By Dr Muzaffar Shaheen
November
10, 2020
Emmanuel Macron, the French President, two weeks before the murder of a school teacher by a migrant 18 years Chechen Muslim student, had accentuated his tone to reign in Islam in France to make it compatible with the French “Enlightenment” model and secular standard. He further spoke of Islam being in crisis. His speech on 2nd October 2020 laid emphasis on legislative proposal to fight “Islamist separatism.” If passed, there would be a ban on schooling of children at home up to 3 years of age and to prevent foreign-trained Imams from leading French mosques. The objective according to the President is to build an Islam in France that can be compatible with the “Enlightened” French societal domain.
Abstractive
analysis of his speech concludes that Islam is growingly at clash with modern
West. Thus he pleads to have chosen the way that China is largely blamed for by
the Western champions of secularism and equality; the phenomenon of cultural
genocide of Uygur and Turkic Muslims. The position of China is well understood,
being an absolute authoritative regime she can go to any extent. But France
claims to be a secular democracy, both constitutionally and socially.
The French
constitution according to the experts does not delineate the contours of its
extent. French secularism as approved by both the progressive left and the
Islamophobic right, goes beyond the American democratic concept of separating
religion and state. It essentially excludes religious symbols from public
institutions. France has banned Muslim women’s headscarves in schools and
outlawed religious face coverings everywhere. No such bans exist in the United
States. Albeit both America and France are abuzz with debates on Islamic
fundamentalism, Islamic radicalization and Muslim terrorism. The views that stoke
Islamophobia have a popular support.
American
democracy more often than not provides better opportunities for the integration
of various religions and cultural pluralism. France has secularism as a corner
stone of the State Governmental dynamics where as society is construed mostly
to be monocultural even though not classified by the secular constitution as
the constitutional experts in France elaborate. Secular law for the state
without institutional freedom of exercise is something being closer to fascist
authoritarianism in the attire of electoral democracy.
In the
United States, the First Amendment restricts the secular state’s engagement
with religion, saying the government can neither establish a religion nor
prohibit a religion’s free exercise according to constitutional amendments in
the US available on line. Thus it would be difficult for a US President to
pronounce what Macron did, a State-sponsored project of Islamophobic far
rightists to forge a French stereotype enlightenment of Islam. Noteworthy, that
many years before Macron spoke his toxic mind, the US President Barrack Obama
gave a historical speech in Egypt in 2009, in an attempt to harmonize the
relationship between America and the Muslim world. He had accented Muslims
‘share in building America. Obama’s words are recorded in the history. “It is
important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from
practicing religion as they see fit for instance, by dictating what clothes a
Muslim woman should wear.” His narrative reflected the whole American
nationalism with Muslims as American-Muslims.
In French
secularism there are no identities to reckon with – you are a French or a
non-French. This essentially decodes French secularism in to ultra nationalist
dogmatism with no respect to extra- French religions and thus denigration to
cultural pluralism.
Jean
Bauberot, an eminent scholar defends a more pluralistic secularism in France;
one that tolerates certain religious symbols in public institutions. But
astoundingly France has made many exceptions for Catholics. The government
provides substantial public funding to private Catholic schools, and six
official holidays in France are Catholic holidays. There is an absolute
unwillingness to accommodate the religiously based demands of Muslims who are
propagating rapidly all around France. In 2015 Muslim students were even
refused to have some alternative to pork in school and college cafeterias.
This reminds us of Chinese tactics in Xingjian;
the French secularism is no less dark and fiendish.
France’s
constitutional commitment to equality is questionable and debatable on racial
discrimination; its biggest minority being mostly of non-white Muslim
immigrants from its former colonies in Africa and their descendants. Macron
represents the face of neo-conservatives and far-right white racists who
approve of blasphemy against Islam as a weapon not to reconcile with it and
prevent the fast spread of Islam in France. Macron is assuredly ignorant of
history. Islam is there for last more than 1400 years, spreading in length and
breadth of the globe. It has redefined morality and humanity and co-existence
with non-Muslims. In fact Islam is not in crisis, it neither was; it is
politically intolerant France’s racist secularism that is in crisis.
Some Muslim
Governments might be in crisis but not Islam as religion. Macron needs to learn
true secularism from Islamic republic of Iran which despite not calling herself
secular, but Jews and Zoroastrian minority can be seen enjoying complete
freedom of religious exercise with many of them representing their communities
in the Parliament.
Undoubtedly
the beheading of the school teacher and Church bishops is unacceptable,
likewise official approbation of blasphemy is not acceptable; and is in fact a
vile and uncivilized enactment.
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Dr. Muzaffar Shaheen
is Professor SKUAST- K
Original Headline: In Crisis: Islam or French
Secularism
Source: The Greater Kashmir
URL: ttps://newageislam.com/islam-west/islam-french-secularism;-crisis/d/123427
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