Because of the rapid spread of Islam in France and the increasing role of the Muslim population in the religio-political landscape, the issue of Islam’s place in the country has always been at the center of the public debates among the political, media, intellectual and academic circles over the past two decades.
In this context,A new survey by Paris–based Ipsos research company showed that 74 per cent of French respondents think that islam is an intolerant religion, incompatible with the values of French society. An even more radical figure,8 out 10 french people think that the Muslim religion seeks to impose their views and their way of thinking to others.
Even though the 1016 French people polled by Ipsos do not represent the whole French population, the results of the survey are alarming and should be taken in to consideration .
Muslim organizations in France, thinkers, philosophers and sociologists should look for the reasons behind this very little confidence and distrust of French citizens vis avis islam and try to formulate a clear and convincing answer to a very important and controversial question: is Islam incompatible with French secular society?
For Many French scholars, experts,politicians, sociologists, and polemicists the answer is yes, arguing that Islam makes no distinction between religion and politics and that it is not a religion but also a political ideology which confronts with France’s cultural identity that idealizes both the citizen’s fidelity to state before other identifications and the state’s strong role in uniting and guiding its citizens.
This is why there is a strong belief that the Muslim values constitute a threat to the republic values and traditions which were founded after a long, difficult and sometimes bloody process which has its historical and philosophical roots in the French revolution and the age of enlightenment and its legal framework in the 1905 law that establishes the principle of separation of religion from the state .
However, I strongly believe that the debate cannot be reduced to a confrontation between Islamic values versus French values since there is no definitive and absolute answer to such controversial questions which have to do with religious and intellectual beliefs and convictions of the individuals and societies. Besides, it is not the suitable way to promote social cohesion, stability and coexistence in the French society.
Thus, so as to overcome this problematic, I think that the real questions that should be tackled are as follows:
– will France is ready to accept a secularity more open to multiculturalism or will it be influenced by some misleading political and media campaigns which try to depict Islam as the real threat to the French values?
– will the Muslim community in France will be able to bring together their cultural and religious background with the respect of the values of pluralism, democracy ,freedom, equality which are universal values and not restricted to the French society ?
– what are the measures launched by the French authorizes to fight the social exclusion that promotes the religious extremism in the suburbs of Muslim majority and what are the efforts made to integrate them in the political and social system?
– To what extent the legislative procedures taken by the French government such as the banning of religious symbols in public places are coherent and in harmony with the principles of French secularity and the European convention on human rights especially the article 9 which gives the right to everyone to manifest his religion in worship, teaching, practice and observance?
These are some questions that should be taken into account when discussing the issue of the Muslims’s integration in the French society and the relationship between Islam and secularity, far from judgment oriented polls and media stereotypes about Islam and Muslims which try to portray Islam as a menace to the French culture.
Bouchaib.chkair@gmail.com
المصدر : https://dinpresse.net/?p=473
