Muslims in Europe

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2005

Muslims in Europe

Peter Schneider ("In Germany, Muslims grow apart," Dec. 3) has done the right thing to expose honor crimes in his country, but he could have been equally effective had he not insinuated that Muslims in Europe are nothing but a regressive religious group.

The real problem with the article lies beyond the topic it addresses. The champions of human rights Schneider features come off as secular, modern and fully embracing of European values. This highly resonant image is then pitted against the perpetrators and supporters of honor crimes, who are easily associated with Islam and its supposedly anti-modern message of intolerance and dogmatic submission, despite the writer's warning that in speaking of Islam, we need to differentiate the fundamentalist version from the moderate one.

This disclaimer, which is found all too often in media coverage of European Muslims, remains just that: a mechanical insertion. Moderate voices rarely actually make it to the media, and that invisibility is often interpreted as a fundamental absence of moderation within the Islamic faith. So, the Muslims we hear about are either fanatics or extreme secularists who might not be religious at all.

Extremist Islam must be exposed, but this aggressive scrutiny must also be accompanied by a fair portrayal of liberal Muslims who have yet to be engaged in this otherwise doomed dialogue with the West. The media in both the Muslim world and in the West could make a break and diversify their sources to include old and emerging moderate Muslim voices.

An Enlightenment could never happen within Islam if these voices of reform remain less appealing to the media simply because they do not hide in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan, strap themselves with bombs or call for the killing of infidels.

Beyond the catchy extremism in Islam there is an ideological debate that transcends the simplistic "us vs. them" mentality and the dogmatic call for jihad.

Nabil Echchaibi Bloomington, Indiana





Egypt's democracy

Mona Eltahawy's brave article "How Mubarak hijacked democracy" (Views, Dec. 22) describes what has been going on in Egypt for the last 25 years. The proof is that just after the publication of the article, Eltahawy was summoned to a state security center and given what amounted to an unspoken warning from officials who made it clear that they know how to find her if they want to.

I have one small question for President George W. Bush: If Eltahawy has no protection from President Hosni Mubarak's thugs, how can freedom activists in Egypt and in the rest of the Middle East believe America's call for them to march for democracy?

Bush should publicly warn Mubarak not to repeat the attacks on democratic activists like Eltahawy. This would give a great boost to America's image in Egypt and throughout the Middle East without costing much.

We certainly appreciate Bush's efforts to spread freedom in this unlucky area of the world, but it is hard to understand why the U.S. president always falls short when it comes to facing Mubarak.

Mazen Mostafa, Cairo