Political Islam should be fought, not banned

At first glance, banning “political Islam” by law, or even through a constitutional law, may sound like a sensible and urgent response. The article points to warnings across Europe and Austria about the Muslim Brotherhood’s alleged infiltration of state institutions. It also cites the view that almost half of young Muslims in Austria believe religious laws should take precedence over state laws.

The author accepts that religiously motivated terrorist attacks have become part of Europe’s “new normal” and that the fight against political Islam has become more urgent. But as a committed liberal, the author ultimately rejects a ban, even while acknowledging the revulsion that the ideology can provoke.

A liberal democracy, the argument goes, must allow opinions even when they are disgusting, inhumane, or deeply offensive. That principle must also apply to an ideology that rejects liberal society, disregards religious, sexual, and political minorities, and seeks to impose rules opposed to those of the democratic state.

The boundary between permitted and prohibited conduct should therefore be set by criminal law alone. “Relevant offenses such as calls for hatred or even violence are already punishable, so there is no need for new bans.” The author warns that banning one problematic ideology could establish a dangerous precedent. If political Islam were prohibited, the same logic could later be applied to communism or the FPÖ, just as some in Germany have called for banning the AfD.

That defense of legal freedom does not mean the state should passively tolerate a political Islam that seeks to abolish democracy. The article argues for a political, rather than prohibition-based, response. It calls for stopping immigration from cultures where political Islam dominates, preventing or reversing the formation of parallel societies, and enforcing zero tolerance toward political Islam in public institutions such as schools.

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Relevant offenses such as calls for hatred or even violence are already punishable, so there is no need for new bans.