By minimal I meant it shouldn't become more prevalent in western society. I won't buy into the notion that there aren't moderate, well integrated muslims who are a benefit to society. What we're seeing is the more recent arrivals are the ones who are overreaching. Somewhat understandable since they've come fresh from another culture but it's not good enough for them to just laugh at western norms and refuse to see men and women are equal or there is more than one way of doing something.
Turkish muslims in Germany for generations aren't an issue as their children have integrated well and see themselves as a positive mix. The issue is the newcomers from Syria, Afghanistan, North Africa. Schools in Vienna are now overrun demographically and there is an overreach of requests which all revert back to religion. While integration takes time, a bad combination of religious stubbornness, vastly different cultural values and socio economic problems shouldn't be dumped on the rest of western society to live through.
By no means is the UAE perfect but their provisions on political islam are interesting. North Africa is alright in some ways but their cultural norms in the view of women can be revealed in how female visitors are treated.
This goes for anyone. If you behave and contribute and don't threaten violence in the name of your faith, you're fine. The moment you cross that line, get out.
I agree with you. People can't come to a country and expect to impose their own ideals, cultural or religious, on that society. There are a lot of things that get conflated as religious, that are in fact cultural. I've seen it with many religions, and this mistake happens everywhere, not just western society.
In terms of requests, it has to be done correctly too. We have to respect the people before us and rather than demand, there has to be knowledge. I think this is kind of where Australia has fallen off a bit. When we migrated here, I remember quite a fair bit of education was given and provided into what Australia is and what some of the values were. We kept our core religious ideals and standards, but we never imposed them. Instead we integrated them within the means and abilities available. I don't see that knowledge and education happening as much. And education has to be a two way thing.
There is a fine line between integration and asking people to give up a core standard of religion. I think Islam at it's core, as in the 5 core pillars, that is wholly compatible. It is the extra interpretations and ideals that people insist on, that create the problem. I have them with people in my family. I also think this applies to any religion or culture.
What I disagree with is the idea of it not being more prevalent. It is normal for societies to grow and populations to grow. Even if we cut all muslim migration and removed the "bad ones". The ones left will still grow. As a result, you will see more muslims you need places of worship for example, places to eat, community halls etc. At some point, buildings reach their capacity. Building these however requires careful consideration and well thought out development and structure. Ensuring you honour the community and people of it. I do know many mosques hold open days, but the response from the community is always very dismal. In this regard, people can't say Muslims don't try.
I think if anything, we should be honouring and doing more in terms of laws and rights for First Nations people first, than we should be for religions.
