Zaman France
25.01.2012
In a recently published article by Zaman France, John Bowen, an anthropologist at the University of Washington St. Louis and author of the book “L’Islam à la francaise” (Islam in French), shares his thoughts on communitarianism amongst Muslims in France. He has previously conducted field research in the mosque community of Clichy-sous-Bois, the Tawahid Centre of St-Denis, the Lyon mosque as well as Centre of Islamic Studies and Research (CERSI). According to him, Muslims in France are far from being communitarists but are instead attempting to adapt to Republican values by making use of universal Quranic concepts.
On the question whether Islam is a problem in France, Bowen explains that “islamic mosque projects, the construction of mosques to meet Muslim needs (…) can all be seen as proofs for the existance of a communitarian spirit amongst Muslims (…) but if this is to believed one has to come to exactely the same conclusion about Jews, Catholics and other groups who create schools and associations”.
He relativises the focus given to France’s Muslim communites by saying that it’s “precisely the same processes that Jews and Catholics who are now integrated into France have undergone”. Bowen emphasises upon the fact that after 1905 Catholics, secularists and non-Catholics have had to go through a long process before coming to understand one another to be foremist citizens of the French Republic. In light of that, the construction of community buildings and mosques might appear as attempts to remain amongst their own community but are in fact “part of the history of France itself and the history of integration in France”. According to him “Muslims can’t be blamed for doing exactely the same as Catholics and Jews have done before them!”.
He further asserts that there is a certain convergence of Islamic reasoning around a number of Islamic concepts amongst Muslims of North African descent and Muslim public persons in France. In contrast to public opinion, Bowen considers Muslims of France to have shown proof to voluntary adapt to the French state and society. This can be traced in “for instance the call to the purpose of islam (maqâsid ash-sharî‘a), a universalists concept that permits to de-communitarianise Muslims to some degree”. He cites the Islamic marriage tradition as an example: Muslims in France are encouraged to marry in the registry office and to consider such marriage to be equal to being married in front of an Imam.
Bowen further underlines that we are ought to distinguish between the “question of islam and the question of Muslims”. He concludes that “if we speak about suburbs or social issues we alays speak of Muslims as if religion is causing these issues: we need to make a dinstiction between the two”.
