From New York in September 2001 to Madrid in March in 2005 to London in July 2005 to Paris in 2015--- attack on Charlie Hebdo--- to Brussels in 2016, leading analysts of West  have made the masses believe that Muslims have failed Europe and they hold Islam responsible.

Flemming Rose, the former culture editor at the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, principally responsible for the September 2005 publication of Prophet Muhammad’s cartoons in the same newspaper, criticized Muslims for failing Europe believing that Europe has granted them rights of freedom of speech, think and selection of government through proper democratic process but they have miserably failed to exercise them properly, owing to their be in line with Islam’s primitive principles which are in clash with whatsoever Europe offers.

While rebutting allegations of being an Islamophobe in the aftermath of Cartoon crisis, he said human rights are supposed to be allotted to humans and curtailing freedom of speech for Islam, which is in fact an ideology, due to Muslim’s opposition is nothing but an idiocy and a step back to Dark Ages.  

Douglas Murray, ironically a proponent of social cohesion,  convinces his compatriots that mosques, in Britain,  preach homicide and prejudice against other religious groups---whereas, all other religious groups strive for respectable social contract---, implying that Islam, and Islam only, desists Muslims from social cohesion.

Then the Swiss ban of minarets on mosques, decided through a referendum in which 57.5 percent of population disapproved of construction of minarets on mosques, drives the narrative of Islam’s incompatibility--- in other words of Muslim as both are used interchangeably in Europe---with Western democracies home even more powerfully. In addition to incompatibility, there was the idea that Islam tended to Islamize, which served well as a useful tool in the campaign of fear-mongering.

Then France’s banning of burqa (face covering) caters to the same purpose of depicting Muslims as different from Europeans. There were three proposed reasons for the ban: first, equality of sex; second, dignity of woman; third, question of security. A misplaced assumption that the wearing of veil is an order of Islam, turned, otherwise trivial cultural issue, into a grand one; rather, peddled as French secularism pitched against restrictive Islam.

After looking at perceptionsof self-proclaimed scholars of Islam--- Rose and Murray--- and Islamophobic policies of states--- Switzerland and France--- we can conclude that, yes, Muslims have made mess of European harmony and homogeneity; that they are denying  enlightenment values the West regards so high. But, it would be, for sure, a very simplistic conclusion of so complex a problem. Let’s see the other side of picture to reach a logical conclusion.

After the end of Second World War, Europe met shortage of labor resulting in further stratification of war-torn economies. All Western countries opened their borders for immigrants from Africa, Middle East and Asia: all overwhelmingly Muslim. The immigrants lagged behind in education, hence, started doing ordinary manual works in corporations. They were reluctant to mingle with the native populations because they were not well-read and tended to go back after earning some money. They settled down in suburbs.

However, the contemporary generation is the third generation of Muslim immigrants in Europe. No, they are not Muslim immigrants now, they are European Muslims and there is European Islam. France is home to more than five million Muslims, Germany to four million and Britain to more than two million. Now, Muslims are not invisible from the cities like Paris, London and Brussels. Muslims are no more confined to slums. Ban on burqa and minarets is indicative of the fact that Muslims are amidst the core of Europe.

 Last but not the least, there is a phenomenon of European Muslims’ ideological pivot towards ISIS. In spite of highly-touted toleration on the part of Europeans, Muslims do not only endorse Daaish’s killing of Europeans but actively participate in slitting their necks.

Yes, we will end up that Muslims have failed Europe if we stop here. But, it would be a very superficial conclusion. So, we will not stop here because it would be an intellectual dishonesty.   

First, it is necessary to note there is no inherent clash between Islam and West. Yes, there might be conflicts between Moroccan Islam and Western secularism, between Saudi Arabian Islam and Western secularism. Even this must not be condemned. Multiple factors shape this conflict: ideological nurturing, familial grooming and surrounding climate. With disregard for integration during the budding days of Muslim immigrants, the West, very knowingly, paved a way for this confrontation between local versions of Islam and West. Despite rarely visiting the countries of their forefathers, if Muslim youth divide themselves on identity issue then the problem is with Europe not Muslims or Islam.

Muslims joining ISIS is not a fault of Islam; it is a fault of Europe’s very definition of tolerance. It regarded invisibility of first generation of Muslim immigrants as tolerance. This, indeed, was not tolerance, this was indifference or apathy. Today, it believes if Muslims and Europeans are living peacefully side-by-side then it is tolerance. Even, this modern version of tolerance also falls short of real tolerance. I would put this later version of tolerance under indifference as well.

Tariq Ramadan, influential professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at Oxford, is of the opinion that tolerance means endurance of other’s differences with respect. This is possible only when the majority group of population will mingle with the minority group on all levels: religious, social, cultural and psychological. In other words, this would be respectable civic contact. All the bans, either on burqa or minarets, are vindictive of the fact that Europe has not been able to negotiate differences with Muslims. Once the art of learning differences is learnt, there would be no need of bans and censorships. This is true for Muslims as well in respect of homosexuality, bold-dressing and cartoons of religious figures. Muslims should also learn to respect differences when living in the West. However, I believe the first step should taken by Europe. For all this to happen, Europe has to redefine its definition of tolerance.

Hence, we can conclude that Muslims provide Europe the best opportunity to purge itself of anomalous versions of tolerance and reach real tolerance: respecting others differences with respect. Currently, Europeans are failing Europe as they are betraying its very concept of tolerance.