Ayaan Hirsi Ali squared off against Islamist point man Tariq Ramadan at a discussion in Sweden: Muslim pundits clash over future of Islam in Europe. (Hat tip: Fjordman.)

Ms Hirsi Ali, who has taken an atheist position and lives under secret service protection because of threats to her life, told the annual conference organised by the Ax:son Johnson Foundation that leaders of Muslim opinion “must discriminate between Islam as it is and Islam as it could be” - and said that Mr Ramadan, whom she described as a “handsome and articulate leader of opinion”, had failed to do so.

“You must start from Islam as it is today. The great number of Muslims believe that the Koran is the absolute word of God; few believe it is a historic document. The number of people who believe the Prophet literally are much more numerous than those who see him as a historical figure.

“Why are large groups of Muslims leaving their countries? Nearly all Muslim countries are tyrannies, authoritarian, or failed states. Islamic states are in a terrible crisis. There is a lack of freedom; a lack of knowledge; and there is a subjugation of women. No wonder people leave,” she said.

She agreed with previous speakers from Britain and Denmark that there was an over-representation of young Muslim men in prison, and that there was “a micro-climate of fear for women”.

Mr Ramadan said it was wrong to suggest that Muslims were in Europe to proselytise, and wrong to say that Europe had a Judaeo-Christian past.

“Islam is a European religion. The Muslims came here after the first and second world wars to rebuild Europe, not to colonise. It is a mistake to deny complexity. When we speak about Islam we speak about terrorism; you are focusing on the few who are destroying and not the millions who are building. Muslims are in great majority law-abiding,” he said.

He argued against some who said that there would be a clash between native Europeans and European Muslims and that no integration was now possible. “Integration is done: you can’t go back. Social problems can’t be Islamised,” he said.