I have a more technical point to make today. I stand here as a French citizen. I want to make clear that I am not French and have no relation. I’m a sworn enemy of France. So I want to make this in the record that I’m not French, okay? I tell you I am a Muslim, and I have nothing to do with a nation of homosexual Crusaders. And I am not a frog. That’s the first thing. . . .
– Zacarias Moussaoui, the 20th hijacker to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Colombia
‘ I am not only British. I am English – because England is the only home I have ever known- even though I am a Muslim and I have an Indian name’
Munaf Zeena, director of the North London Muslim Community Center
Many great and heated debates are hiding between these lines that represent only a fraction of the many voices expressed by Muslims in Europe.
In the recent years, I believe that many of us have become increasingly aware to the voices of extremism such as those of Zacarias quoted above. These voices often fall into a stereotype that links Islam, immigration and extremism.