ABSTRACT
In a historical long-term perspective Europe faces two competing options in
the future. The first is the Europeanization of Islam in its European diaspora. This also requires that Europeans and Muslims living in Europe
share a European identity as a sense of belonging to the same polity. The
other option is the Islamization of Europe,1 i.e. viewing it as a part of dar
al-Islam, as some Muslims already do. This statement is neither a polemic
nor is it a panic – let alone an expression of Islamophobia, as some con-
tend. This is a realistic perspective based on the demographic growth of the
Muslim diaspora community combined with self-assertive expansionist
attitudes of leaders of the Islamic mosques, occurring simultaneously with a shrinking of European population – due to the low birth rate – and the
spread of postmodern and self-denying fashions among European intellec-
tuals. Those Europeans and Muslims engaged in identity politics in favor of
immigrants are asked: Are you dealing with a Europe with no identity?2
Migration is making Europe a battlefront3 between these competing
options. My stand is against ‘‘clash’’ and I claim to be a mediator.
