Can Islam Be French?

Abstract

John R. Bowen’s Can Islam Be French? is divided into three parts. The firstpart, which includes chapters 1 and 2, provides a brief overview of Islam inFrance and addresses issues of migration, the rise of religion, the responseof the state, and the distinctive features of the French Islamic landscape.The second part consists of four chapters. Chapter 3 explores Islam inthe suburbs, Islamic networks, and the work of an everyday imam, as wellas mosques and social divisions. Chapter 4 examines the forces that shapeIslamic knowledge in the countries; the various rules, schools, and principlesused to interpret Islam; Hichem El Arafa’s Centre d’Etudes et de RecherchesSur l’Islam, the science of prophetic traditions, and the objectives ofScripture. Chapter 5 differentiates among the various schools of jurisprudencein Islam, the differing pedagogical approaches employed in teachingthe Muslim faith, the major influence of the Maliki madhhab in France, andthe practical training of preachers and scholars. Chapter 6, which wonderswhether Islamic schools can really be republican, examines the case ofDhaou Meskine’s Success School, how Muslim schools manage to teach asecular curriculum, Muslim family camp, and closes with coverage of Meskine’sarrest.Part 3 includes three chapters. Chapter 7 asks whether there should bean Islam for Europe and whether there should be different rules for differentlands, ideological confrontations in mosques, and the transnational Islamicsphere. Chapter 8 deals with issues such as secular and religious marriages, halal and haram food rules, as well as the attitude of French civil law towardIslamic practices. Finally, chapter 9 tackles Islamic spheres in republicanspace, whether religion-based associations impede integration, priorities andvalues, as well as pragmatics of convergence ...