When France’s Senate and National Assembly approved a ban on head scarves and other “conspicuous” religious symbols in French schools, the outcry among the Muslim community was great. Indeed, to much of the Western world, France’s action to bar what most Muslims see as a “religious duty” looked like a fatwa in reverse.
Strikes, sit-ins and other strong protests by Muslims in France were expected for the first week of the school year. But the predicted clash of cultures failed to appear. About one hundred girls around France refused to remove their scarves before entering the classroom. A few were reported to wear wigs and bandannas in an attempt to circumvent the ban.
Attention, instead, was riveted on the kidnapping of two French journalists by Iraqi insurgents who demanded that France abolish its ban on religious attire.
The reaction of some Muslim leaders to this extortion effort was unexpectedly clear and sharp–and welcome.
Muslims raised their voices to decry the kidnapping. Sheik Ahmad Kuftaro, the grand mufti of Syria, called for the release of the two French reporters. (Tragically, Kuftaro died the same day.)
Mohamed Bechari, of the French Council for the Muslim Religion, rebuffed the demands of the Iraqi hostage-takers. Bechari said the dispute over the scarf ban was “a purely French” matter.
In some ways, the scarf ban has created more ties between Muslim and non-Muslim communities. “We are now witnessing the birth of a European Islam,” said Paris professor Jacqueline Costa-Lascoux. And perhaps witnessing a new awareness among Muslim leaders around the world that terrorists who act in the name of Islam are a danger, a threat, to them too.
“It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims,” said Abdel Rahman al-Rashed, general manager of the television station Al Arabiya. “What a pathetic record. What an abominable `achievement.’ Does this tell us anything about ourselves, our society and our culture?”
It is important that Muslim leaders loudly repudiate the words and deeds of fundamentalists who commit heinous acts in the name of their religion. Last week, there were some small victories in that front of the war on terror.
