Being a reporter can mean being exposed to horror. I’ve visited villages in Iraq where every man who failed to flee was murdered by Islamic State and every young woman was enslaved. I harbour no illusions about the evil that unhinged people sometimes do in the name of Islam. But I can also tell the difference between a short-lived, blood-drenched Middle Eastern caliphate and a somewhat troubled European suburb. Right-wing Americans who insist that heavily Muslim parts of London or Malmo are “no-go zones” have clearly never visited either. I have, and found nothing more alarming than a mediocre kebab. 

So I commend to you our painstakingly balanced cover package on the truth and lies about Islam in Europe. The most alarmist take, breathlessly peddled by Europe’s anti-Muslim right and their MAGA cheerleaders, is that Europe faces “civilisational erasure” as it is overrun by Muslim immigrants. That is cobblers. Despite a large influx a decade ago, Muslims are only 6% of Europe’s population. And though new arrivals have a higher fertility rate than natives, that quickly falls as they assimilate, which most do. 

As our briefing describes, with reporting from France, the Netherlands and Sweden, few Muslims in Europe want to subvert democracy. However, it is difficult to counter those who do. In Britain, our polling finds, Muslims’ attitudes have in important ways come to resemble those of the rest of the country. Most approve of women working, for example, and we highlight the striking educational success of people of Bangladeshi descent. 

However, socially conservative views, such as disapproval of homosexuality, are widespread. (We publish this week a harrowing report on the assassination of the world’s only openly gay imam, in South Africa.) And Islamists—the minority who believe that the state should enforce Islamic principles—sometimes try to take over local institutions and use them to impose a strict interpretation of religion on their Muslim neighbours. Islam is not a serious threat to Europe, but Islamism could be.  

And so, too, is the reaction to it of Europe’s populist right, many of whom stoke division by treating all Muslims as potential enemies. The Alternative for Germany, a right-wing outfit that mainstream parties have sought to isolate, has just had its best-ever election result after warning of “Islamisation” and promising mass deportation. A new Economist podcast series looks at the rise, abetted by Elon Musk, of Tommy Robinson, Britain’s most prominent far-right rabble-rouser. And on the Insider, my colleagues discuss how moderates can counter these two divisive forces that feed off each other: Islamism and Muslim-bashing.