... volume in the making

Dar al Islam. Europe, the world system and the ultimate EU-enlargement

by 

Peter Herrmann and 
Arno Tausch (Ed.) 

Invited contributors:

Samir Amin, Syed M. Ahsan, Emil Brix, Michaelene Cox, Andre Gunder Frank,
Johan Galtung, Peter Herrmann, Gernot Kohler, Victor Krassilchtchikov, Rabbi
Michael Lerner, Syed Mansoob Murshed, John R. Oneal, Kunibert Raffer, Robert
J. S. Ross, Bruce Russett, Clara Mira Salama, David Skidmore, Arno Tausch,
The First Declaration of Alexandria, Dimtcho Hristov Tourdanov, Alfred
Tovias, Patrick Ziltener

 
Cover illustrations:

Cover:

Our cover features images of the past, present and possible future of the
house of peace (Dar al Islam) in the Euro-Mediterranean region

Overarching: The house of peace (Dar al Islam)

http://islamicity.com/Culture/MOSQUES/Europe/TMp105b.htm

The archs of the Great Mosque in Cordoba, Spain

The smaller images symbolize:

1) Dar al Islam:

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~rs143/map5.jpg

Map of the Muslim World, c. A.D. 1300

from: W.C. Brice. An Historical Atlas of Islam Maps

University of Texas Map System at:

2) The Crusades

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/delacroix/crusader.jpg

by Eugene Delacroix: Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople on 12 April
1204

3) The Reconquista

http://store2.yimg.com/I/puzzlezoo_1694_3976493

Francisco Pradilla Ortiz, 1848 - 1921, realist Spanish painter

La Rendicion de Granada

The Islamic Ruler of Granada hands over the keys of the city in 1492

4) The region today

http://www.lawsociety.org/Intifada2000/images/khnyns12-04e.html

A young Palestinian girl looks out at Al Gharbi camp, Khan Younis, after at
least 31 homes were bulldozed by Israel for "security reasons" on 11 April
2001, rendering an estimated 500 people homeless. 

5) The region today

http://memorial.huji.ac.il/images/a1.jpg

On July 31, 2002, terror struck the Mount Scopus campus of the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem. A bomb exploded in the crowded "Frank Sinatra"
cafeteria during lunch hour, where many of the University's staff and
students, both from Israel and abroad, were dining. Tragically, nine people
were killed by the deadly explosion and many more injured:
Revital Barashi, Marla Bennett, Benjamin Blutstein, Dina Carter, Janis Ruth
Coulter, David Gritz, David (Diego) Ladowski, Levina Shapira, Daphna Spruc.

6) The European House - a house of unemployment?

http://europa.eu.int/comm/regional_policy/sources/docoffic/official/reports/
pdf/map4.pdf

Apart from the European North East, especially the regions that once
belonged to the 'Dar al Islam' are still characterized by heavy
unemployment. From the Second report on economic and social cohesion,
adopted by the European Commission on 31 January 2001

7) The development potential of Dar al Islam


Human development index (combines real income, life expectancy, education
data, reaches from 0 (worst value) to 1 (best value)) of the UNDP. Increases
in the Human Development Index 1975 - 1998, according to the United Nations.
Green color: no data available


8) We will have only a common future or we will have no future 

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/Images/lights_europe.jpg


Credit: Image by the NASA GSFC Scientific Visualization Studio 
Satellite: DMSP VE Record ID: 6529

Growth in "mega-cities" is altering the landscape and the atmosphere in such
a way as to curtail normal photosynthesis. By using data from The Defense
Meteorological Satellite Program's Operational Linescan System, researchers
have been able to look at urban sprawl by monitoring the emission of light
from cities at night. By overlaying these "light maps" onto other data such
as soil and vegetation maps, the research shows that urbanization can have a
variable but measurable impact on photosynthetic productivity.

 

Cover text:


Europeans should rember that the keys of the 'common European house' do not
belong to one cultural tradition only. The house of Islam (Dar al Islam) was
pivotal to the European path to the Renaissance and to the re-discovery of
classic Greek philosophy. Islamic tolerance and knowledge enabled us
Europeans to develop. While there were terrible persecutions of Jewry in
Europe, the world of Islam was generally tolerant towards Jewry and to
Oriental Christianity, and even provided a safe heaven of refuge for the
Sepharadic refugees, expelled from Spain in 1492.

At the time of the enlargement of the European Union, the real enlargement
question - that of the 'cultural enlargement' of the European Union cannot
be excluded any longer. A sucessful integration of the Mediterranean South
would have tremendous and positive repercussions for regional and world
peace. And this question is made all the more relevant by the expected
demographic shifts in the vicinity of Europe until 2050. 

The present study is presenting a large section of opinions on Dar al Islam
(the house of Islam), the dialogue between the civilizations and
Huntington's theory of civilizational conflict, the capitalist world system,
the social development performance of the Islamic periphery of Europe and
the future of the Euro-Mediterranean process in the framework of European
center-periphery relations. 

Contributors:

Samir Amin, Syed M. Ahsan, Michaelene Cox, Andre Gunder Frank, Johan
Galtung, Peter Herrmann, Gernot Kohler, Victor Krassilchtchikov, Rabbi
Michael Lerner, Syed Mansoob Murshed, John R. Oneal, Kunibert Raffer, Robert
J. S. Ross, Bruce Russett, Clara Mira Salama, David Skidmore, Arno Tausch,
The First Declaration of Alexandria, Dimtcho Hristov Tourdanov, Alfred
Tovias, Patrick Ziltener



Ministerialrat Dr. Arno TAUSCH