A top Muslim leader in France has called on the Arab states to coordinate with Arab expatriate communities in Europe, saying that the power of these overseas residents should not be underestimated.
He urged Arabs to follow the examples of China, India and Turkey, whose expatriate communities all remit considerable resources to their homelands, pointing out that the economic potential of Arabs in Europe is equal to the entire income of the Arab countries.
However, in an interview with Albawaba.com, Khaldoun Hamada, a member of the Higher Council of French Muslims, observed that the differences among the different schools of thought and theology in Europe’s Muslim communities constitute the major barrier to tapping such potential.
Hamada, who is also a member of the Representative Council of French Muslims, the head of the Naqshabandi Institute, and a candidate for the EU Parliament, emphasized that France’s Muslim population was a potentially powerful political and economic ally for the Arab states.
Following are excerpts from the interview:
Q: How can a Muslim expatriate preserve his religious affiliation and practice religious rites in France?
A: In fact, the Muslims in France are not collectively or legally bound to be practicing Muslims. However, the majority is committed to Islam, and the new generation is making a noticeable return to Islam.
It’s a remarkable phenomenon [in France], that the higher their educational and financial status, the more committed to Islam these Muslims tend to be.
There is a noteworthy percentage of Muslims who have lost their identity and been assimilated by French society, who constitute about a third of the community, who now have children who are good Muslims.
Q: How big is the Muslim population in France?
A: The authorities say it’s five million, but we have our doubts. Our estimate is that there are 10 million Muslims in the country. The discrepancy can be attributed to the fact that there is illegal immigration to France from Muslim countries, in addition to the increasing number of French people who are converting to Islam.
Q: What is the rank of Islam in relation to other religions in France?
A: The French media says Islam is the second-largest religion in France. But taking into account the number of practicing Muslims versus practicing Catholics, the gap is narrowing. We believe the practicing Muslims will outnumber their Catholic compatriots within a few years.
Q: Has the extremist Islamic movement in North Africa had an effect in Europe in general, and particularly in France? We know that members of these groups have carried out terrorist attacks; has this harmed the image of Islam?
A: Yes, of course. We have suffered a lot from violent acts originating in North Africa. Bombs planted in subways have killed and injured dozens of people. Personally, I do not see any benefit from such attacks, or from the fatwas legalizing them. In my opinion, such acts, in which Muslims have been killed, smell suspicious.
Q: What was the exact nature of the harm done to the Muslim community by these attacks?
A: There was a time when relations were tense between the Islamic community and its institutions, on the one hand, and the French government and its security forces, on the other. But it’s been a long time since the attacks, and things have returned to normal.
Q: In such cases, do the French authorities carry out parallel procedures like deportation and arrests of community members?
A: What happened was that, against the backdrop of those incidents, 200 activists belonging to Islamist organizations were arrested, and most of them were referred to court.
But in reality, 97 percent of Muslims are living peacefully there. They are not being harassed, if we exclude the inconvenience caused by the media, which links Islam and terrorism.
Nevertheless, we have to put things straight here. France and most of the western world guarantee Muslim residents freedom and civil rights. Most of the Muslims and their families there have obtained citizenship. They just apply for it and receive it in no time. And the general guidelines for human rights are also being observed as far as Muslim minorities are concerned. The constitutions safeguard their right to practice their religious rites.
It is true that there are certain restrictions regarding building mosques, and the headcover. In sum, I can assert that 90 percent of [Muslim] religious practices are allowed in France, with some limitations. Muslims can hold meetings, publish newspapers and practice their religion with no pressure whatsoever from the authorities or society. In fact, we consider the margin of religious freedom we enjoy in France to be much wider than in most Arab and Muslim countries.
Q: What activities do Muslims carry out in France?
A: Muslims in France have more than 5,000 societies, as well as 2,000 mosques and halls for prayers. In addition, there are unions and federations representing Muslims at the regional levels, such as the ones for African Muslims, North African Muslims and Asian Muslims. The Turks have their own organization and own more than 200 mosques.
Of course, there are umbrella bodies such as the Federation of French Muslims, the Higher Council for French Muslims, and the Representative Council. These bodies cover most of the political and theological currents in the Muslim community.
There have also been efforts by the French government to hammer out a framework for Islamic activities, but I have my reservations, because I would rather we had no official version of Islam under the auspices of the French government.
We are trying to bring all Muslim efforts together on common ground, but due to language and national differences, it is not an easy task to gather African, Turkish, Bosnian and other Muslims.
Q. Is there any future possibility of uniting Muslims on the same grounds you talked about?
A. There will be common ground, including the French language, common interests and citizenship. Once Muslims are homogenized within French society, their original languages will disappear, their sons will become French-educated, and the French language will become their main uniting factor. Joint Muslim efforts will then start in France, and this is what we are working for, particularly through cooperation with Muslims of French origin. These people are very important for us, because they play large and effective parts in enhancing various Islam’s role in France.
Q. What is the political value of a Muslim individual in France? Does he have any weight?
A. According to some estimates, the number of French Muslim voters ranges between one and three million, which constitutes an important bloc.
The French attempted to avoid this issue in the beginning, with the understanding that all are French citizens, but they have recently started to acknowledge that there is a French Muslim vote. Muslims have played key roles in the French elections over the past 20 years. Eighty-five percent of their votes went to Francois Mitterrand in 1981, and almost the same percentage in 1988.
Throughout the past 20 years, we have had tens and perhaps hundreds of French Muslims elected to state and local councils. Muslims have started, over the past few years, to focus intense and unwavering attention on political life. Hundreds and even thousands of Muslims ran in the municipal elections that ended recently. Many of the candidates won seats in Paris municipal councils. Others won seats in the provincial councils, and we now have five French members of Muslim origin representing France in the European Parliament.
Q. Are there any Muslim members of the French Parliament?
A. To become a member of the French Parliament is something difficult. But we are working on a plan to prepare 200 Muslims to run in next year’s elections. If we succeed in this step, it will be a great achievement.
Q. You said that 85 percent of Muslims voted for the late Francois Mitterrand. Can we say that these votes contributed to his victory?
A. Had these voters not backed Mitterrand, he wouldn’t have lost the elections. But the Muslim vote is important, even if it was not decisive, and it may become of great weight, because most Muslims voted for Chirac in the first round of presidential elections in order to defeat Bladier. This is due to the fact that we had our suspicions regarding his conservative attitude towards Arabs and Muslims.
Voting for Chirac has defeated Bladier, but unfortunately, when the Jupier government assumed power, it stood against Arabs and Muslims, particularly on issues like residency permits and citizenship laws. This elicited a negative response from Muslim voters, who then supported the left wing in the parliamentary elections, which led to a leftist majority in Parliament. The left wing has actually amended laws and returned things to normal. Socialists give Muslims their full financial, housing, social and financial aid rights, but they do not want to mention Islam at all. This means that they are sensitive to the issue, but if French Muslims demand their economic or social rights as French citizens, and not as Muslims, they give them these privileges to the maximum extent.
We anticipate that Muslims’ votes and roles, and their impact on the French elections in particular and European elections in general, will increase over time. The Muslim vote will be an important element in European politics in the years to come.
Q. How can you make use of the Arab Muslim economic power in Europe?
A. The Arab countries have so far failed to note this point. Muslims in France and Europe constitute a hefty economic power. For example, if we calculate the share of the five million French Muslims in the French national economy at US$24,000 in annual per capita income, it comes out to US$120 billion. This huge share exceeds the national income of Saudi Arabia together with most GCC countries.
But if we take the 20 million Muslims in Europe and calculate their share of the European economy as a whole, at US$20,000 in annual per capita income, it amounts to US$400 billion. This figure is many times more than the income of all the Arab countries. The 20 million Muslims in Europe will have their own investment, consumption and economic power in the years ahead. The Arab countries should pay attention to these expatriates, not only from religious and political perspectives, but also from economic angles. These Muslims and Arabs are capable of investing, technology transfer, consumption, and purchases of Arab products including computer programs, language education programs, and even dates and other products.
Muslim communities in Europe can also send millions of tourists to the Arab World. This year, 21,000 Muslims left France for Mecca for the Haj pilgrimage, and 15,000 for the Umrah. Therefore, France is the biggest European exporter of pilgrims, since the total number of European pilgrims is 100,000 annually. The economic aspect of this type of tourism is very important.
Q. Is there any multifaceted contact or coordination between the Islamic associations and Arab countries?
A. Unfortunately, coordination and cooperation between Arab countries and Arab and Muslim communities in Europe are still in their infancy. We hope that Arabs and Muslims will recognize the effectiveness of the lobby that these communities can form to promote Islamic and Arab issues in Europe.
We do not want to talk about the Arab and Israeli lobbies in the western world, because this is a complicated issue. But I would like to raise the examples of the Armenian and Greek lobbies, which have bruised Turkey and damaged its political position. Armenians in Europe have succeeded in making Turkey appear as a criminal nation that committed crimes against Armenians and expelled them from their homeland. Greeks also put pressure on Turkey and succeeded in delaying its European Union moves. Other lobbies, such as the Indian and Chinese lobbies, are also playing effective roles in the interests of their motherlands.
But Arabs will one day recognize the importance of the Arab and Muslim communities in Europe in supporting their major, sensitive and vital issues and interests -- Albawaba.com
