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French Muslims wrongly portrayed, says expert

There is a distortion between the representation of Islam in France and sociological reality. We are in a crisis because of this discrepancy.

Dubai — In a climate of anti-Muslim hysteria, French media is wrongly portraying young Muslims as disenfranchised extremists despite their high level of integration into French society, according to a visiting French expert.

Olivier Roy, professor at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, said in an interview with Khaleej Times that “the typical Muslim, in the French media and in public opinion, is a young disenfranchised Muslim living in the suburbs and dealing either with drugs or with jihad.

He added: “There is a distortion between the representation of Islam in France and sociological reality. We are in a crisis because of this discrepancy.”

Roy, a widely respected authority on political Islam was in Dubai to host a French-language conference on Islam in France at the Alliance Francaise in Oud Metha on April 1.

He said young Muslims were being mischaracterised and that trend had accelerated after the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. “Since 9/11, we’ve had this stigmatisation,” he said. “Every time there is something wrong about Islam, a terrorist attack somewhere, then the so-called ‘community’ is requested to take its distance and make a statement.”

He cited examples of the January 7 shooting at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, in which 12 people were killed. In the month following the incident, the National Observatory Against Islamophobia recorded 214 anti-Muslim incidents, more than in all of 2014.

“The problem is that in France, and in Europe generally speaking, there is no such a thing as a single Muslim community,” he added. “It’s a very diverse population, from all points of view. Social status, first-generation origins, education and religious life.”

An estimated five million Muslims live in France, which represents about a third of the total number of Muslims in the European Union. According to data compiled by the Brookings Institution, France’s Muslim population comes from 123 national backgrounds, although nearly 75 per cent come from France’s former colonies in North Africa.

Roy said that, despite public opinion, French Muslims are far more integrated than widely believed, noting that Muslim members of the security forces and police were among the victims of the Charlie Hebdo attacks and the 2012 shootings at a Jewish school in Toulouse.

“We have a lot of Muslims in the security forces, and they are over-represented in the armed forces, among the rank and file,” Roy said, adding that by some estimates up to 15 per cent of the army comprises Muslim soldiers.

Despite the anti-Muslim sentiment of national political parties such as the conservative Front National, Roy said he is confident that over time they will grow to be more accepted by society at large.

“The hysteria will go on for the next years, because it is associated with the highs of the populist extremist movements,” he said.

 “But in the long term, I am more optimistic because of the breakthrough of Muslim citizens into middle and high classes,” he said

Roy said that external actors — such as the UAE — can help French Muslims by encouraging French citizens to become more involved in tailoring Islam to their society.

“They (the UAE) can contribute by promoting a French Muslim clergy,” he said. “The problem in France is that the Muslims don’t feel like French citizens. It should be a French Islam, in terms of language and feeling. There is a need to train Imams who are knowledgeable about European languages, culture and politics.”

bernd@khaleejtimes.com

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