Setting the Scene

Abstract

The years following the tragic events of the 9/11 attacks have been tremulous ones for Western Muslims. The political discourse among the political right, the frenzied tabloid media craving a new ‘threat’ and the general misunderstanding of Muslims has created a negative environment that has since escalated to permeate social opinion. Doug Saunders has succinctly described this fear and misconception as:

These Muslim immigrants, and their children and grandchildren, are not like earlier groups. They are reproducing at an unusually rapid pace, with fertility rates far higher than those of exhausted Western populations, and at some point soon — perhaps by mid-century — Muslims will become a majority in European countries and North American cities. This is a danger because, unlike other immigrants, they are loyal to Islam, not to their host society. They do not regard their religion as a private source of inspiration, but as a political ideology they intend to act upon. A line of shared belief connects the moderate Muslim believer to the radical Islamist and makes the majority of Muslims impossible to assimilate. They will permanently alter the West and promote a political agenda that will destroy our traditions and freedoms…

(Saunders, 2012: 5)