By: Adnan Burjy – Lebanon

Talking about the Future of the Islamic existence in Europe requires knowing the volume of this existence, its history, the mechanics of its spreading and the different challenges it faces in addition to the other challenges the Islamic communities face nowadays in Europe. The laws of dealing with the Muslims communities are different form one country to another, though there is a European union covering all the European countries under one umbrella.

History of the Islamic Existence in Europe
The Islamic existence has begun in Europe since the conquers and arrival of the Arab to the Continent; the Arab conquered Narboun in 716, Toulouse in 726, and Bordeaux in 731. But they were defeated in Poitou 736, but the Arab did not leave France after this defeat. After the falling of Andalusia, more than 50000 Muslims left to the south of France.

During the French occupation to Africa, many labor groups were imported from the North Africa; most of them were from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia for working in some industrial projects like digging the tunnels and roads. Later, after the Second World War, the second immigration began consisting of students who traveled to Europe for studying in its universities and workers who aspired to overcome the difficulties in their homelands. This immigration was naturally accompanied with a separation between the immigrants and their homelands, leading to a cultural and mental dispersion and a social alienation as well as a suffering from a low consideration from the European society considering itself more superior to the newcomers from the Arab world.

As for Britain, it received a great number form the Sub Indian Continent because of the long British occupation to India and the separation between Pakistan and India, resulting in a massive wave of immigration from the Pakistani part to Britain.

In Balkan and Russia, the Islamic existence originated from the Arab and Muslim conquers and the arrival of the Arab tradesmen to these remote regions, resulting in deepening the Islamic existence in spot.

The volume of the Islamic existence in Europe
There are not sufficient and accurate statistics about the number of Muslims in Europe in general and in each European country in particular as the statistical surveys in Europe are not carried out on the basis of religion. Generally speaking, there are approximate statistics ranging between 25 million, as mentioned in a lecture by the late Bosnian ex-president Ali Ezzat Bigoveitsch who estimated that this number will amount to 8.3 % of the total number of the European population by the end of the 20th century, and 52 million Muslims according to other statistics and reports, about 6 % of the total number of the population ( the European population is of 705 million persons).

In France, the base of the Muslims of the Arab origins, the volume of Muslims exceeds 6 million, making Islam the second religion after Catholicism in France. This means that the number of Muslims is bigger than the number of the Protestant, Orthodox and Jewish. Thus Dr. Jill Kibble, the Director of the Studies at the National Foundation for the Political Studies and an expert in the Islamic movement and Middle East studies, has declared that one per five European citizens is a Muslim. In a statistical survey carried out in 1993, the number of the foreign workers in France has amounted to 1.541.500 workers, 2.374.00 from Algeria, 1.795.00 from Morocco, 71000 from Tunisia and 73500 from Turkey. The UNISCO has estimated the educated of the French by 15 % of the total number of the Muslim community in France.

On the other hand, in a report issued in 2001 in Brussels the European Union has estimated that the immigrants contributed with 14.7 % of the French GDP.

In Netherlands, Dr. Marzouk Awlad Abdullah, the Deputy Chief of the Islamic University in Netheralnds, said that the number of the Muslims there has amounted to 800.000, forming the biggest minority in the society, represented by 7 Muslim chairs in the parliament.

Difficulties and Challenges
In Europe, Muslim communities face many problems and troubles different from country to another according to the laws of a society and how it regards Islam and Muslims within it. However, the most common troubles the Muslims face in the Continent:

· Hesitation between isolation and involvement:
A Muslim in Europe experiences an inner conflict between the isolation for sustaining his/ her religion and involving in the new society, between the heritage and the new concepts and culture. The new generation living and growing up in the European society rarely suffers from this conflict.

· Fear of being absorbed by the culture of the other as the western and European society is more solid and profound than the Islamic and Arabic one.
· Dr. Zaki Badawy, Dean of the Islamic College in London, says that the most outstanding danger the Muslim communities face in Europe is the religious doctrinal fanaticism prevailing in the big institutions, especially in Britain. The danger of this phenomenon lies in deepening the separation between the Muslims and refuting the concept of the other acceptance. If the Muslims are exchanging the accusations of the infidelity, it is natural to do the same with the secularists and the supporters of the other religions. Similarly, if the Muslims find it so difficult to co-exist with the different Islamic doctrines, how can they co-exist with the non- Muslims?
· Marking Islam with the shameful trade of terrorism after the events of 11/9. The defaming mark was not a product of these events; it was resulted from the Zion-American media and propaganda campaigns that regard Islam as an alternative enemy to Communism, thus Samuel Huntington put the theory of the civilization conflict whereas Fukuyama put the theory of the end of history. The events of 9/11 stirred up the enmity to the Muslims communities in the West in general, helping the western racists to blow their malice and hatred against the Muslims.