Framing European Muslims as backward fuels obstacles to a shared European space

Evidence

There are many obstacles to the creation of such a European space, not the least of which is the relentless depiction of European Muslims as representatives of a terminally backward and retrograde culture that can only be cured through aggressive Europeanisation. … Tariq Ramadan has called for a European future based on ‘mutual respect’ and the recognition that the Muslim presence in Europe is a ‘source of enrichment’ which can make a ‘positive contribution in building a new Europe’. — Matt Carr, You Are Now Entering Eurabia, 100

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist, where a migrant’s belonging is constantly renegotiated against hostile framing; also resonates with the adversarial decline-of-civilizations thesis in 1870 and the French-Algerian setting of The Stranger.
• ADDENDUM: Directly supports ‘Complaints About Immodesty Go Way Back’ — the rhetoric of a ‘backward’ culture needing correction is the same class/identity signaling that drives dress panics.