Pakistan, Oct. 24 -- AMuslim who cleans a European railway station is useful. His daughter who seeks to run the railway becomes, in the language of exclusion, evidence that the country is being taken over. That contradiction lies at the heart of the "Muslim invasion" narrative: minorities are welcomed as labour but too often treated as intruders when they claim equal standing.

Immigration presents legitimate questions about housing, public services, borders and integration. Governments must address them. But describing Muslims collectively as invaders replaces policy with religious suspicion. It blurs distinctions between citizens and foreigners, workers and refugees, peaceful believers and violent extremists. A population becomes an acc...