IslamEuropean Muslims say they pay the price for the actions of extremists

Level of intolerance of Muslims on the rise in Europe // Source: il7ad.com

Many European Muslims feel that anti-Islamic sentiment is on the rise, partly due to recent violent videos of torture and beheadings by Islamic State (ISIS). At least 3,000 Europeans have traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight in ISIS ranks, and European security services are worried that if they return home, some of them would use the skills they acquired in Iraq and Syria to perpetrate terrorist activities at home. In response, the public has been on high alert, ringing the alarm whenever a potential terrorist is spotted.

Such has been the case for Alisiv Ceran, a 21-year old student at the University of Copenhagen. According to theWashington Post, Ceran recently had his photograph, captured by closed-circuit cameras on a commuter train, posted on local Web sites and national television after a fellow passenger suspected Ceran might be a terrorist because of his appearance as he traveled with a full backpack while reading a textbook titled The United States After 9/11.

Ceran quickly called the local police after he saw his photograph on the news. He told authorities he was studying for a morning exam and that his backpack was holding a computer printer. “I think what happened to me shows that fear of Islam is growing here. Everybody thinks we’re all terrorists,” said Ceran.

Muslim leaders are comparing the current atmosphere in Europe with that of the United States after the 9/11 attacks. European politicians are now concerned about the risk posed by homegrown militants after several terror plots were disrupted in Norway and Britain. “It’s a clash of civilizations,” said Marie Krarup, a prominent lawmaker from the Danish People’s Party, the nation’s third-largest political party. “Islam is violence. Moderate Muslims are not the problem, but even they can become extreme over time. In Islam, it is okay to beat your wife. It is okay to kill those who are not Muslims. This is the problem we have.”

Muslim leaders point to a series of high-profile laws and incidents as proof that Islamophobia is beginning to affect daily life. In Germany, veiled women have been assaulted, and in late August, attackers threw a Molotov cocktail at a mosque. In Britain, anti-Muslim sentiments increased last May after the slaying of a British Army soldier by two homegrown radicals. London mayor Boris Johnson recently said that “thousands” of Londoners are under surveillance as possible terror suspects, while last week in Paris, a woman in Islamic garb which covered her face, was ejected from a performance of La Traviata at the Opéra Bastille. “This is the hour when critics of Islam are engaging in unchecked Muslim-bashing,” said Ali Kizilkaya, chairman of the Islamic Council of Germany.

Some European cities are trying to reduce the risk of homegrown terrorists by offering job seeking and school placement aid to returning Islamist fighters. Still, new regulations may threaten the daily lives of Muslims. In Denmark, authorities passed new rules on the Muslim tradition of halal slaughter and some lawmakers are debating a law that would set limits on religious circumcision, a move which would affect Muslims and Jews alike. “The stigma against Muslims is just getting worse, and I have considered moving across the border to Sweden,” Ceran said. “I feel that here, they are saying that integration means forgetting your religious values. I don’t agree with that.”