I think it's hilarious that Bobby Jindel is claiming there are Muslim-only enclaves where shariah law applies and which are "no-go" for non-Muslims throughout Western Europe while he is traveling in Western Europe. The claim was so outlandish even Fox News retracted it. I hope these guys can get to him while he is still on the continent.
The funny thing is that there actually once was a real Muslim enclave in Western Europe. In the Thirteenth Century, Frederick II of the Holy Roman Empire forced all Muslims to leave Sicily. (The Muslims were the descendants of colonists or converts from the period of Muslim rule over the Island that ended with the Norman reconquest of the island at the end of the Eleventh Century.) Frederick resettled them in Lucera, a city in Apulia in mainland Italy. Within the city limits of Lucera, the Muslims were allowed to govern themselves and apply Shariah to their community within the city. That experiment in permitting a heathen religion to operate freely within Christiandom ended in 1300 when Charles II of Naples sacked Lucera, slaughtering many of the Muslim inhabitants, with the survivors either converting to Christianity, being sold into slavery, or fleeing to Albania.
Anyway, I learned about the history of the enclave when I recently read this book about the Crusades. Every time I see some rightwing nut talking about Muslim enclaves in Europe, I wonder if their information isn't a little bit out of date and they didn't hear the news that Lucera was sacked 815 years ago.
The funny thing is that there actually once was a real Muslim enclave in Western Europe. In the Thirteenth Century, Frederick II of the Holy Roman Empire forced all Muslims to leave Sicily. (The Muslims were the descendants of colonists or converts from the period of Muslim rule over the Island that ended with the Norman reconquest of the island at the end of the Eleventh Century.) Frederick resettled them in Lucera, a city in Apulia in mainland Italy. Within the city limits of Lucera, the Muslims were allowed to govern themselves and apply Shariah to their community within the city. That experiment in permitting a heathen religion to operate freely within Christiandom ended in 1300 when Charles II of Naples sacked Lucera, slaughtering many of the Muslim inhabitants, with the survivors either converting to Christianity, being sold into slavery, or fleeing to Albania.
Anyway, I learned about the history of the enclave when I recently read this book about the Crusades. Every time I see some rightwing nut talking about Muslim enclaves in Europe, I wonder if their information isn't a little bit out of date and they didn't hear the news that Lucera was sacked 815 years ago.
