Islam and Europe

As I read through the newspaper late last week, I started thinking about two seemingly unrelated articles detailing events in Europe and Islam and how they are somehow related.

The first article I read dealt with the recent passing of a bill in Serbia's Parliament that apologizes for the slaughter of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims by the Serbian Army and para-military forces outside of Srebrenica. This occurred in 1995 and was the worst war time atrocity committed in Europe since the end World War II. While this apology is undoubtedly welcome, there were two items of note: First, this bill was not passed unanimously. In fact, it barely passed at all, with only 127 out of 250 Parliamentarians supporting it. Second, though this bill was an apology, it did not declare this massacre as a genocide. Thus, the bill fell far short of what the Bosnians (and Pan-Islamic world) want and did little to slake their thirst for justice. Two other facts lead to cynicism concerning this bill: Serbia is in the process of applying for EU membership and several prominent individuals, such as Ratko Mladic, wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) are at large and believed to still be in Serbia and believed to be receiving support from Serbian Nationalist organizations.

The other article that caused me to think about Islam in a European context was the recent decision by the Belgian government to ban the niqab and burqa in public. Those who do not receive police permission to wear either garment will be fined. This is akin to asking the police for permission to wear a cross around one's neck and completely infringes upon the rights of Belgian Muslims to freely practice their faith. In fact, this bill was opposed by several Catholic Bishops.

These two issues are seemingly unrelated except that both deal with issues pertaining to Islam in Europe. There is definitely a mixed message emanating from Europe. Though religious freedom and anti-genocide protocols are ensconced in various EU conventions and rights laws, these freedoms and rights seemingly do not extend to Islam and thus make a mockery of these conventions and popinjays out of European Leaders who continually harp about the shortcomings of governments in predominantly Muslim countries.

How can Europe criticize Sudan's president for violating the rights various groups when it is not protecting basic rights of its own citizens? The adage about people living in glass houses throwing stones rings true. This is the type of double standard that has to cease if Europe ever hopes to have influence in the Islamic world.