History reminds us that European identity has never been closed and that freely choosing one’s faith is a fundamental right
Ambassador Dr Alfredo Maiolese
President of the European Muslims League – EML
In contemporary public debate, Islam is often portrayed as something foreign, something that suddenly arrived in Europe through immigration and is destined to threaten its identity.
This portrayal is not only simplistic; it also ignores history.
Europe and the Mediterranean have never been closed and separate worlds. For thousands of years, peoples, cultures, religions and civilizations have met, interacted and influenced one another. Rome itself, which is frequently invoked today as the symbol of an unchanging identity, was in fact the centre of an extraordinarily vast and multicultural world.
In 64 BC, under Pompey, Syria became a Roman province. Antioch developed into one of the most important cities of the Empire, while relations between Rome and the eastern Mediterranean became increasingly intense. Merchants, soldiers, intellectuals, officials, families and religious traditions travelled from Syria to Rome and throughout the Empire.
Naturally, we cannot automatically apply the modern legal categories of “immigrant” and “foreigner” to the ancient world. The Roman Empire was not a nation-state in the modern sense. Nevertheless, one fact remains clear: Rome was not built exclusively by people born in Rome or on the Italian Peninsula.
People from different provinces of the Empire reached the highest political and military positions. Trajan and Hadrian were born in Hispania. Septimius Severus came from Leptis Magna in Roman Africa. Elagabalus and Severus Alexander were born in Emesa, present-day Homs in Syria, and became Roman emperors. Philip the Arab, born in the region of present-day Syria, also rose to the highest office of the Empire.
People who today might easily be described as having “come from afar” were considered Roman and even came to govern Rome itself.
This does not mean presenting the past as an ideal world. The Roman Empire experienced wars, conquest, discrimination, slavery and violence. It does, however, require us to acknowledge a historical reality: civilizations have never been static, ethnically pure or culturally isolated entities.
The relationship between religion, political power and war must also be examined with the same historical balance.
Following Constantine’s conversion and the gradual rise of Christianity within the Empire — which became the official religion under Theodosius I in AD 380 — the Christian faith went from being persecuted to being supported by political power. In the centuries that followed, Christian empires and kingdoms also used religious arguments to justify wars, conquest and, in some cases, forced conversions. The Crusades themselves resulted from a combination of religious, political, military and territorial motivations.
Likewise, it would be historically incorrect to deny that, following the birth of Islam, various Muslim empires and dynasties expanded their territories through warfare and sometimes invoked religion to legitimize their authority.
History, however, must be examined by applying the same standards to everyone. The wars fought by Christian rulers do not represent the entire message of the Gospel, just as the conquests carried out by Muslim dynasties do not exhaust the meaning of the Qur’an or the faith lived today by millions of peaceful Muslims.
A religion cannot be judged exclusively through the wars fought over the centuries by armies, empires or rulers who claimed to act in its name. If this standard is applied only to Islam, while overlooking the wars conducted by Christian powers, then we are no longer dealing with historical analysis but with an evident double standard.
Recognizing this reality does not mean treating every historical event as identical, nor does it mean accusing one religion in order to defend another. It means separating faith from the political use that human beings may make of it and remembering that no religious community today can be held responsible for wars fought by empires many centuries ago.
Why, then, do some people continue to portray every foreign presence as a threat and every Muslim as an alien element within Europe?
The most serious mistake is the confusion between immigration, citizenship and religious identity.
Not all immigrants are Muslims, and not all Muslims are immigrants. Millions of Muslims living in Europe were born and raised in European countries. Many are the children or grandchildren of immigrant families, while others belong to communities that have formed part of European history for generations.
There are also Italians, French, Germans, British citizens and citizens of many other European countries who have freely chosen Islam following a personal and spiritual journey.
An Italian who embraces Islam does not become less Italian. A European who chooses to become Muslim does not automatically renounce their culture, citizenship or respect for democratic institutions.
Faith does not change a person’s place of birth, nor does it erase their civic identity.
The freedom to believe, not to believe and to change religion is one of the fundamental principles of contemporary Europe. Article 10 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union explicitly protects freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including the freedom to change one’s religion or belief and to manifest it individually or collectively.
To claim that Islam constitutes a threat simply because an increasing number of European citizens choose to embrace it means questioning the very freedom of religion that Europe declares it wishes to defend.
The European Muslims League does not deny the existence of genuine problems. Every form of extremism, violence, religious coercion, incitement to hatred or rejection of democratic laws must be firmly opposed. Responsibilities, however, are always personal and cannot be attributed indiscriminately to an entire religion or to millions of believers.
A crime must be judged as a crime. Extremism must be confronted as extremism. No criminal act can be justified in the name of religion, but no individual act should become a pretext for criminalizing all Muslims.
Muslim communities also have clear responsibilities: to respect the law, promote knowledge of the language and society in which they live, protect the dignity of women, educate young people in responsible citizenship and isolate anyone who uses religion to spread hatred or violence.
At the same time, institutions and society must distinguish between security and propaganda, between prevention and discrimination, and between legitimate criticism and the deliberate construction of fear.
Islam is not a nationality, nor does it belong to one single people. It is a universal faith followed by people of different languages, cultures and origins. For many Europeans, it is not something brought from outside but a conscious choice made within their own society.
The history of Rome reminds us that being born far away has never prevented a person from contributing to the society in which they live. The history of Europe teaches us that identities develop through encounters, not through the erasure of differences.
The real threat to Europe is not the freedom of one of its citizens to choose Islam. The real threat emerges when fear replaces knowledge, when propaganda erases history and when millions of people are judged not for their actions but for the faith they profess.
Europe should not fear its Muslim citizens. It should involve them, encourage their sense of responsibility and recognize them as part of its present and future.
Coexistence is not built by asking people to renounce their faith. It is built by asking everyone — Muslims and non-Muslims alike — to respect the law, human dignity and the common good.
European Muslims League – EML
Dialogue, responsibility and coexistence for a Europe that remains genuinely faithful to its values.
Rome, Syria and the Emperors Who Came from Afar: Islam Is Not a Threat to Europe
