Can Islam Be French? (ebook)

Argumento de Can Islam Be French? (ebook)

"Can Islam Be French? is an erudite and measured approach to one of the most fraught topics of our time."--Chantal Tetreault, POLAR

"John Bowen has written one of the most insightful books on Islam in France. He has done extensive field research in the sensitive suburbs of Paris and inside little-known Islamic institutions that are shaping the future of the religion in France. Bowen admirably shows how French Muslims are struggling not for minority status or multiculturalism, but for value pluralism, conciliating the secular Republican tradition while asserting a new faith community."--Olivier Roy, European University Institute, Florence

"Through a rich ethnography of normative practices such as pedagogies and legal reasonings, John Bowen has produced a rare and invaluable analysis of the making of a French Islam that owes as much to French legal and political constraints as to Muslims' engagement with the Islamic tradition. A required reading for scholars interested in religion and religious minorities in secularist states."--Malika Zeghal, University of Chicago

"Can Islam Be French? is utterly fascinating and engagingly written. Together with his previous book, Why the French Don't Like Headscarves, John Bowen has produced an unparalleled oeuvre on Islam in France."--Paul Silverstein, Reed College

"Mr. Bowen's latest book has a broader and more ambitious canvas. As a good anthropologist, he wants to know not just what the politicians and the media are saying about Islam in France, but what is actually happening on the ground. . . . Mr. Bowen thinks that Muslim values and French secularism could be compatible. But accommodation requires give-and-take on both sides. . . . Can Islam be French? After reading this book, one is inclined to say, 'Yes, but not yet.'"--Economist

"The book is richly documented, explicitly supportive of the Muslim point of view and deeply sympathetic to them."--Vaidehi Nathan, Organiser

"Bowen once again strengthens his position as one of the leading commentators on the French social landscape. What the study lacks in theoretical rigour is off set by a rigorous and vivid narration of the empirical material and by the author's extensive knowledge of the field. Together with Why the French Don't Like Headscarves, the English-speaking student of France and Islam will find here an excellent introduction."--Per-Erik Nilsson, Temenos

"The great merit of this book is not only that it empirically answers the question it asks, but in doing so, it opens up a series of questions pertaining to the place of Islam in France and the complex and different relations between citizenship and French religions in a postcolonial society."--Abdelmajid Hannoum, Contemporary Sociology

"[Bowen] makes an important contribution to both the anthropology of France and the anthropology of Islam in the West through his detailed discussion of different Islamic schools of religious interpretation and traditions of jurisprudence. By examining the myriad debates that define a global Islamic space, Bowen challenges stereotypes about the monolithic religion that prevail in the media and across the political spectrum. . . . Bowen does a remarkable job of sifting through and making sense of a vast array of approaches to Islamic norms and of differentiating meaningfully among different Islamic schools."--Susan Terrio, Anthropological Quarterly

"Bowen's study of Islam [in] a lesser-known social context is very welcome."--Jack David Eller, American Anthropology Review

"Bowen's study gives no quick and easy answers to this question; rather, it does an excellent job of examining the historical background and current developments that highlight the potentials for--as well as the challenges of--a pragmatic convergence between the norms and ideas of Islam and France."--Lee Ann Bambach, Journal of Law and Religion

"[A] major contribution to understanding the real world of Islam in France. . . . An insightful and informative study."--Choice0Acknowledgments xi

Part One: Trajectories 1

Chapter One: Islam and the Republic 3
Chapter Two: Fashioning the French Islamic Landscape 15
Migration Pathways 16
Residence and Boundaries 19
Religion Rising 21
Authorities 24
State Responses 25
Where to Sacrifice? 27
Where to Pray? 29
Distinctive Features 32

Part Two: Spaces 35

Chapter Three: Mosques Facing Outward 37
In the Unruly Suburbs (Clichy-sous-Bois) 37
Inside the Networks (Saint-Denis) 44
The Work of an Everyday Imam (Lyon) 51
Mosques and Social Divisions 58

Chapter Four: Shaping Knowledge to France 63
Rules, Schools, Principles 63
Hichem El Arafa's CERSI 66
The Science of Hadith 75
The Objectives of Scripture 81

Chapter Five: Differentiating Schools 85
Dimensions of Pedagogical Difference 85
Hichem's View 86
The Great Mosque of Paris 87
Teaching the "Middle Way" 89
Teaching the Four Traditions 92
Objectives and Imam M"lik 95
Foregrounding God's Objectives 96
What Nullifies Prayer--for a Maliki 100
When May a Judge Pronounce a Divorce? 102
Practical Training in an Islamic Ambiance 105
The Future 105
Institute of Useful Knowledge 106

Chapter Six: Can an Islamic School Be Republican? 110
Dhaou Meskine's Success School 111
A Teacher's Trajectory 112
School as Symbol 115
How to Teach a Secular Curriculum in a Muslim School 117
Civics and Gay Couples 118
Religion versus Culture 120
Evolution and Islam? 121
An Islamic Ambiance 124
Muslim Family Camp 125
Arrest 129

Part Three: Debates 133

Chapter Seven: Should There Be an Islam for Europe? 135
Thinking about Riba 137
Different Rules for Different Lands? 143
Confrontations in the Mosque 149
The Transnational Islamic Sphere 153

Chapter Eight: Negotiating across Realms of Justification 157
Between Hal"l and the Hôtel de Ville 158
Why the "Halal" Marriage? 162
Convergence I: From Islam to the Secular 165
The Objectives of Halal Rules for Food 169
Convergence II: From French Civil Law toward
Islamic Practices 173

Chapter Nine: Islamic Spheres in Republican Space 179
Do Religion-Based Associations Impede Integration? 180
Return to School 182
A National Islamic Sphere at Le Bourget 185
On Priorities and Values 188
The Primacy of Secularism 188
"Assimilation Defects" 191
Toward a Pragmatics of Convergence 196

Notes 199
Bibliography 217
Index 227