoorstep. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the\nfirst things we have to understand is that there is no such thing as Islam in Europe<\/em>. Of course, Islam is a\nreligion that is practiced by many Europeans. Nevertheless, a discussion about\nIslam in Europe can so easily remain on the\nabstract and intellectual level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many Christians\npoint out to me that they consider Islam to be a threat to the West, that Islam\nis focused on world domination, that Islamic values clash with European values\netc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When talking about\nIslam in Europe many Christians consider it to\nbe a fixed entity. Many have a predefined image of Islam in Europe.\nThey read books on Islam and believe that as a result of this they know all\nthere is to know about Islam in Europe. This\nknowledge becomes a set of glasses through which they look at the Muslims in\ntheir streets, towns and cities. And if these Muslims do not fit their\npredefined image of what Islam is? Too bad for them. I have heard people say to\nme: \u201cWell, if these Muslims would know their Qu\u2019ran better they would behave\ndifferently, and would be true Muslims.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some time ago I\nshowed a video clip of several Muslim singers praising God to a group of\nChristians. One of them responded: \u201cThis is not Islam.\u201d This kind of Islam did not fit into his\npreconceived idea about what Islam is like and he had a hard time coming to\ngrips with it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe this is\nour problem. Maybe we start from the wrong end. How about talking about Muslims\nin Europe in stead of talking about Islam in Europe?\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n When talking\nabout Islam as a religion one tends to forget that the real issue is not Islam\nas such, but rather Muslims. We are dealing with persons, not with a concept or\na religion as such. Islam cannot answer\nquestions, but Muslims can; we cannot befriend Islam, but we can befriend\nMuslims, we cannot drink tea with Islam, but we can drink tea with Muslims. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Talking about Muslims in Europe in stead of about\nIslam in Europe makes a huge difference. When\ntalking about Muslims in Europe we are talking\nabout people. People that are more than just religious beings; people with\nfeelings, dreams, anxieties; young people struggling with their identity; fathers\ntrying to be the authority figure for his children in a society where there is\nunlimited freedom; couples that try to keep their marriage healthy in a society\nwhere one of three marriages break up; men and women in their sixties wondering\nwhether they can fit into the European retirement homes etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When talking about Muslims in Europe\nwe realize that they practice their Islamic faith in a variety of ways. One can\nfind conservative, orthodox, liberal, progressive, moderate, reformed,\ntraditional, fundamentalist, mystical and cool Muslims, just to name a few\n\u2018categories\u2019 that could each be subdivided into smaller segments. Quite a lot\nof people who are Muslims by birth do not practice Islam at all. We cannot speak\nof Islam in Europe, nor of th\u00e9 Muslims in Europe.\nOne of my friends wrote a book, entitled The\nMuslim does not exist<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So how do we learn about Islam in Europe?\nBy talking to Muslims and sharing our lives with them. When Islam gets a human\nface it is easier to understand and communicate that God loves them and that\nJesus died for their salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When was the last time you talked with a Muslim? <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Often I\u2019m asked to speak on the topic of Islam in Europe and how the church should deal with the presence of millions of Muslims on their doorstep. One of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-introduction-introduction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharinglives.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharinglives.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharinglives.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharinglives.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharinglives.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sharinglives.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharinglives.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharinglives.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharinglives.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}