Donald Trump's call for Muslim immigration to the USA to be subject to a temporary ban may be too much for most people to stomach, but it does draw attention to the changing nature of immigration to all western countries. In the decades following the end of World War Two, Britain received wave after wave of immigrants, firstly from the Caribbean islands and then from newly independent African and Asian countries. Although there was some racial prejudice based on colour, these immigrants succeeded in integrating well into British society, treating religion as a personal matter and adapting to the culture and democracy of their new country. More recent Muslim immigrants, however, hold the profound belief that their religion and the political system it prescribes is superior, and will eventually dominate. This must be a barrier to cultural assimilation in countries with democratic constitutions which separate religion from politics.
Many of the people who have come to Britain in recent decades were born in former colonies. Even before setting out, they were aware of many aspects of the British way of life and spoke English. The majority from the Caribbean and Africa were already Christian and have proved to be more Christian than the native British. Some fled one-party dictatorships that arose after their countries gained independence, preferring the British way of life they learned about in colonial times. All were seeking a peaceful and prosperous new life and this was best achieved by fully integrating into their new communities, accepting, on the whole, that what they came to was better that what they left behind.
More recent immigration from Eastern European countries has much in common with the Afro-Caribbean inflow. These people come to Britain from countries with a similar social, cultural and religious heritage. They do not have a skin colour prejudice to overcome but language often poses a similar barrier. Nevertheless, their integration has been mostly successful, helped by an earlier wave of Easter Europeans who served in the British armed forces during World War Two and stayed on in Britain after the war.
Over the centuries, Britain has absorbed wave after wave of immigrants and will continue to do so. On the whole, this process has been highly beneficial to the development of the economy, culture and society. Each wave in turn adapted to the existing way of life and contributed subtly to an on-going evolution. The present wave of Muslim immigration is different because although the people come from economically deprived countries and are seeking materially better lives, they carry the belief that their religion is superior and that the body politic it advocates should replace existing democratic systems. This makes non-Muslims wonder if Islam can be practiced like Christianity, Judaism, or the Sikh, Hindu and Buddhist faiths, as a personal religion compatible with a secular state, or must Islam inevitably pursue a political agenda. This is the issue for the Imams to ponder if they want to avoid provoking more Trump-like reactions.
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