There is no doubt the election of Sadiq Khan is a momentous occasion, a shock to the xenophobic fear-mongering flooding Europe from the UK to Greece. But we should not fetishize the fact that he is a Muslim, but rather celebrate the tenacity of a working-class immigrant family to raise a child with the audacity to imagine himself running such a magnificent city. His Muslim background and demeanor, his family’s Muslim names, his use of the Qur’an in his official ceremonies, all signal a significant symbolic register in European self-consciousness: Muslims are here, and are here to stay. Read the full article »