At one point in Ajami’s piece, he states baldly that what we are watching is the European front in the clash of civilizations. These young Muslims “walk right out of (Huntington’s) pages … They flee the burning grounds of Islam, but carry the fire with them.”

But then Ajami reconsiders, saying he can’t believe that the young men rioting in the banlieues or even the ones who plot to blow up trains “are the bearers of a whole civilization.”

He finally settles on a different thesis: “These (young Muslims) are ‘nowhere men,’ children of the frontier between Islam and the West, belonging to neither.”

That’s the direction that Philip Jenkins, author of the important book God’s Continent, about Christianity and Islam in Europe, leans as well. Jenkins points out that, in a different era, these young people may well have identified primarily with their class or ethnicity or language. But we live in a time (as Huntington predicted a decade ago) where religion has returned as a dominant identity, and consequently (to extend Ajami’s metaphor) the flag that these young people stake their claim with has the insignia of Islam written on it.

Let’s assume that religion is going to be an important identity in the lives of the young people we are talking about. It doesn’t necessarily follow that the flag of Muslim faith has to be opposed to the flag of European citizenship. Europe’s Muslims can view their faith as a bridge just as easily as they view it as a bubble or a barrier.

Jenkins points to an interesting parallel in American history: the African-American experience in the 20th Century. In response to severe discrimination, significant sections of the African-American community viewed their race as the key factor in developing an oppositional identity to mainstream America. They did everything from getting involved in ideological causes - promoting Marcus Garvey’s back-to-Africa movement, signing up with Elijah Muhammad’s black nationalism – to burning down American cities.

Today, African-Americans are integrated, and influential, in every strata of American life. There’s a long way to go, but most people would agree we are moving forward.

Perhaps the two key factors that hastened the process of African-American integration can do the same with Muslims in Europe.

The first factor is changes in the host society. The relationship between African-Americans and the broader society became gradually more positive as both de jure and de facto discrimination eased, allowing African-Americans to not only progress but contribute. Let’s be clear: European Muslims do not face anywhere near the legalized discrimination that African-Americans faced in early 20th Century America. Still, they are a community with far fewer resources and opportunities than their white counterparts. Pakistani and Bangladeshi youth in Britain are more than twice as likely to be poor as the national average. In France, North African university graduates have an unemployment rate five times the figure of their white counterparts. They blame it on their names – saying that if ‘Ali’ and ‘Alain’ have the same qualifications, it is always ‘Alain’ that gets the interview and the job.

An even greater barrier may be the one rooted in European culture and identity. Europe proudly “tolerates” its minorities, but it continues to view even the second and third generations as foreigners. Even people who write conservative books on this subject like Bruce Bawer point out that no matter what Muslims in Europe do, many Europeans view them as perpetual outsiders.

That’s the difference between tolerance and pluralism. Tolerance allows you in and indulges your needs, but treats you like an infant and an outsider. Pluralism respects you and your identity enough to require that you make a contribution to the broader society. One reason for the success of American Muslim immigrants compared to their European co-religionists is America’s instinct towards pluralism.

The second key factor in turning people with an oppositional identity into a contributing community is leadership. America was blessed to have a host of African-American leaders throughout the 20th Century who believed that America’s racism and other wrongs were not fatal. They decided America was not a lie but a broken promise, and that if black people and white people worked together to fix it, they could all prosper here. The list of leaders is long and distinguished and includes Martin Luther King Jr, James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, Ella Baker and many others.

European Muslims need a set of leaders with a similar passion for pluralism, and the crucial ability to connect with and guide young people. For the past decade, the continent has had just the opposite – a set of leaders like Omar Bakri Muhammad who meet confused Muslim kids at the crossroads of their identity crisis and steer them towards violent opposition. The story of radical Islam in Europe is really the story of the influence that Muslim extremist leaders had with certain members of the “nowhere men” generation.

Towards the end of his article on Muslims in Europe, Ajami offers a similar insight: “If anything, (the Muslim criminals in Europe) are a testament to the failure of modern Islam to provide for its own and to hold the fidelities of the young.”

Coincidentally, Dr. Umar Abdallah of the Nawawi Foundation just finished a paper that goes to the heart of this matter, Living Islam With Purpose. I write frequently here about Dr. Umar because he is one of a handful of Western Muslim scholars that I know who have deep knowledge of the tradition, important insights into the challenges faced by the younger generation and an uncanny ability to produce highly accessible work that bridges the two.

In this paper, Dr. Umar emphasizes trusting reason and contributing to the broader society both as key principles enshrined in the Muslim tradition and as acute needs among contemporary Muslim communities in the West.

He quotes from the Prophet Muhammad: “The essence of the religion of Islam is giving good counsel.”

Dr. Umar is one of the people offering good counsel. God willing, young Muslims in Europe -and elsewhere - will listen.