Failed integration?” “

Paris, Berlin, Brussels. But also Washington and Montreal. Muslims have demonstrated in recent days against the French law that bans religious signs in schools, and in particular the Islamic headscarf. Some 20,000 demonstrated in Paris, thousands in Berlin, but – explains the rector of the Paris mosque Dalil Boubakeur – the protest did not express the opinion “of the enormous and silent majority of Muslims” who believe in the democratic ways of concertation and dialogue”. We asked Father Hans Vöcking , co-moderator of the “Islam in Europe” Committee promoted by the CCEE and CEC, for his view. What Islam protested? “The discussion about the headscarf is not a phenomenon that is registered just among Muslims living in Europe, but in Islam in general, in Tunisia, Turkey and Indonesia. The fact is that both those who defend the thesis that women must wear the yashmak, and those who believe this obligation is not compulsory, derive justification from the same verse of the Koran (verse 59 of sura 33): for the former this is an absolute obligation, whereas for the latter it is only a recommendation. The discussion should be seen in the context of a wider debate. Lying behind it is a change in the status of women within Moslem society that began about a decade ago. And this whole change is focused on the question of the yashmak”. What about the demonstrations? “The demonstrations in Paris, Berlin and Brussels are the result of a policy promoted by some minority Moslem organizations and had a twofold objective: first, they want to impose a certain conception of Islamic society on Muslims, and this necessarily leads to a kind of isolation, placing those who follow these directives on the fringes of Western societies. The consequent objective is that of claiming a specific Islamic status in Western society”. Was it sensible to control this whole change by a new draft law? “I think that reducing so delicate a discussion to legislation was not a very prudent decision. It is understandable and normal to give directives to civil servants and public service employees who work in the public services, schools or healthcare, but proceeding with such a law meant automatically placing oneself in an impasse. I believe it would have been much more fruitful to leave to each school the freedom to decide what should be done on this issue, also because wearing the headscarf at school may often conceal a choice not to participate in some school courses”. There are those who say that the law conceals a failure of integration… “The fact that France has felt it necessary to draft a new law that bans the wearing of religious signs undoubtedly implies a failure in the system of integration between different peoples who live in the same territory. But it also has to be recognised that this lack of integration is often wanted by Muslims themselves who prefer sectarianism to dialogue”. The rector of the Paris mosque, however, has dissociated himself from the demonstrations, and urged Muslims not to participate… “In all European countries there are minority organizations that take extreme positions, alongside the great majority of moderate Muslims. It’s a pity that this majority, which is also the representation of the more moderate and integrated wing of Islam, has so little voice and that the news is always made by the more radical movement of Islam”.