Why Muslims go to Europe

Paul Goble:

Islam.ru, the most visited Russian-language Internet portal devoted to news about Muslims in Russia, received an email from a visitor asking why Muslims have left countries where they form a majority for Europe where they form only a small portion of the population.

The site`s response, which took the form of an essay by Anastasia Yezhova that was posted on Tuesday, provides an intriguing glimpse into the ways many Muslims in the Russian Federation view both Muslim countries and Muslim minorities abroad -- attitudes that may gain in significance if the violence in France continues.

Yezhova, who writes frequently and sympathetically on a wide variety of Islamic issues, begins by observing something that many in the West increasingly point to but that few in Russia regularly note: Muslims are often freer to practice their faith in the secular West than in their Muslim homelands.

An important point to remember the next time someone complains about the "discrimination" that Muslims experience in Europe.

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