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Centro Argentino de Estudios Internacionales / Entelequia. Revista Interdisciplinar
In the light of this analysis, we might ask ourselves who might be the political
forces then that might act in solidarity with the large and growing numbers of
the Muslim poor in Europe to transform the present tendencies towards
marginalization? It is noteworthy that not even the Muslim development index,
let alone the Muslim empowerment index, nor the UNDP HDI sufficiently strongly
determines Muslim center political orientation in Europe. Why that? The
explanation seems to be relatively easy – it is not the extent of poverty as such
that causes extremism, but the inability of social systems to provide adequate
opportunities for motivated and especially young people to become members of
the elite.
That already was a point made by Professor Daniel Pipes, who certainly cannot
be accused of siding with Islamist radicals, wrote back in 2002:
“Moreover, there is a specifically Islamic phenomenon of the faith having been
associated with worldly success. Through history, from the Prophet Muhammad's
time to the Ottoman Empire a millennium later, Muslims usually had more wealth
and more power than other peoples, and were more literate and healthy. With
time, Islamic faith came to be associated with worldly well-being-a kind of
Muslim Calvinism, in effect.” (Pipes, 2002)
Various quotations from the literature, above all the striking similarity with the
results achieved by the recent ESI report on “Islamic Calvinism” come to one’s
mind (European Stability Initiative, 2006):
“[Foreign Minister] Abdullah Gül: "The name of this concept [i.e. of rapid
economic growth in the Turkish province of Kayseri] is Calvinism in Christianity.
In different religions it has different names. They compare the sociological
situation in Kayseri to this. They explain it in this way. It is very true." (Turkish
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül, quoted in European Stability Initiative, available at
http://www.esiweb.org/index.php?lang=en&id=114 )
"BBC: the new entrepreneurialism sweeping across the province is providing an
unlikely catalyst for a remarkable religious transformation. A new form of Turkish
Islam is emerging here, one which is pro-business and pro-free market, and it's
being called Islamic Calvinism. …Critics say it's a Western conspiracy to
Christianise Islam, but others have passionately argued in its favour, holding it
up as a model for how Islam and modernity can co-exist. One of its most
prominent defenders has been Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister, Abdullah Gül,
himself a native of Kayseri and the son of an entrepreneur. He sees no
contradiction in the term and argues that Turkey can provide a lasting template
for a new kind of modern Islam. "The most important thing to ask," he says, is
what kind of modernism do we want? Are you living in this world, or are you
dreaming? The people of Kayseri are no[t] dreaming - they are realistic, and
that's the kind of Islam we need." quoted in European Stability Initiative,
available at http://www.esiweb.org/index.php?lang=en&id=154&news_ID=72 )
Our basically neo-liberal policy conclusion would not contradict the view that in
the short- and medium term, a coalition of trade unionists, environmentalists,
alter-globalists, minorities, human rights activists and religious “progressives”
will be most likely to act in solidarity with Europe’s Muslim communities. The old
Arno Tausch, Christian Bischof, Tomz Kastrun, Karl Mueller 83