Muslims in the Netherlands: A Threatening Community or a Community under Threat?

Abstract

This chapter treats the Dutch Muslim community focusing on the question of whether it is a community that forms a threat to Dutch society or if it is threatened itself. As awkward as it sounds, it is, though, a serious debate in the Low Countries. The community, forming around 5 percent of the population is under constant political fire of the ideology of Islamization, that is, the claim that Islam is an aggressive ideology that seeks to conquer the Western world and apply sharia there. This chapter analyzes the Islamization claim, in particular as expressed by the Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV) of politician Geert Wilders, and applies it to the Muslim community in the Netherlands. Are Muslims a threat to Dutch society as the supporters of the Islamization claim maintain or are they themselves threatened? The chapter begins by presenting some background information on Muslims in the country, followed by a section on what Islamization stands for. The next section presents key figures that propagate the ideology of Islamization in the Netherlands and treats its contents. After that the chapter goes into the ideology of Jihadi-Salafi Islam currents and the Islamization claim, and ends with some reflections on the key question of this chapter and a conclusion.