Political Islam in Europe is rooted in the 1^stworld war politics, Adolf Hitler of Germany was keen to exploit religious currents as a part of its strategy to confront the Allied countries, especially in Muslim-majority areas, The Middle East and the Balkans (Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina).

Both Germany and religious current met in their strong wiliness to expand beyond their national borders, leading to the allocation of a famous mosque in Munich, the third largest city in Germany and the capital of Bavaria. This mosque represented a channel through which the Brotherhood infiltrated the rest of German society and then Europe. As a result a consensus in the visions between political Islam movement and the forces of globalized capitalism, the post-World War II years saw a clear move into recruiting the young Muslims, and played a role in transcending religious boundaries to politics and later became the headquarters of the international organization of the Brotherhood, Which draws all the movements of political Islam, all linked to one intellectual mind.

Egyptian revolution in 1952 resulted a clash between the Brotherhood and the new porn regime, the Brotherhood exploited the hostile statues between Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt and the western powers to be able to penetrate European societies. They managed to create the first organization political Islam under the name of “the Islamic Association of Germany” (IGD).

Most of Political Islam literature agree that the beginning of European radicalism to Saed Ramadan, the secretary of Hassan al-Banna, who fled during the Nasirite era, he stayed in Munich to take charge of the Islamic Center and then moved to Geneva to establish another Islamic center in 1961.

Another group of members of the Muslim Brotherhood escaped from the Nasser regime and Baathist in Syria was headed by the fugitives, Yousof Nada – the capitalist mastermind of the international organization of the Brotherhood – Hassan Attar, and the apparent activity was limited to the invitation and demonstrations of events related to the Arab world.

In the late 1960s, the second generation of the group’s immigrants came to the European interior to escape the social and economic situation. Europe was transformed from a temporary homeland into a stable homeland. The basic concepts changed as they turned to the sense of European identity and tried to highlight it after losing it in the previous stage, and the transition to a political concept expressed as part of the European society, the “Muslim minority”, to produce in the midst of some of the duties and political rights to them.

In the beginning of 19820s Muslim Brotherhood worked for strengthening its members there politically and socially in order to consolidate its existence in Europe and to deepen the relationship with European institutions. This stage culminated in the establishment of the Union of Islamic Organizations in Europe in 1989, such union included about 100 Islamic center and organization related to International Muslim Brotherhood Organization. The Union has established important institutions such as the European Union for Muslim Women and the European Youth Forum.

Radicals Existence in Europe

Since the 1950s the group has been working to establish a wide network of mosques, charities and Islamic organizations. As mentioned above, the establishment of the organizations was led by Saed Ramadan in Germany, in addition to the Islamic Society in Germany, and so the Muslim World League in Ramadan. The Islamic Society strongly grew in Germany, supervising more than 30 centers under its slogan in all the German cities, pretending to take care of Muslims of Germany.

The Islamic Center in Munich is being marvelously funded Bank El Taqwa. Such organizations have worked under their umbrella to create similar ones and influence in the rest of Europe. The Federation of Islamic Organizations in Paris has become a well-known organization with the Islamic Council of the Government. In Italy, the Federation of Islamic Organizations has an outstanding position with the Italian Government in the affairs of the Muslim community. Not only did the Brotherhood create its own organizations in most European capitals, but also it sought to establish a federation of Islamic organizations and Muslim youth organizations.

In 1996, the group included youth organizations in Britain, France, and Sweden to the World Council of Muslim Youth. This was followed by the establishment of the Belgium-based European Youth and Student Organizations Forum, a forum dedicated to serve the Muslim’s affairs throughout the European continent. About 40 local European organizations and youth from 26 different countries used to meet regularly for discussion issues related to Muslims not in Europe but all over the world.

 The Salafist orientation in the European continent has originated from the movement of “Tabligh and Da’wa” in Pakistan. After then, it has consequently prevailed to a number of European cities. The Salafi movement within the European Union was the Salafist wing of the opposition Algerian Salvation Front. As a part Salafi Jihadism included the Salafist elements of Algeria that joined Al-Qaeda to resist the occupation of the Soviet Union and were influenced by the thought of Abdullah Azzam and Sayyid Qutb. After the Arab Spring, and the rise of the Sufi trend as an alternative to the failure of the other Islamic movements (the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis) to lead the transitional phase in the Arab Mashreq and turning a number of them into terrorist organizations, the Sufi movement took the initiative to lead the Islamic world. Tijaniya and Qadriya are more than 100 centers in France, Germany, and Italy.

Islamic Extremism in Europe 

Extremism in Europe feeds on many sources, one of which is the violent rhetoric promoted by existing Islamic organizations, and some mosques that have been a center for the development of hostility towards Europe and its citizens. In addition to the failure of the European community and European policies in the integration of Muslims, and the sense of some of them of racial discrimination.

In an attempt to emphasize the Islamic identity in the west, several organizations have emerged in parallel to Muslim communities and minorities, which have their own systems and traditions under the Islamic law (sharia) that may not be compatible with the European culture. Such extremist organizations launched a campaign for European youth recruitment.

With the advent of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan in late 1988 under the pretext of resistance from the Soviet Union, the idea of resistance to the “Near and Far Enemy Theory”, which refers to “Western society”, came up to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in which the Brotherhood’s Bank of Taqwa is involved.

Al-Qaeda moved towards Western society as a whole to carry out such bombings and terrorist operations, European cities were sporadic in the operations of al-Qaeda, such as the London bombings of 2006, and because the concept of polarization was an inherent concept among terrorist groups. It tried to attract the attention of the Muslim youth in Europe Who suffer from marginalization and introversion and a promise to accept identity within society.

A more sophisticated type of extremism and brutality were seen in killing and slaughter, an organization that is able to use communication technology and the Internet with high efficiency, used to counter the alleged coup on seized land, and spread its radical ideology to reach the largest number of people around the world, giving it an opportunity to attract thousands of young people European Union.

After ISIS spreading in both Iraq and Syria, the United States launched a coalition of more than 60 countries, to fight the terrorist organization, in addition to tighten its security measures and restrictions. The lack of organizational links with the mother organization and the lack of working without any prior risk of detonation have all combined to limit the difficulty of pursuing security and surveillance of the perpetrators.

One of the most prominent operations carried out by ISIS in Europe, is that relied on the strategy of the wolf alone, which killed nearly 300 people, and more than 1400 wounded since 2014, Germany has seen more than three bombings in Berlin, Wansbach and Fortsburg. Belgium has also seen two more ferocious attacks in the capital Brussels, and France has been on the far side of the terrorist bombings from Charles Abido to the Nice attack in July 2016.

Thus, the extreme right in Europe, the anti-Arab movements in the Syrian civil war and its threat of “Islamization of the West” escalated and intensified the pace of Islamophobia throughout the European continent, which threatened the unity of European model of integration represented by EU which took progressive steps towards integration has been a political entity since the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951. However, the terrorist bombings of the last three years, the refugee crisis and the euro crisis have threatened European integration and have begun to talk about its disintegration. The period of its break-up began, and its first signs emerged after the British withdrawal from the European Union in 2016 (Brexit).

European Approach for Fighting Terrorism

In the aftermath of September 11, European Union put a joint strategy for fighting terrorism, which allowed involve the national laws to take the local environment specialty for the European countries, that led to a wide differentiation in both mechanisms and laws within every country.

European Policies against terrorism became harder. London, for example, decided to charge anyone who support terrorism, that, in turn, made a human rights dilemma in face of EU, as such laws limit freedoms that marks the European societies.

British strategy against terrorism entitled “Contest” put Political Islam movement on the head of its priorities and risks face the united kingdom recently. So, radicalism still the main source of threatening meanwhile the extremist organizations work for mobilizing European young people. Official reports reveals that 700 ISIS member are British, just 300 returned home. Such problem repeated in another European countries.

Future of Political Islam in Europe

Many European countries are concerned about the growing numbers of Muslims and the emergence of radical Islam organizations. Therefore, a number of European countries have begun to adopt a more open confrontation through closing mosques and taking more aggressive measures against what they consider to be different cultures and civilizational institutions. So, European governments must understand the whole term of political ills, not only violent ones, but peaceful organizations seeking peaceful coexistence within European society, including Sufi currents, which do not use the mechanism of violence as a means of changing or expressing their views.

Hence, future scenarios of political Islam are varied in three one as follow;

Firstly; the peaceful coexistence and harmony within the European community; It maygradually move away from their original hobby, such as language and ethnicity. This scenario might be achieved in a large number of second-generation of Muslim immigrants.

Secondly; Radicalism in Europe may take its way to present its self as an alternative for the European regional system through supporting culture of coexistence and integration.

Thirdly, in this scenario, the mechanism of change and integration may success. This scenario is supported by Liberalism that is able to adapt and maintain all internal that make European citizenship for all.

Future of any of these scenarios dependents on the European will to adopt more comprehensive vision in fighting terrorism that relays not on security approach but rather on social economic and political ones. In addition to reconsider the European policies toward Muslim world hot issues such as Arab Israeli conflict, and the recently crisis both in Syria, Yamen Iraq, …etc) on one hand, and a parallel reconsidering national policies toward Islamophopia.

 Political Studies Unit 

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