Europe’s standardizing figure of the Muslim erases the group’s internal heterogeneity

Evidence

These assumptions tend to evoke a generalised image of an ‘Islam’ as a hermetically sealed monolithic cultural bloc, whose adherents are theologically incapable of coexistence with other cultures or religions, either as minorities or majorities. In France, Muslim residents come from more than fifty-three countries and speak some twenty-one languages. According to various surveys, between 12 and 30 per cent of French Muslims do not even go to a mosque, while a 2004 poll found that 68 per cent regarded the separation of religion and state as ‘important’ and 93 per cent felt the same about republican values. — Matt Carr, You Are Now Entering Eurabia, 60 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: European Muslim populations are internally diverse and largely secular-minded — Matt Carr, You Are Now Entering Eurabia, 60; Framing Muslims demographically erases long histories of European Muslim presence — Sarah Bracke and Luis Manuel Hernández Aguilar, “They Love Death as We Love Life”: The…, 89; Private citizens conflate Islam with the Middle East, erasing Muslim ethnic diversity (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• European Muslim populations are internally diverse and largely secular-minded #corroborates (0.92) — Matt Carr, You Are Now Entering Eurabia, 60
• Muslims are racialized as a social group rather than a religious one #complicates (0.75)