Integration
A Two Way Process

By Ajmal Masroor **
Integration can be a pretty daunting task. For many, it seems like those who are more powerful are telling the less powerful what to do. For others, it is the fact that the majority community that holds the power often demands the minority communities to integrate! This can be very uncomfortable for all parties involved, but it is a process that every community throughout history has undertaken with trepidation and contention. The battle has always been about who is integrating into what?

Today, Muslims live in Europe in large numbers, they comprise not only immigrant community, but also natives. When I say native, I mean those who were either born or brought up in Europe. For many, Europe is their place of birth as well as their home. So the question of integration is at the core of their very existence. To get it wrong is to mess around with a people's identity, their whole being, and their future. To get it right is to set out a path for a new European civilization. To achieve the best possible integration we must have the right conditions, which I will explain later.

Seeking Mutual Integration

Integration is a two way process. When we talk about integration, we are often told that minority communities must try everything they can do to integrate into their host communities. Such an assumption is simply wrong. Because integration is an essential part of building stronger and more cohesive communities, there should be mutual integration. Simply demanding the minority communities to integrate would be seen as unfair and as a one way process; it is, therefore, not the solution. Hence, both majority community and minority communities must seek mutual integration.

There are those who are integration champions and there are those who are integration-phobes. Regarding integration-phobes, let me define what I mean by integration first. Integration is both an attitude and social condition whereby individuals in a society are sufficiently confident to interact with one another and have a common desire for the well-being of all people in that society.

Integration happens when institutions facilitate the right conditions for smooth interactions between all parties. According to my definition of integration, people would not lose their cultural or religious values and would not be forced into assimilating. Various cultures and religions would coexist, but members of different cultures and religions would agree to accept and respect each other and they would interact through those institutions as equals.

Bringing Fresher Values

We as Muslims are bound by duty to integrate. This duty can be found in the Qur'an in clear verses in the form of command and in allegory that give accounts of past. Many sayings of the Prophet (peace and blessings be up on him) stipulated similar ideas. The following verse clearly commands the faithful:

[But rather help one another in furthering virtue and good conducts, and do not help one another in furthering evil and enmity.] (Al-Ma'idah 5:2)

The opposite of virtue is evil and direct consequence of the lack of virtue and good conduct is a society based on evil and enmity. Islam espouses a society based on peace and harmony.

On one occasion, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is reported to have said, "The believer is he who mingles with people and is patient with people annoying habits; he earns more reward than the believer who does not mingle with people and is not patient with peoples annoying habits" (Ahmed 5:365).

The Qur'an and Hadith mention nations who came before and did not interact with others who were then destroyed. It is through integration that Muslims can bring newer, fresher, and more meaningful values to society.

It is illogical that some Muslims refuse to integrate. To me, this means they are not willing to share the values of their faith with others and they would rather stay in their own ghettoes. This is totally against the teachings of Islam. I find it equally unfathomable when I see non-Muslim communities (i.e. the majority) questioning the legitimacy of the minority community. Without a serious attempt to explore the unknown one would never discover anything different or better.

A Social Contract

In my opinion, mutual integration is not an option, but rather, it is a necessity. It enables us to discover the newly arrived communities, their cultures, faiths, and values. For the newly arrived communities, integration is essential. This allows them to feel at ease in the new environment and it demonstrates their willingness to work for the betterment of the whole society and embrace some of the customs and values that members of their host community hold dear to their hearts. This can be the beginning of a process, but not the end.

The process becomes more complex when the sons and daughters of the immigrant communities are born and brought up in the respective countries. This new generation brings new dynamics to the table. Now the bigger challenge is how we can negotiate mutual integration between all these parties.

We must begin this process of mutual integration first by recognizing that citizens of a country are all equal. Hence, citizenship must encompass the rights of all people, irrespective of their ethnicity, and allow them to live in peace, receive an education, get a job, and raise a family. Citizenship is a social contract encompassing the entire community.

Citizenship cannot be divorced from the needs of individuals and respect of the individual's cultures and values. An example of where the concept of citizenship is unashamedly anti-Muslim can be seen in France, where Muslim girls are barred from wearing the hijab in public institutions .Such disparity does very little for integration and sends a powerful message that Muslims in France are not equal citizens . If all citizens in a country feel like they are equal citizens, and more importantly, can interact with one another with sufficient confidence and faith, I believe that this can be taken as an indicator of a step in the right direction.

Creating Equality

This does bring up an important question — would the West ever accept Islam as an equal religion to Western religions, such as Christianity and Judaism? If we want genuine integration, Islam must also be recognized by every country in the West as being part of its culture, tradition, and make-up. Muslims are equal citizens of Europe and the Western world.

In order to create equality at all levels, communities should have the opportunity to learn about each others' faith, celebrate the rich diversity within which we live, and most importantly, value each others' history and heritage. There are always some people who would like us to believe that cultures are monolithic and that they exist in a vacuum. This is far from the truth, especially now with advent of the Internet.

The Internet has created a melting pot of cultures and a global village. I am not suggesting that this is wholly a good thing, but there are some benefits in the technology. Even in the past, no culture, history, or heritage could claim to be absolutely pure and without influence from others.

Unfortunately, in the West today, history and heritage does not reflect the rich heritage of other nations from East or the contribution of other civilizations to the formation of the Western civilization. This Eurocentric history is at the core of the problem and must be changed. It must be replaced by new narratives in European history. This recognition and incorporation would give new confidence to Muslims and make integration far easier.

Subtle Prejudice

Muslim communities must wake up to the fact that Western civilization, especially in the post-modern era, has brought many benefits to the world with its advancement in science and technology. Muslims must recognize that Muslim communities have made very few contributions during this era of human history. Accepting this fact would allow Muslims to move on instead of being the victims of their glorious memory. Some Muslims are stuck in the past and are still living in the glorified memory of early Muslim contributions and discoveries. There is no doubt that individual Muslims have made contribution to the post-modern world, but the Muslim community as an entity has failed to make any.

Muslims often blame the West or colonial history for their own lack of contributions; while it is true that colonizing powers from the West plundered and looted the wealth of many Muslim countries to build many luxurious and well-resourced cities in the West, many Muslim countries have had their independence for many decades and yet their basic infrastructures are not in place and their wealth is being looted by their own powerful elite and despots.

It is about time that Muslims acknowledge that their destiny is in their own hands and that they have failed miserably in shaping their future. Muslims living in the West should shake off the extra baggage and shape their own future, no matter what country they live in. Muslims should realize that the West is not only the land of the unbelievers, but that it is also the land of believers and opportunities.

Mutual integration requires a level playing field for all. Prejudice, discrimination, and racism based on color, race, and religion have all prevented honest discussions and genuine integration. In many countries in the West, far-right movements, such the British National Party (BNP), are rising and gaining ground. If we want racists and fascists to dominate politics, we should stop the process of mutual integration, but if we want to stop this tidal wave, we have no choice but to integrate.

Mutual integration requires fresh thinking about what values govern our day-to-day living. This process is not going to be easy as it would require that we exorcise our internal demons. We must take stock of what went wrong with our approach in the past and what as individuals we may have done to make things worse. This process is never easy and requires a delicate and sensitive approach. Mutual integration starts at home.

How many of us have friends from different ethnic, cultural, or religious backgrounds? Some Muslims would not even integrate with other Muslims when it comes to marriage. Arabs hardly ever allow their sons and daughters to marry non-Arabs; Asians are reluctant to marry their children with Africans, and so on. This is undoubtedly racism and we all should stand against such attitudes. Prejudice is often subtle and this type of prejudice is hard to deal with.

Some More Equal Than Others

In the modern world, we live in a global village. Therefore, international obligations, including our foreign policies, have a direct impact on local integration. Muslims are demanded to conform to a certain way of working and to agree to some terms and conditions that have been agreed between nation states through the United Nations. There is a problem with these demands, and many Muslims would like to challenge the process. During the formation of the United Nations, nation states did not negotiate as equals with level playing field between each other. Some were more equal than others and some were able to demand more than others.

I am suggesting that we negotiate some of these terms and conditions at the international level to develop a United Nations that guarantees equality between its members and a mandate that takes to tasks any country that violates the agreed-upon principles. Otherwise, we might as well not ask for integration.

We need to ensure that our foreign policies are not based on lies, dodgy dossiers, or assumptions. They must be based on ethical principles, international treaties and obligations, accurate intelligence, and fair dealings. I believe such an approach would change the Muslim perception of Western countries, in both the West and the Muslim world. It would certainly accelerate mutual integration.

A litmus test can be utilized to measure the success of mutual integration by answering the following questions:

1. How confident do we feel to interact with each other?

2. How much can we trust each other?

3. To what extent do we consider people around us as our own people?

4. Do we consider the countries of residence to be our home?

Honestly speaking, no one can answer these questions on our behalf except for us.