As Swiss voters back a referendum proposal to ban the building of Minarets,one continues to be struck by the prevalence of the debate over ethnic social segregation.This was the image that the Swiss Federal Commission Against Racisim derided as 'dangerous', apparently comparing the Islamic minaret to missiles. It exemplifies the degree of tension felt on the right at the condition of Swiss Islam.
Last week David Cameron raised an issue in Prime Minister's Questions over the thinking of two Islamic schools, the head teacher of which has been documented by BBC's Newsnight programme as thinking that western education is a threat to Muslim beliefs and values, and taking part in British society is contrary to that belief.
The state of relations between Islamic communities and those they exist both within and among could perhaps be seen as just as tense as they ever have been.
Taken from The World Today programme on the BBC World Service last week, a quote from Dr Taj Hargey, Chairman and Imam of the Muslim Education Centre of Oxford.
Paraphrasing, Dr Hargey said that
"What Muslims in Europe need to understand is that there is a clear distinction between culture and creed. The original rationale behind the Minarets is no longer relevant in the modern age. Muslims in Europe should reject Sharia law, which is neither timeless nor universal. By rejecting this foreign, outdated Sharia, the Swiss will produce a form of Islam which is relevant and rooted in that country. It is important to understand that Muslims who have come to England and Switzerland have come voluntarily to the West, they need to integrate and become part and parcel of that society. There are no rules preventing Muslims practising their faith in these countries. As such, they should respect the laws and rules of these countries. They should be respectful of the indigenous majority, and should build mosques thatare reflective of their new political and social environment, instead of blindly replicating the cultural traditions of their ancestral homes."
The Newsnight report by Richard Watson exhibited some of the hostility clearly felt by representatives of the schools at the press briefing. The worrying aspect of this scenario was heavily commented on in the British papers earlier last week, but was highlighted as early as February.
One can understand the worries of some Muslims after seeing the extent of the influence of the Jewish lobby in the UK exposed by Channel 4 a few weeks ago, yet this far from explains their hostility to the country in which they themselves often choose to reside, and raise their children.
This type of issue is not unique to either Islam or the United Kingdom, as Channel 4's Unreported World highlighted on Friday. Yet it remains prevalent to the extent that it can still dominate Prime Minister's Questions in the run-up to an election, and one suspects that, post-7/7, it informs much of national policing policy as well.
There is no easy answer to that question, and one that I intend to answer this week by talking to local ethnic and political representatives in Bournemouth.