2018_12_13_ICS_demichelis

"Extremist Muslims read the most violent verses from the Koran and Islamic tradition without historical contextualization. This is the problem. This was stated by framework Demichelis, researcher Marie Curie of the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) of the University of Navarra, on the occasion of a workshop she is organizing on December 14 and 15 on Islamic violence in history and contemporary times.

The expert mentioned that the historical contextualization financial aid helps to understand how the idea of holy war has not always been related to jihadism. For example, he commented that the first Arab conquests can be understood as the migratory expansion of the peoples of the Arabian Peninsula - there were expansions prior to Islam - and not as an expansion of the religion, since there were no immediate conversions.

"Jihadism is an exclusively contemporary aspect, which has no equivalent in the history of Islam," he has emphasized. "The first religious terrorist act against civilians in Israel was on a bus in 1993, the work of Hamas," he has cited, wondering "if you can compare 25 years with 14 centuries of history."

With regard to the appearance of extremists in Europe, he considered that they are due to "a failure of the system, not only of security". In his opinion, the problem begins with a family that does not manage to channel its children, continues with a deficient system educational and continues with the lack of integration.

To fight against this, Professor Demichelis advocated integration projects based on a common school, which could favor integration while curbing Islamophobic ideologies. And he expressed hope in this sense: "The Islamic communities in Europe have all the possibilities of integrating and creating a European Islamic thought - already existing - which is very important for the Islamic world".

Islamic violence to discussion in a congress

Demichelis made these statements at the framework of the congress 'The narrative of Islamic violence in history. Creation, artifice and reality', which he has organized at the ICS of the University of Navarra. It is part of a project of research financed by a scholarship Marie Sklodowska-Curie, one of the most competitive of the European Commission.

Among other topics, Islamic conquests and wars in history, violent verses in the Koran and in the Islamic tradition or the role of the West in the creation of the Islamic State will be addressed. Experts such as Fred Donner (University of Chicago), Mehdi Azaiez (Catholic University of Leuven), Andrea Mura (Goldsmith, University of London) and Ali Mostfa (Catholic University of Lyon) will speak.