|
French Muslims Reject Conditions on Mosque Subsidy
The French city of Strasbourg has angered local Muslim leaders by insisting they stop preaching in Arabic and help fight juvenile delinquency if they want a subsidy to help build a mosque. Mayor Fabienne Keller informed Muslim leaders last week that the municipal subsidy also required that they preach a âFrench Islamâ, guarantee womenâs rights and inform City Hall about their view on whether Muslim girls should wear head scarves.You want government money, you have to follow government rules. The association planning the Grand Mosque of Strasbourg rejected the demand and said it would rather forego the subsidy â amounting to 10 percent of the six million euro ($7.16 million) overall cost â than go along with the cityâs demands. âWeâre not asking for charity ...(we could) do without the cityâs help,â Abderrahim El Heloui, secretary-general of the mosque association, told the Dernieres Nouvelles dâAlsace daily in the eastern French city yesterday. "We have other sources of funding. Ali, place a call to Riyadh." On preaching only in French, he said: âThatâs a theological issue, politicians have nothing to do with it.â Most of Franceâs five million Muslims are of Arab North African origin. They consider themselves Muslims living in France, not French muslims. El Heloui also bristled at the suggestion that Muslim leaders help fight juvenile delinquency, saying it implied that the mosque was in regular contact with young lawbreakers. Yes, we have noticed that, itâs called "complicity". France launched a council of Muslim communities last year to help deal with issues such as construction subsidies, which the state offers to all recognized religions. Some politicians have said they hoped Muslim leaders would return the favor by exerting their supposed influence to bring more order to the unruly suburban slums where many Muslims live. France was trying to set up a French flavored brand of Islam, we all knew that was doomed to fail. El Heloui said the cityâs query about head scarves, which Paris is considering officially banning from public schools, was a political question he could not decide. âIf there is a ban, weâll be the first to Strasbourg, home to the European Parliament and Council of Europe, has for years debated the issue of whether it should allow its Muslim community to build a large central mosque. "One mosque to rule them all, one mosque to find them, One mosque to bring them all and in the darkness bind them." Posted by: Steve 2003-11-20 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=21521 |