One of the storylines of the
fires in Paris is: Muslim youths aren't listening to the
authorities. And why is that? One reason is that the Imams who
might be telling them to knock it off are seen by them as stooges
of the French government. Young Muslims aren't fooled by "French
Islam," and reject the "French Council for the Muslim Religion" as
a joke. They realize that Frenchifying Islam means removing Islam
from Islam. Consequently, as this secularizing campaign has
accelerated, French Muslims have been looking abroad for the real
thing, turning to global Islam for money to finance private
schools. Nicolas Sarkozy "reaped jeers and whistles," according to
a Time story from 2003, when he "used a speech before more
than 10,000 Muslims...to vow that women must remove their veils for
the photographs on their French identity cards." Malek Chebel, a
Muslim anthropologist, said to Time prophetically that the
popular militant Muslim leaders in France have "endless money,
great numbers on their side, and they have time...The
fundamentalists are working toward a shock, one that is dangerous
for the equilibrium of the state."
topics:
Religion, Islam
