ABSTRACT
Apart from those Muslim immigrants who have nearly totally integrated, or were born in place, many others still live divided in their hearts as to their identities, to the point that we see some of them, or their descendants, mounting acts of terrorism against their host countries. Known for its laissez-faire social attitudes, the sharp turn in public opinion against Islam in the Netherlands has sparked a debate that has prompted criticism of Queen Beatrix and the government for allegedly abandoning Western values in the face of Muslim pressure. Colonization of Islamdom by the West had its long-term mixed effects nonetheless, inasmuch as modernization, both in thought and in effect, had set in and began gnawing at the monopoly of Islam in those societies. Government-backed initiatives to acculturate Muslim immigrants had failed, respondents said, as most believed that many immigrants had walled themselves off from Western society in an attempt to create outposts of their home cultures on Dutch soil.
