The Muslims are coming! The Muslims are coming! - growth of Muslimphobia

National Review, Nov 19, 1990 by Daniel Pipes

Of course, to build an Islamic society means taking political power. And while this is remote, it is just possible. In West Germany, one hears that, "In the year 2000 we will have a federal chancellor of Turkish origins." In perhaps the most extreme manifestation of this concern, several years ago Jean Raspail, the French intellectual, wrote a novel, The Camp of the Saints, depicting a Muslim takeover of Europe by an uncontrolled influx of Bangladeshis.

Middle Eastern leaders such as the Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia and Qaddafi of Libya overtly encourage such aspirations. But it is the Iranian government that most aggressively advocates Muslim interests, even to the point of encouraging defiance of the authorities. In one statement, a hard-line Iranian newspaper declared that "the ever-increasing influence of Islam in the contemporary world is undeniable, whether the Western world likes it or not." On another occasion, Teheran warned that Muslims living in the United Kingdom may be forced "to seek ways outside the law to guard their rights."

Understandably, such bellicosity spurs anxiety among Westerners, and these concerns have political potency. In France, Jean-Marie Le Pen characterizes Islam as "a religion of intolerance" and fears "an invasion of Europe by a Muslim immigration." His political party, the Popular Front, openly advocates expelling immigrants from France. The Republicans in West Germany and xenophobic groups in other countries share Le Pen's outlook and program.

Crude remarks and jokes, especially among Germans ("What is the difference between a Jew and a Turk?" "The Jew already got what he deserves, the Turk has yet to get it"), lead some Muslims to worry about a holocaust lying ahead. Kalim Saddiqui, director of London's Muslim Institute, speaks of "Hitler-style gas chambers for Muslims"; Shabbir Akhtar, a member of the Bradford Council of Mosques, writes that "the next time there are gas chambers in Europe, there is no doubt concerning who'll be inside them." However exaggerated, this does reflect genuine apprehension.

Here, There, Everywhere

DEMOGRAPHIC FACTS underlie fears both of jihad and of immigration. Muslims number nearly one billion. The constitute more than 85 per cent of the population in some 32 countries, between 25 and 85 per cent of the population in 11 more countries, and significant proportions (though less than 25 per cent) in another 47 countries.

In contrast to Westerners, who are not able even to maintain their present numbers (today, only Poland, Ireland, Malta, and Israel have naturally growing populations), Muslims revel in some of the most robust birth rates in the world. According to a study by John R. Weeks, countries with large numbers of Muslims have a total fertility rate of six children per Muslim woman, compared to 1.7 per woman in the developed countries. These higher rates apply in almost every Muslim country from North Africa to Southeast Asia to Central Asia.

Some see in this demographic imbalance the single greatest challenge to Western civilization. Patrick Buchanan sums up the sense of foreboding with his customary panache: