Tag: europe

Islam, Power and Change: My Reading of a Pattern History Repeats


Over the last few years, I have been noticing a pattern that feels bigger than daily news headlines. It is not just about Saudi Arabia allowing concerts, or the UAE opening casinos, or Europe suddenly becoming more vocal against Islam. When I step back and look at history, it feels like something deeper is happening.

This is not about Islam collapsing.
It looks more like Islam is changing its role in society, the way other major religions have done before.

A pattern I see repeating in history

Whenever a religion becomes dominant for a long time, history shows a clear pattern.

First, the religion grows with confidence. It gives people law, identity, morality and order. Early Islam did this extremely well, just like early Christianity.

Then the religion merges with power. It becomes part of the state, law, education and daily life. Clerics gain authority, rules become strict, and belief is no longer only personal.

After that comes overreach. Religion starts controlling too much — what people wear, how they live, how the economy works, what pleasures are allowed. At this stage, religion slowly shifts from being a strength to being a limitation, especially for rulers and elites.

Finally comes the most important moment: the elites start stepping away from religious control.

This is the stage I believe Islam has entered now.

Why Saudi Arabia matters the most

Saudi Arabia is not just another Muslim country. It controls Mecca and Medina, which gives it symbolic authority over the entire Muslim world.

When Saudi Arabia weakens religious police, reduces clerical power, and focuses on tourism, entertainment and investment, it sends a very clear message:

Islam will no longer run the state directly.

This reminds me strongly of what happened in Europe when kings reduced the political power of the Church. Christianity did not disappear after that, but it stopped controlling public life.

That shift changed Christianity forever.

The UAE shows the future direction

The UAE is showing an even clearer model.

Islam exists there, but mostly as:

  • personal belief
  • culture
  • identity

The state itself is focused on business, money, global talent and stability. Religion is not enforced, it is managed.

This creates two very different reactions among Muslims:

  • One group quietly adapts and practices religion in private
  • Another group becomes more rigid and aggressive because it feels religion is losing space

History shows this kind of split always happens during transition periods.

About Islamophobia in Europe

I don’t see rising Islamophobia as the main cause of Islam’s problems. I see it as a reaction.

Societies become tolerant when they feel secure, and hostile when they feel insecure. Europe today is facing economic stress, migration pressure and identity confusion. In such times, societies harden.

This has happened many times before:

  • Jews in Christian Europe
  • Catholics in Protestant countries
  • Buddhists during unstable Chinese dynasties

Islamophobia is not shaping Islam’s future. It is responding to a changing balance between religion, identity and power.

What I think will actually change

Religions don’t disappear. They transform.

What I believe Islam is slowly losing:

  • Control over law and state
  • Clerical authority over daily life
  • Moral policing by governments

What I believe will remain strong:

  • Personal faith
  • Rituals and traditions
  • Cultural and ethical identity
  • Family and community practices

Islam will not stay one single shape. Like Christianity, it will fragment into many forms — cultural Muslims, spiritual Muslims, political Islamists, secular Muslims and quiet traditional believers.

This fragmentation feels uncomfortable and even dangerous in the short term. But history suggests it usually leads to long-term balance.

So, is Islam falling?

I don’t think so.

I think Islam is moving out of its imperial phase, where it controlled power and law, and entering a post-hegemonic phase, where belief becomes more personal and less enforced.

Christianity went through this after the Renaissance. It lost power, but it survived.

What Islam may lose is dominance.
What it may gain is sincerity.

History shows that religions survive not by force, but by adapting to a changing world. Islam now seems to be standing at that exact turning point.

And history, as always, has seen this story before.

You have to read slowly, to get thru it


The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as ‘Euro-English’..

In the first year, ‘s’ will replace the soft ‘c’. Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard ‘c’ will be dropped in favour of ‘k’. This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome ‘ph’ will be replaced with ‘f’. This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent ‘e’ in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing ‘th’ with ‘z’ and ‘w’ with ‘v’.

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary ‘o’ kan be dropd from vords kontaining ‘ou’ and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl. 

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.

If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl