Constructing identity

During the annual meeting of the International Scientific Council of the Oasis Foundation, (www.oasiscenter.eu) that was concluded yesterday, June 23rd, in Venice, Azzedine Gaci, President of the Regional Council of Muslim religion (CRCM) for the Rhône Alpes region in France, expressed the wish to establish a “French Islam” that encompasses the formation of Imams. Oasis promotes the encounter and the mutual knowledge of Christians and Muslims. It was established in 2004 following the initiative of the Cardinal Patriarch of Venice Angelo Scola as the International Study and Research Centre, erected as Foundation this year. “Multicephalous” religious identity. “There are approximately six million Muslims living in France”, Gaci said presenting a snapshot of Islam in the Country. Most of them originally arrived from the Maghreb and from Africa, while many others are from Turkey, he explained. “Ten to twenty percent of this population – mostly Sunni Muslims – are practicing Muslims who regularly say their five daily prayers. This is one of the five pillars of Islam, along with the profession of faith, with the fasting in the month of Ramadan, compulsory charity and the pilgrimage to Mecca”. “In France, like elsewhere – the speaker pointed out – Muslims don’t have a clerical hierarchy like that of Catholicism, while the French Council for Muslim Worship” (CFCM, established in 2003, ed.’s note) “isn’t recognized by everyone as the ‘sole interlocutor’ with State establishment, since “the religious authority of Islam is multicephalous and no personality, however respected, can pretend to speak on behalf of all the Muslims”. Juridical schools and currents of thought. “There are two Islamic schools of law in France – continues CRCM President -the Malkite school, representing Muslims from the Maghreb region (Algeria, Morocco e Tunisia), and the Hanafite school encompassing Muslims from Turkey”, although “Islam comprises different movements and schools of thought”. Gaci examplified two of these schools: “the literalists, marked by a ‘literalist’ approach to the founding texts of Islam (Qur’an, Hadith) to which the context is adapted”, and the reformers, “who adopt a contextualised reading of the same” and “encourage adaptation to the European context, in full compliance with the preservation of the pillars of Islam”. “Threefold independence”. According to CRCM President, “Muslims in France are seeking to construct a ‘French Islam”. However, “a three-fold independence” is needed. It must be “void of foreign influences within it organization, in the construction of Mosques, and in the realm of inter-religious dialogue. It must be politically, financially and intellectually independent”. Lastly, “it ought to be practised freely and with no constraints”. Notably, there is the need “to establish a school for the formation of the Imams”. “French Muslims, the youth in particular – Gaci underlined – need Imams that will understand them, marked by a French cultural background that includes notions of French traditions and language”. At the same time, they ought to be capable of implementing “a deep and authentic interpretation of the founding texts while performing an appropriate analysis of the social, political and economic situations of Muslims living in France and across Europe”. As relates to worship, Gaci declared that “the construction/renovation of mosques” is one of the priorities along with the establishment of “Muslim sectors inside cemeteries” and of “chaplainships” in prisons, in the hospitals and in the army. Between identity and secularization. “With its over 1,500 places of worship – the speaker explained – Islam is the second religion in France”. This led to the establishment of CFCM in 2003, viewed as a “novelty in the framework of Islamic institutions in France”. “It did not work at its best” although “it resisted the attempts of destabilization and elimination performed inside and outside the community”. However, according to Gaci, the CFCM “ought to develop and evolve. It is tasked with finding solutions to inner problems and conflicts like the opposition among its leaders, lack of expertise, of planning capacities and communication, along with foreign influence”. As relates to the regional Councils for Islamic worship, these represent “a significant opportunity”, he explained. In fact, one of their objectives “consists in convincing local authorities that there is no solution to the current difficulties experienced by Muslims in France”, unless they are helped “create an identity within this deeply secularized Country. This identity includes the respect and the dignity of everyone – notably by combating discrimination, through social promotion and by granting Muslim faithful the possibility of practising their religion in dignified conditions”. Finally, the speaker encouraged the “dialogue with non-Muslims, in order to cooperate for the creation of a better future for all”.