Islam in the west

In recent years, especially since 9/11, we have become used to hearing of the rise of Islam in the west and its possibly inevitable growth to majority status in some European countries. This is the story told by Mark Steyn in America Alone and by Bat Ye’or in Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis. However, a recent convert from Islam to Christianity, named Daniel, tells a different tale in this interview worth reading in its entirety: A Muslim Preacher Converts to Orthodoxy. Here’s one paragraph:

The presence of mosques in the UK is very weak. Most Muslims won’t ever go to a mosque. The young people have effectively left Islam, even if they say that they’re still Muslims. In the mosques they don’t find a common language with the Imams from Pakistan or Bangladesh. Young people can barely speak Urdu or Bengali but only English. Many are ashamed of Islam because of terrorism. Our inter-religious council investigated mosque attendance and we know what the real picture is and it is especially alarming for Islam, but it is to the advantage of certain people to present Islam as an immense force. If one takes the list of mosques in Muslim publications, for example, in West London, we find that there are twenty mosques and much free space in each of these mosques, even though the number of people of Muslim origins in London is such that they would need even more mosques if a majority went. In one large mosque in London there might be three hundred people for Friday prayers. Many mosques are just small halls that are only used on Friday. In general, believers are very rare in mosques and most are children who bring their parents. When they grow, they disappear. Christianity offers a free choice, thus it is much better adapted to life in a climate of tolerance, and Islam is unable to pass this test.

Might Christianity take root amongst such nominal Muslims? We cannot say at this point, but we do know that the predominant secularism of the west cannot satisfy over the long term. This provides a possibly unanticipated opening for the gospel of Jesus Christ.