Eurabian nights.

• Author: Pipes, Daniel
• Position: Essays - The merging of European and Muslim cultures - Essay

THE MOST critical issue facing Europe is the long-term relationship between the continent's natives and its burgeoning Muslim minority. There are but three outcomes--Islamic takeover, Muslim expulsion or harmonious integration--and the end result has profound implications not only for Europe but for humanity as a whole.

Muslim Rule

EUROPE NEEDS immigrants (the fertility rate is about 1.4 children per woman, just two-thirds the replacement rate of 2.1) to avoid severe population decline, with all the woes that implies--particularly an absence of workers to fund generous pension plans--and Muslims tend to make up that imported third of the population. In part, this is because Muslims are close by; it's only 13 kilometers from Morocco to Spain. After moving to Europe, Muslims relieve European childlessness with a high fertility rate. Although the Muslim fertility rate is falling, it remains three times that of indigenous Europeans. In Brussels, "Muhammad" has for some years been the most popular name given to boys. Amsterdam and Rotterdam are on track to have majority Muslim populations by about 2015.

Immigrant Muslims widely disdain Western civilization, especially the open sexuality shown through pornography, divorce and homosexuality. Yet they stay. Here is one colorful example: In March 2004, the mother of the notorious Khadr brood (known as Canada's first terrorism family) publicly insisted that Al-Qaeda-sponsored training camps were the best place for her children. "Would you like me to raise my child in Canada to be, by the time he's 12 or 13 years old, to be on drugs or having some homosexual relationship? Is it better?" But one month later, in April 2004, she returned from Afghanistan and Pakistan with one of her sons.

At the same time, what some see as Europe's political correctness reflects a deeper phenomenon, namely, the alienation of many Europeans from their civilization--a sense that their culture is not worth fighting for or even saving. It's striking to note differences within Europe in this regard. Perhaps the country least prone to this alienation is France, where traditional nationalism still holds sway and the French take pride in their identity. Britain is most disconnected, as symbolized by the plaintive government program "ICONS--A Portrait of England." "ICONS" lamely hopes to rekindle patriotism by connecting Britons to their "national treasures", such as Winnie the Pooh and miniskirts.

Nonetheless, extreme secularism pervades Europe, especially among its elites, to the point that believing Christians are seen as mentally unbalanced and unfit for public office. In 2005, Italy...