When Muslims outside in the West are asked what comes to their mind when hearing of Denmark, there is a big chance that they will refer to ”the Cartoon Crisis”. An incident that sparked outrage and political turmoil, finally putting Denmark on the world map and into globalization; ahead of famed Danish products like Hans Christian Andersen, Lurpak, and the giant philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard. (Oddly enough, his works are read only in small circles within Denmark, compared to other countries).

After the crisis, after the foreign media forgot all about us and we disappeared to our little andedam, many questions remained unanswered, and many of us were left soul-searching. Maybe it was best they left us alone and let the opportunity for the future PhDs to do all the analysis. However, it’s a shame and a mistake that the world left us alone; because if there is something we can export and be proud of, that would be how to integrate a large Muslim group (2 % of the population out of 5.4 millions) in a Western country.

During the crisis, it became clear that the Muslim population lacked the strong resources and organizations necessary to stand up to the media. Typically, those with strong resources are in the minority, and most of them leave the country as soon they get higher education, eventually settling down in England, Canada, Australia, and elsewhere. Despite that, the Muslims still managed to find spokespersons for their cause, with a few Imams taking the responsibility to speak on behalf of the community. Unfortunately, most of them lacked the understanding of the culture and social structure of their host country, and it did not help matters that the primary spokesperson had not yet mastered the Danish language.

One study showed that 80% of the Danish population has no daily contact with ethnic groups. In face of these challenges of integration, two Muslims sought to prove that you can be a Muslim, be integrated, and still be Danish. Both of these Muslims used different approaches, but ended with the same disappointing results.

First, a little introduction of the two main characters.

Asmaa Abdol-Hamid, a 27 years old Danish-Palestinian caseworker and a debater. She came to Denmark as refugee with her family, and was one of the first who filed suit against the newspaper that brought the cartoons, instantly becoming a familiar face in the media; she was the first Muslim talk show presenter with a headscarf. The programme was taken off the air after one season due to poor ratings, but her career as politician went full steam ahead.

Before joining the left wing (communist) party, she tried to get into the leading opposition party, the Social Democrats, but was rejected. After all, the Social Democrats lost two consecutive elections for being soft on immigration.

So her party enjoyed all the publicity they could get, and they profiled for being the only party who fights for the weakest in the society. However, when the election neared, the party got cold feet and opinion polls showed that the party would lose all six of their members in parliament. Most observers agreed that she was “forced” to stridently emphasize that she believed in separation of religion and politics, and that she supported homosexual rights; here, we have a picture where she reluctantly attended a party at a gay bar in Copenhagen.

All the hard work did not bring success to Asmaa Abdol-Hamid. Her party lost two members and came in with very narrow votes to parliament. On the evening of the election, the party leader accused Asmaa for the bad results.

And as much as Asmaa does not want to admit, her only trademarks were her headscarf and her refusing to shake hands with non-related men. In a column, her former employer asked after where the real Asmaa was, the Asmaa he knew who had no problem giving hand to men when she worked for the commune before entering the political arena.

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Naser Khader, a Danish-Syrian politician. He also came to Denmark as a refugee, and like Asmaa Abdol-Hamid, his career took off during the crisis. In 2006, he received the freedom of speech prize from the same newspaper that published the cartoons. His trademark was “the Saviour of Denmark”. Saving us from mad Mullahs, who gave bad publicity about Denmark; he even called the American ambassador in Denmark a “useful idiot” for inviting two imams for iftar.

Before the crisis, his reputation in the Muslim community was very low. He was not one of them. Like the Godfather chronicle where there is a battle between “Nativist” and “Immigrant”, the immigrant community saw him not as one of them, but one who is willing to do everything to assimilate into “Whiteness”.

Never mind, Naser Khader became the most popular politician for the rest of the population during the crisis; in fact, he became even more popular than the Prime Minister in Denmark, and this popularity led him to leave his old party (a centre left) in protest for being soft on radical Islamists, thereupon forming his own party, the New Alliance.

The prospect of his new party looked very promising, and the opinion polls gave him 24 seats in the parliament. An unheard event in the history of Denmark, that a Syrian born immigrant would lead the third largest party in the parliament; not only that, but he would also have the power to decide who the next Prime Minister would be by forming a coalition, either with the Social Democrats or with the Liberals.

Then came election day. Despite support from famous figures in business and media, even from ultra neo-conservative (Ayn Rand) adherents from America, he managed only to win five seats. In fact, there was uncertainty if his party would ever get any seats on election night.

Most political analysts agree that when it came to the moment of truth, his supporters abandoned him. One good example is an editor-in-chief of a local paper; they used to be close friends and fitness partners. One week before the election, he came with a revealing article, alleging that Naser Khader used illegal workers in his villa.

Naser Khader became the biggest loser in the election. When their hype came down to reality, Naser Khader and Asmaa Abdol-Hamid were not different.

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So how is integration in Denmark successful? A new study shows that 25% of young second generation immigrants want to leave the country once they get an education, and there is no doubt, that many people want to increase this figure and continue the trend.

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