The Spanish government under Zapatero has not yet drawn up a clear policy on Spanish Muslims.

Al-Amin Andalusi, IOL Correspondent

MADRID, December 31 (IslamOnline.net) – The March 11 Madrid train blasts worked as a landmark event that focused the limelight on the Muslim community that was largely marginalized some 500 years after the fall of the last Muslim Kingdom in Andalusia.

In the wake of the bloody bombings, Muslims and Islamic centers and mosques were the target of mounting attacks and accusations from Spanish rightist parties that championed calls for strict measures against the Muslim community in the country.

But the socialist government under Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who has held the helm of power only days after the Madrid bombings, did not pay attention to the demands of rightist parties. It has, moreover, taken landmark steps that apparently sided with the Muslim community in the country.

Chiefly among these steps a decision to legalize the status of illegal Muslim immigrants in Spain , mostly from Moroccan origins.

More than 186 people were killed and more than 1,000 others injured in the coordinated explosions that targeted four trains in the Spanish capital Madrid .

The Al-Qaeda organization claimed responsibility for the blasts, citing Spain 's support for the US-led invasion of Iraq .

Hatred Campaigns

Madrid bombings focused lights on the widely marginalized Muslim community in Spain.

In their attempt to contain the negative impacts of the Madrid bombings on the Muslim community, Islamic bodies and immigrants' groups launched nationwide demonstrations in condemnation of the bloody blasts.

However, hatred campaigns against the Muslim community in Spain continued, taking different forms and shapes, from insulting hijab-clad women, attacks on mosques, to sacking Muslim immigrant employees.

Arbitrary detention of Muslim citizens was also a normal procedure in Spain as reports showed Islamophobia on the rise in the country.

According to an opinion poll published by the rightist El Mundo daily, a massive majority of Spaniards, 78%, was in support of enacting a legislation banning hijab in state schools.

Hijab has triggered controversy across Europe recently, especially after France had adopted a bill banning it in public schools.

Socialist Government

Since assuming power in the country, the new socialist government under Zapatero has, however, embarked on bids to ease tension and consolidate security in the country.

Chief among the new measures was a decision to legalize the status of hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants in the country, whose numbers are estimated at 800,000.

The new immigration law was put into effect in late October by the Spanish government.

The new regulations stipulate that any illegal immigrant, who spent one year in Spain , can apply for residency.

The Zapatero government also dropped plans to draft an enactment banning hijab, despite demands of rightist parties in the country.

Islamic Subjects

Chiefly among pro-Muslims’ steps taken by the Spanish government was also a decision to allow the teaching of Islamic subjects for the first time in Spanish schools.

The Spanish official for religious affairs said Islamic subjects will be taught in a number of major Spanish cities such as Madrid , Barcelona and Andalusia by early January, 2005.

Teaching Islamic subjects is only allowed in the cities of Ceuta and Melilla in which Muslims of Moroccan origin make up the majority of population.

Ceuta and Melilla are located in northern Morocco under the Spanish control.

Spain has a Muslim community of about 600,000 people out of a total population of 40 million. Some 94 percent of its population are Christian Catholics.

The country has recognized Islam through the law of religious freedom, issued in July 1967.

Concerns

Despite such tolerant steps taken by the government, Islamophobia was still running high in the European country, mainly represented in the Spanish defense ministry's decision to exclude Muslim immigrants from recruiting in the Spanish army.

It was also remarkable in the remarks of Zapatero's first deputy on a court ruling to release a Muslim imam, saying it runs counter to the government policy of tolerance.

Egyptian-born Mohammad Kamal Mustafa, 44, was accused of inciting violence against women.

He was released on December 20 by a court ruling, provided that he receives courses in human rights respect.

In his book, called “Women in Islam”, which was published in 1997 in Spain , Mustafa said that Muslim males could beat their wives lightly and in a symbolic way as a kind of punishment.

“The beatings must be administered to specific parts of the body, such as the feet and hands, using a stick that is not too big so as not to leave scars and bruises,” he wrote.

Observers believe that the policies of the new Spanish government on the Muslim community in Spain has yet to bear fruit.

Proving their point, they cited remarks of Zapatero himself before the Madrid bombings investigation committee in which he accused what he termed “the international Islamic terrorism” of carrying out the bombings.

He added that new measures will be taken by early 2005.

Zapatero's remarks indicate that the Muslim community in the European country still have thorny fields to cross in the years to come.