Secular and sacred meet in new ‘Islam of France’
PARIS — France’s interior minister convened Muslim leaders Monday to discuss a French-style Islam that honors the nation’s secular values, a task given new urgency after deep divisions surfaced over burkini bans in 30 French beach towns and after terror attacks that also stigmatized Muslims.
A high court struck down the burkini bans Friday, but the highpitched debate that quickly seeped into France’s political sphere revealed raw tensions between the secular establishment and sectors of France’s estimated 5 million Muslims, the largest Muslim population in Western Europe.
The July 14 attack on revelers in Nice, the killing of a priest in Normandy on July 26 and the June killing of a police couple in their home — all claimed by the Islamic State group — have focused tensions on Muslims.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve warned in an interview with France’s Roman Catholic newspaper La Croix that if the political class cannot unite all French, “the dynamics of division may prove dangerous.” However, he ruled out drafting a national law banning burkinis.
The conference bringing together Muslim leaders, civil society and others is the latest step in creating an “Islam of France” that respects French secular values. Muslims must be “committed to a total defense of the Republic in the face of terrorism, in the face of Salafism,” Cazeneuve told the paper, adding French values must “transcend all others.”
In France, the interior minister is charged with maintaining good relations with religious denominations.
“What is at stake is very important,” said Abdallah Zekri, who heads the Observatory Against Islamophobia. “Firstly, we must end the arguments over the burkini, which make no sense.”