Two new books out in France: profession imam and pari de civilization
Tareq Oubrou, imam in Bordeaux, has published a new book on his vision of “Occidental Islam” in Profession Imam (Albin Michel, 2009). Raised in Morocco in a non-practicing family, fifty-year old Oubrou claims that this Islam is capable of secularization theologically-speaking. He advocates a “minority Shariah” adapted to French laicite, wherein in the Western world Muslims make their faith less publicly visible.
In Pari de civilization (Seuil, 2009), writer and university professor Abdelwahab Meddeb calls for a reinterpretation of the Qur’an, notably that it is a direct revelation from God. Renegotiating this point allows for a modernization and neutralization of Islam in the public sphere.