Malise Ruthven, in the course of analyzing the dangers of the anti-Muslim right in Europe, points to another problem that the Islamic community faces:
Despite the challenges to social harmony posed by burqa-clad women, or even the occasional act of violence driven by rage at the host society’s perceived hostility, or indifference, the deeper dangers posed by a growing Muslim minority in Europe are not to the host communities: they are rather to the Muslims themselves. The export of the ultra-conservative, anti-integrationist cult of Salafism from the Arabian peninsula and similar cults from South Asia—with doctrines that enjoin disdain for, even hatred of European values and life-styles—is a real threat to social harmony, because they serve to ghettoize Muslims, to create in them a sense that they are a people apart.
(Photo: People pray before radical Muslim cleric Pierre Vogel spoke during a gathering of sympathizers on July 9, 2011 in Hamburg, Germany. Vogel, a founder of the Germany-based Salafist organization Einladung Zum Paradies (EZP), or Invitation To Paradise, is known for his charismatic appeal to young Muslims, his diatribes against homosexuals, his rejection of religious diversity and his sympathy for former Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. By Christian Augustin/Getty Images)
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