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Why Are American Muslims less radicalized than European Muslims?

Differences between Islam in America and Europe are perhaps key to understand the future of Muslim integration into the Western societies. Why is that the evil America–recipient of so much hatred in the Muslim world–has managed to integrate its Muslim minority much better than the more ”liberal” Europe? Two interesting articles attempt to answer this. First, Shada Islam in Yale Global,

Despite their common struggle against prejudice, however, US and European Muslims live in two markedly different worlds, largely because of income. Most American Muslims are well-educated, affluent and politically active. “They are better off than the average US citizen,” notes Philippa Strum of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. Almost 60 percent are college educated, 52 percent have an income of $50,000 or more and 82 percent of those eligible say they are registered to vote. In contrast, “Muslims in Europe belong to the underclass of Europe,” says Jocelyn Cesari, an expert on Islam in Europe.

Savvy American Muslims are way ahead of their European co-religionists in terms of social standing and political clout. More active as a community, they have access to enlightened leaders and engaged in energetic, often heated debate on reconciling Islam and modern America. As a result, they’re better equipped to fight discrimination and gain respect as a minority.[link]

This certainly is an important point. The majority of migration in U.K at least was of low skilled labor–the cornershop owner, in America in contrast, Muslims tend to be as educated as other migrant groups. This as Islam as suggests allows them to participate in the democratic process but also also keeps the fundamentalist elements away. The second point is extremely important as radicalization of Muslims in Europe is a reality.

Mark Hujer and Daniel Steinworth look at the transformation of American Muslims in the post 9/11 environment,

But if there is an American answer to every problem, then America’s Muslims provided the most American of all answers to Sept. 11. They saw the date as both a challenge and an opportunity. Six years after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, American Muslims are now self-confident and more influential than ever before. They earn as much money as the average American, they go on talk shows to tell their success stories and they are beginning to run for political office.

American senators offer Muslims internships, members of Congress hire Muslim press secretaries and chiefs of staff and the US State Department recently appointed a female Muslim ambassador who also happens to be its chief advisor on issues of equality.[link]

Perhaps, most interesting is the role of European secularism,

The United States, the land of religious refugees, is more open to religion than secular Europe. Debates over headscarves or mosques are less likely to ruffle feathers in the United States. And while America has 250 Islamic schools, Great Britain has less than half as many, France has only three and Germany has none at all.