A WEEK in politics can be a long time. It can also be extremely painful.

Last week, European politicians were certainly not at their shining best — but then just as I was in total despair at the state of Europe, I met someone who made me smile and hope again.

Let’s start with the French presidential elections. With the final and decisive second round of polls to be held on May 7, tempers are running high in France.

And so they should. After the election of US President Donald Trump and Brexit, the French elections on Sunday will be a test for Europe’s ability to stand up to the populists’ supposedly “tidal wave”.

As such, the long-awaited television debate between the two remaining presidential contenders, the centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right diva Marine Le Pen was even nastier and uglier than many believed possible.

Insults were exchanged, personal attacks made and the two candidates barked and snapped at each other for over two hours. It was simply painful or “penible” as the French would say. It was also very revealing about a country being torn into two — or more.

Le Pen — who still gets more media attention than she really should — bashed Muslims, Germany and the European Union. She called the well-bred and well-educated Macron a member of the “elite” and a German/EU puppet. He was also too good to the Muslims and soft on security, she said with a sneer.

Macron, very memorably, called Le Pen a “priestess of fear”, saying she was too close for comfort to Russia’s Vladimir Putin and was hell bent on triggering a “civil war” between Muslims and other French citizens.

Hopes are high in Brussels and other EU capitals that Macron with his pro-EU and pro-tolerant agenda will be victorious on Sunday. Significantly, while Trump has weighed in for Le Pen, the former US leader Barack Obama has asked French voters to cast their ballots in favour of Macron.

Which brings me to the Brexit madness and the entertaining but demoralising “fake war” between British Prime Minister Theresa May and the EU’s top policymakers.

The EU’s powerful officials apparently believe that May and her advisers inhabit a “different galaxy” or parallel universe because they believe that while withdrawing from the EU, they can still have their cake and eat it too.

That will certainly not be the case. The EU will not make it easy for Britain to exit from the EU. But in her little corner, May clearly thinks that being a “bloody difficult woman” when it comes to talking to the EU will win her more votes in the upcoming British elections.

The problem is that “Brand Britain” is no longer what it was in the days of the late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. The current shambles over Brexit has revealed the incompetence of many British government ministers. No one is amused. “Global Britain” makes people chuckle. It does not impress.

And then as is the case very often in life, just as I was tearing out my hair in despair at the chaos in European politics — not to mention the crazy stuff coming out of Washington — all the gut-wrenching talk of division and confrontation, I had the privilege of meeting and interviewing Husein Kavazovic, the Grand Mufti of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

What an amazing and inspiring man. Where Le Pen, May and others in Europe today spew fear, intolerance and exclusion, Kavazovic spoke about living together in peace and harmony despite our differences.

Wise and serene, the Grand Mufti built up a case for Islam as a European religion, a part and parcel of Europe’s history and future.

At a time when the far right — and even the mainstream European Peoples Party (mainly Christian Democratic parties) — insists that Islam is a foreign religion which is not compatible with Europe, Kavazovic insisted that Muslims were able to find “Europe in themselves”.

Muslims should accept the traditions of the societies they live in, he said. He spotlighted the different interpretations of Islam when it comes to the treatment of women — insisting that in Bosnia Herzegovina, women were treated no differently from men — and warned against allowing a minority, extremist version of Islam to hijack the religion.

Bosnia-Herzegovina like the rest of the Western Balkans has of course seen the havoc and destruction that ethnic violence can wreak. And even today, the region is convulsed by historical divisions and tensions.

Russia, Turkey and China are vying for influence, competing with the EU and the US for the hearts and minds of governments and people in the Balkans.

The Grand Mufti said Bosnia-Herzegovina like the rest of the Western Balkans wanted to be part of the EU.

It was an inspiring and healing performance. Significantly, Kavazovic told me that while he was in contact with Islamic scholars in Malaysia, Egypt, Indonesia and Tunisia, he had not yet travelled to Pakistan.

Interestingly, apart from Ismat Jahan, a veteran Bangladeshi diplomat who is the newly named and impressive representative of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation states in Brussels, no diplomat from Muslim-majority, countries, including Pakistan, thought it worth their while to meet Kavazovic.

It is a pity — and frankly, it’s their loss. Much of what the Grand Mufti says could help Muslims to find their way in the 21st Century.

But perhaps, living in harmony with others is not really a priority either for Islamabad or for the governments of most Muslim states.

—The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Brussels

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2017