IN the Western Europe, surging wave of Islamophobia is now being cloaked into the garb of democracy by launching two pronged legislative and secular attack against Islam and Muslims. French President Emmanuel Macron has unveiled a plan to strengthen a 1905 law that official separated church and the state, which according to him will serve as bulwark for defending the secular values of France against what he described “Islamic radicalism,” describing Islam as a religion “in crisis” all over the world. In his long awaited address, Macron insisted “no concession” shall be allowed in the drive to push religion out of education and public sector in France. Muslims communities that have settled in Europe and Scandinavian states are very conscious to preserve and protect their belief in Islam, staunchly observe its fundamentals and abide by values of Islamic culture as enshrined in the teaching of the Holy Quran. It has produced a cramp in the stomach of western political leaders as to why the Muslim youth cannot be lured to the unbridled western culture of immodesty, withered away family unit and aversion to religion. The worries of western leaders have further compounded by increasing number of mosques with thick attendance of worshipers in congregational prayers and centers of Islamic teachings.
France was the first European Union member country which passed and enforced a discriminatory law in 2011against wearing full-face veil by Muslim women at public places, followed by Belgium. Last year European Court of Human Rights upheld the Belgian ban on wearing full-face veil by Muslim women. In Denmark, the Danish parliament passed legislation in August 2018 which makes wearing of full-face veil a cognizable offence liable for punishment in the form of fine. The same year another European Union member country, Austria shut down seven Turkish mosques and expelled 40 Turk Imams. Ironically, the sentiments of Islamophobia have been constantly on the rise and Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) is displaying a docile attitude. Islamophobia is being used as political football for attracting voters not only by the politicians in the rank and file of far-right political parties but also the ones in right-of-the-center parties. These sentiments are inflamed to garner electoral support both in national polls and elections contested for the European parliament.
