CONTEXT AND IMPORTANCE
Muslims are part of Europe's history and future
live in the EU
presence in Europe
indigenous European Muslims
of different peoples and faiths
Ideologies of exclusion
The rise of exclusionary ideologies creates an image of Europe as a space for only one identity. Messages suggesting that Islam and Muslims do not belong to Europe are becoming ever more present — ideologies that interpret history only through conflict and that feed on the fear of the different and the unknown.
A response through education
Learning about the Other and taking a critical approach to history can reduce tensions and present Europe as a place where diversity meets, rather than clashes. The goal is to teach young people that Europe rests on the richness of diversity and that openness, coexistence and tolerance are fundamental European values.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Centuries of coexistence between Muslims and non-Muslims
Andalusia
Centuries of intense encounters and periods of coexistence between Muslims, Christians and Jews on the Iberian Peninsula — a golden age of science, philosophy and culture.
Sicily and Italy
A Mediterranean exchange of knowledge and culture between Muslims and Christians over the centuries — an example of how the meeting of civilisations enriches rather than divides.
The Balkans and Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina — a paradigm of coexistence. Bosniaks, as indigenous European Muslims, prove that one can be both Muslim and European in equal measure.
Modern Europe
Migrant Muslim communities in Western Europe, in the spirit of multiple identities, have shown that European and Islamic values are not mutually exclusive.
SHARED FOUNDATIONS
The project's goals and values
European civilisational values overlap with universal religious values. The aim is to show young people that openness, respect and tolerance are not in contradiction with religious identity.
Valuing diversity
Diversity is not an obstacle but a richness. Teaching young people about the benefits of living with diversity — cultural, religious and national — is one of the project's key goals.
A critical approach to history
Europe can be presented through a historical perspective that rests not on conflict and confrontation, but on coexistence and interaction between ethnic, religious and other groups.
Religious freedoms
The EU values religious freedoms and all other freedoms of belief equally. The individual and collective rights of every person and community are protected by the Treaty on European Union.
Multiple identities
Being Muslim and being European are not opposites. Identities complement one another — and that is exactly what indigenous European Muslim communities such as the Bosniaks prove.