Majid Nawaz is a former Islamist radical who later joined the narrow band of Muslims who are trying to create a more sophisticated form of Islam. He was interviewed by Sam Harris in 2016, and he highlighted something that has escaped our attention and then slowed down the Islamisation of Europe.
The Islamisation of Europe in the middle of the last decade was supported and paid for by Arab states, particularly Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but others were involved. They have supported the wave of migration, Islamist attacks, but also the economy, influence in universities, NGOs, litigation, the establishment of Muslim schools and Sharia courts, etc. In short, a concerted effort to Islamise Europe. Here in the Czech Republic we have seen a network of kebab shops spring up virtually overnight, each with a small Muslim community around it.
But one of the unintended consequences was that jihadist organisations, which are more radical than in the original Islamic world, formed in European countries and there was a re-export to orthodox Islam. You are a sheikh, you send money and preachers to Europe, and you get back fighters who are so radicalised that you certainly do not want them in your country.
So the support has gradually dried up, or at least diminished considerably, and the jihad has stopped. Today, in Europe, Islamisation is taking place where local Muslim communities can provide it. Countries like the Czech Republic have bought themselves some time.
But this does not mean that all is over. Nor does it mean that Islamisation has completely stopped. Just a little more time.
