Actually...
It isn't about religion... It is about culture - what the Europeans and Westerners do isn't according to Christian values. Ask me - I live here...
Christian values are the same as Muslim and Jewish... In the Bible there are MANY things that the only a FEW Christians use today... The Bible says a man can hit his wife if she doesn't do as he says etc. So the Bible is also a strict religion - but the point isn't what the Bible says -it is what the people say and what the people do.
I have many friends from all over the world - from Balkan, Middle East, Africa, Asia Europe and America... We are all different from eachotehr because where we come from we have different values...
The reason I say that it isn't about religion is: There are many TYPES of followers:
Political
Traditional
Fundamentalist
Secular
etc.
These are:
Political - those who engage in activities in the name of Islam as a political means - organizations such as Hezbollah, Mujaheddin, Al Qaeeda etc and then there are civil actions that are politically motived like girls who wear Hijab/Xavik - in France it is illegal for a girl to wear this at school - and also in Turkey etc - but if they do it anyway, they would have done a "Political Islamic" action...
Traditional - those who follow the same traditions as the Prophet did - and usualy these are Arab traditions. And also the traditions of their forfathers - ergo, they follow the conservative style. Women in the kitchen, men , no mixing etc. The Wahhabi are an example of traditional Islam. They do everything slavelike... f. eks - don't take pictures and don't wear tight clothes etc.
Fundamentalist - These are the people who are expansionist. They follow the Sharia and the basic lines of the Quran down to the last drop - and the word of the Iman are very important. This type can be seen in Iran and in Saudi where Islam is the only source of legislation of the state...
Secular - These are those who don't nesseccarily do prayers and read the Quran. But they do believe in Islam - and have it in their heart. They don't want to force others into believing what they believe and they want religion to be a private matter - opposite of fundamentalist. in the Balkans (Bosnia) there are very secular Muslim - and the more moderate secular Muslims like the Kurds...
So my point is: Not all Muslims make their daughters wear hijab/veil and arrange marriage etc. These aren't Islamic things - they are cultural. If they were in the religion then everybody would have done the same. Like Secular Muslims drink alchohol and have sex before marriage. Also they don't force their girls to wear hijab. And then there are fundamentalists who punish people if they don't do as the Mullah says.
So it is very wrong to say that this has anything to do with religion. It has more than anything got to do with the traditions in a family - some families have strict fathers/mothers - some have not so strict fathers/mothers - and then some cultures are open and accepting and some are closed and intolerant...
Islam in it's basic laws - is not any of these. It is pure - and only people(humans) interpret it wrong. The Angels recite the holy Quran and do not interpret the words - but humans do and that is why we are not perfect... We color things the way we want to - if we don't like it red we want to make it blue or yellow etc. So we are always looking for OUR interests instead of relying on the FACTS and nature of something... Humans are perverted and CAN be evil...
I can write a book about this... But I don't wanna bore you...
Islam and Judaism and Christianity are the same in the basic lines---> Humans interpret them differently...
In Islam we say that: All humans are born Muslim... But then they loose their innocence when they grow up...