ReligioscopeSwissMinaretBan

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The SwiSS MinareT Ban:

iSlaM in queSTion

Edited by Ptc h and Stp ltWith an Afterword by o r

Translated by Tm Gc

2011


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Religioscope InstitteGrandPlaces 14

P.O. Box 831705 FriborgSwitzerland

www.religion.infowww.religioscope.org

This book can be downloaded for free from the website:

www.minaret.li

Originally pblished as Les Minarets de la Discorde, Infolio Gollion 2009.

Cover photo: Peter Dolinsky - Dreamstime.com

2011 Religioscope for this edition.


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ConTenTS

ForewordSwitzerland withot Minarets .................................................7

Jean-Franois Mayer

In the Shadow of the Minaret:Origins and Implications of a Citizens Initiative......................... 10

Jean-Franois Mayer

> Citizens Initiatives in Switzerland ................................... 17

Stphane Lathion

The Minaret in the History of Islam ....................................... 19

Rachid Benzine

> Islam in Switzerland:Figres .................................................................... 23

GRIS and Religioscope Institute

Cltral Challenge:Islamic Architectre Crosses into the West ............................... 25

Stphane Lathion

> Oskar Freysinger:Lets Not Be the Victims of Mlticltralism ....................... 40

Patrick Haenni and Stphane Lathion

The Conqest of the West Will Not Take Place ........................... 42

Patrick Haenni and Samir Amghar


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Contents

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> Antonio Hodgers:Fndamentalist Criticism of Islam is also Dangeros .............. 54

Stphane Lathion

A Minaret Ban in the Federal Constittion? .............................. 56

Erwin Tanner

> Daniel Zingg:Defending Switzerlands Christian Roots ............................ 66

Jean-Franois Mayer

Bilding Chrches in Islamic Lands Today ................................. 68

Laure Guirguis

> Ender Demirtas:the Initiative is Jst the Beginning of a Slippery Slope ........... 73


From Minarets to the Mslim Qestion:the New Critiqe of Islam ................................................... 75

Olivier Moos

The Minarets:No Mslim Rage ............................................................... 82

Husam Tammam

From the Top of the Minaret:Symbols and Social Obliviosness .......................................... 87

Olivier Moos and Patrick Haenni


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Contents

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AfterwordIslam in Erope:an Ordinary Religion Like Any Other ...................................... 90

Olivier Roy

The contribtors ............................................................. 96


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F

SwiTzerland wiThouT MinareTS

Jean-Franois Mayer

On 29 November 2009 Swiss voers approved by 57.5% he proposal oinroduce a ban on building minares on Swiss erriory ino he Federal Con-siuion.

Te resul surprised large pars o he media and poliical class. Te mos

recen opinion polls had prediced ha he iniiaive would be rejeced, noinga gradual increase in suppor as voing day approached.

Tis book was originally published in French and Arabic prior o he voe, inNovember 2009. Because o inernaional ineres in he Swiss debae and he

voe on minares, he book is now being published in a number o oher lan-guages. Excep or he aerword, he books conens are largely unchanged,

wih some minor adapaions; he inormaion and analyses provided beorehe voe remain as valid now as hen.

Tis oreword aims briey o revisi he voe and is consequences: wha hap-pened on 29 November 2009 and why?

Te iniiaive was chiey suppored by poliicians rom he Democraic Uniono he Cenre (SVP/UDC), a righwing pary ha is currenly he counrysmos powerul in erms o is number o depuies, and he Federal DemocraicUnion (EDU/UDF), a small evangelical conservaive pary. Te oher polii-

cal paries, he governmen, he majoriy o parliamen, as well as he RomanCaholic Church, he Reormed (Proesan) Churches and he main evan-gelical umbrella organisaion, all recommended ha he iniiaive be rejeced.

Very ew inellecuals or public gures declared hemselves in avour o he banon minares.

Ye he iniiaive passed wih a clear majoriy and wih a paricipaion raeo 53.4% o regisered voers, a very respecable rae compared wih he Swiss

average (remembering ha, in Swizerland, ciizens are called on o voe severalimes a year).


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Switzerland withot Minarets

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We are hereore aced wih a chasm beween he counrys ruling classes(poliical, culural, economic and religious) and he majoriy o is people which represens a real repudiaion o he esablishmen. I also explains hemisleading resuls o he opinion polls beore he voe: many supporers o he

minare ban were hesian o admi o heir voing inenions, knowing heywould be perceived as no being poliically correc. Aer he resul had beenannounced, however, opinions were expressed ar more openly.

In January 2010, an analysis o he voe, led by he researchers Hans Hirer andAdrian Vater, was published in he Vox series o he Research Insiue gs.bern.I revealed ha he righwing/lewing spli had srongly shaped he voe over80% o lewing voers had rejeced he ban. Bu i was he poliical cenre whichmade he dierence: cenris voers had suppored he iniiaive a a rae o wo-o-one, enabling i o succeed. As one migh have expeced, he higher he levelo educaion atained, he weaker he suppor or he iniiaive was.

Anoher imporan nding o he Vox analysis was ha xenophobia alone(bearing in mind ha over 80% o Muslims living in Swizerland have or-eign naionaliy) canno explain he resul. Fory percen o hose voers whoconsidered hemselves open o he res o he world, and o he inegraiono oreigners, noneheless voed agains he minares. Ye conrary o wha

one migh have expeced, ew emale lewing voers approved o he iniia-ive: only 16% voed yes less han male lewing voers. In oher words, heimpac o he eminis voe was probably over-esimaed in some o he earlypos-resul analyses.

Te mos requenly menioned moive o supporers o he iniiaive was hewish o give a clear signal agains he expansion o Islam and he ype o socieyassociaed wih his religion. As several aricles in he rs pre-voe ediions o

his book already demonsraed, he voes real objecive was no he minareas such. Raher, he minare was being urned ino a symbol o he issues raised

by Islam. Te arge o he ban was Islam isel, no Muslim immigrans. Iner-esingly, urban cenres, where he majoriy o Muslims live, ended o rejec he

ban, whereas i was passed, someimes wih massive suppor, in rural zoneswih ew or no Muslim inhabians.

Islam has a real image problem in he Wes oday. According o he Vox analysis,

87% o all voers (supporers and opponens o he iniiaive) agree wih heollowing saemen: Islam oppresses women.


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Switzerland withot Minarets

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Across Europe, mosque-building projecs requenly cause conroversy. Teirconsrucion is perceived as a symbolic occupaion o he public sphere. More

widely, signs o Islams visibiliy provoke reacions. Winess he debaes on heIslamic headscar in cerain counries, and more recenly abou he burqa or

niqab (a ull-body or ace-masking veil). Public opinion in oher Europeancounries clearly sympahised wih he Swiss voe: i is likely ha oher coun-ries would reurn similar resuls i he opic was pu o he voe.

Among Swiss Muslims, reacions o he voe were moderae. Muslims hadmosly oped or discreion during he campaign so as no o add uel o here, a choice some o hem now regre. In any case, he voe does no changeMuslims daily lie or religious pracices. Tere are only our minares in Swi-

zerland none o hem used or he call o prayer and Muslims can coninueo lead heir religious lives in perec reedom wihou minares.

Reacions o he voe in Muslim counries were vigorous, boh on he paro naional governmens and he Organisaion o he Islamic Conerence(OIC). Swizerland has been criicised or a voe seen as Islamophobic,and asked o cancel i, a reques ha clearly misundersands he naure and

workings o Swiss democracy. On he oher hand, in spie o he odd minor

inciden, here has been no susained campaign agains Swizerland since hevoe. While he voe migh seem bizarre, i does no have he oensive naureo, say, he Danish caroons aair.

Te Swiss poliical sysem has allowed he unusual inroducion ino he Fed-eral Consiuion o an aricle ha seems, raher, o belong among buildingregulaions, bu he Swiss voe is less o an anomaly han i migh appear. Irepresens he Swiss expression o he emergence o a Muslim issue in he

Wes. Te hisorian Urs Alermat considers Swizerland o be a precursor inhis area: or him, he voe has marked a denie sep in he European debae(NZZ am Sonnag, 6 December 2009).


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in The Shadow oF The MinareT:

oriGinS and iMPliCaTionS

oF a CiTizenS iniTiaTiveJean-Franois Mayer

Amids he noise o odays grea ciies, he uure o he call o prayer romminares remains uncerain, according o he Islamic ar hisorian Proessor

Jonahan Bloom o Boson College, a specialis in minares. And ye hey will

coninue o be buil o serve as silen bu visible symbols o Islam he worldover.

Te symbolic naure o he minare has acquired a cenral place in he poliicaldebae in Swizerland oday: bu larger anxieies and issues hide behind heminare quesion. o undersand hese, one has o go back o he origins o heciizens iniiaive aimed a prohibiing he consrucion o minares, on whichhe Swiss voed on 29 November 2009.

Paradoxically, minares are rare in Swizerland. When he conroversy saredin 2005, only wo had been buil. Te Zurich minare had been inauguraed in1963. Eigheen meres all, i sands above he litle mosque o he Ahmadiyyamovemen, whose rs missionaries arrived in Swizerland in 1946. (Ahmadisare srongly opposed by oher Muslims: considered non-Muslim in Pakisanand elsewhere, hey are denied access o Mecca.)

Te second minare is in Pei-Saconnex in Geneva. weny-wo meres high,

i has dominaed he mosque and cenre o he Islamic Culural Foundaionsince 1978. Te edice was inauguraed in he presence o he Swiss presidenand he Saudi king.

In he nearly 30 years ha ollowed, no oher minares were buil in Swizer-land. Ye hroughou his period, Islam here developed rapidly, especially asa resul o immigraion rom urkey and he Balkans. During hose hree dec-ades, he Muslim world was urbulen: conroversies surrounding Islamism

and jihadism made headlines in he Swiss media as much as anywhere else.


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In the Shadow of the Minaret: Origins and Implications of a Citizens Initiative

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I was in his wholly dieren conex ha he minare quesion was broughino he Swiss poliical debae. On 10 January 2005, he projec o a urkishassociaion in Wangen (Canon o Solohurn) or a symbolic minare wiha heigh o ve o six meres reached he public-noicaion sage o obaining

planning permission. Te projec encounered a wave o opposiion, includinga peiion o 400 signaures, and was rejeced by he owns building commis-sion. In July 2006, his rejecion was revoked by he canon auhoriies on hesole condiion ha he minare mus no be used or calls o prayer. A Novem-

ber 2006 decision by he Adminisraive Cour urher emphasised ha headdiion o a minare would in no way aler he naure o he building, which

was already being used as a place o prayer. Te polemic was prolonged by anumber o appeals, unil a Federal Cour judgmen rejeced hem on 4 July

2007. Te minare was nally inauguraed a he end o June 2009.

Te minare crowning an Albanese Islamic cenre in Winerhur was erecedin May 2005 wihou arousing much conroversy, bu he re was smouldering

by hen. Te Wangen aair riggered he ounding o a movemen. For somepoliicians bu also some worried ciizens he minare became he sign o arampan Islamisaion o Swizerland. Tis was el all he more srongly when like warning signs o an impending menace oher building projecs were

announced in he ollowing monhs. In boh Langenhal (Canon o Bern) andWil (Sank Gallen), Islamic communiies submited building plans or mina-res, speciying in each case ha hese would have a merely symbolic uncionand no be used or calls o prayer. Bu he very idea o a symbol roubled someciizens as much as he hypoheical noise o a muezzin chaning.

In Langenhal, a peiion gahered no less han 3,500 signaures, and 76 appealswere pu o he owns building auhoriies. Langenhal is a paricularly ineres-

ing case because i has a Sikh emple (gurdwara). Open since 2006, he empleis no a convered indusrial building bu an edice specially consruced oruse by Sikhs, pained a brillian and very visible whie, wih a ower opped bya golden arrow. While building projecs or places o worship (including Chris-ian ones) have been known o mee wih opposiion rom neighbours or a

variey o reasons, he consrucion o a Sikh, Hindu or Buddhis emple hasnever provoked he same oucry as a Muslim cenre. Te reacions agains min-ares can hereore no be narrowly caegorised as xenophobia. Te moives o

opponens may vary, bu Islam is he arge o quie specic anxieies.


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Te increasing hosiliy owards minares seemed o resul rom a combinaiono scatered public commens and a willingness on he par o cerain polii-cal orces o appropriae hese preoccupaions. On he poliical righ, he veryacive Democraic Union o he Cenre (SVP/UDC) ook possession o he

heme o Islam and is dangers, even in canons where no minares were beingproposed. In Sepember 2005, he canonal SVP/UDC in he Valais proposedo he parliamen here ha he building o mosques be made subjec o spe-cial permission: he proposal was swep aside by 96 voes agains 5 (Le emps,15 Sepember 2005). From November 2005 onwards, in he wake o he Wan-gen aair, he Solohurn SVP/UDC ook he oor in he canonal parliamenin order o hal he consrucion o obrusive religious buildings, emphasis-ing ha every new building o a religious naure should be made subjec o

special approval by he local governmen. Te governmens response was halegislaing o preven he spread o cerain religions under cover o buildingregulaions would be discriminaory and arbirary, and conradic he Consi-uion (Neue Zrcher Zeiung, 1 March 2006). In Sepember 2006, he SVP/UDC gahered jus enough voes in Zurich o orce he governmen here oexamine a parliamenary iniiaive ha was aimed a revising he law on ownand counry planning in such a way as o prohibi he consrucion o mina-res in he canon alhough no new projec o he sor exised. As a depuy

acknowledged, a ban on minares would no solve he problem, bu he peo-ple expec heir parliamen and governmen o come up wih measures againshe Islamic peril. Oher paries, by conras, warned agains he danger o ide-ologising building regulaions (ages-Anzeiger, 5 Sepember 2006).

Faced wih his increased criicism o Islam ocused on he minare, someMuslims were indignan; ohers ried o deuse he debae by reassuring heirellow ciizens. Tus Nadia Karmous, presiden o he Associaion culurelle

des emmes musulmanes de Suisse (Muslim Womens Culural Associaion oSwizerland), ried o encourage good relaions wih he Swiss general public.For her, exising echnology such as compuer programmes, auomaed signalson porable phones, alarm clocks, ec, mean here was no need or a minareor anyone o nd ou he ime or prayer (Le Main, 8 Sepember 2006).

Te Caholic bishop o Basel, Kur Koch, suppored as a mater o principle herigh o Muslims o have a minare as a sign o ideniy a minare being no

more o a problem or him han a church spire, as long as building regulaionswere respeced (Neue Zrcher Zeiung am Sonnag, 3 Sepember 2006).


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Tis analogy beween a minare and a church spire was rejeced by hoseopposed o minares. For hem, he minare was a sign o power and con-ques, a poliical and religious symbol ha endangered religious peace inhe counry, as was allegedly proved by he reacions ha each new building

projec provoked.

In Sepember 2006, opponens o minares who came rom a variey obackgrounds and had in some cases already been acive in he conroversies inWangen, Langenhal, Wil or Winerhur believed hey were riding high. Teygahered in Egerkingen (Solohurn) o organise and discuss launching ciizensiniiaives. Te iniiaive agains minares originaed wih his EgerkingenCommitee. I had iniially conemplaed including oher issues as well. Bu

he visually sriking symbol o he minare seemed o be he mos appropriaehook or atemping o curb wha he auhors o he iniiaive saw as he expan-sion o Islam and he incompaibiliy beween Muslim law and Swiss law.

A quick reminder o he conex is he July 2005 bomb atacks in London, hewave o anger provoked by he Danish caroons a he beginning o 2006, ec.Tese evens, amply commened upon in he media, had creaed a climae haencouraged a discourse criical o Islam. Addiionally here had been many

smaller incidens a he local or regional level over he years, o do wih heMuslim headscar, Islamic squares in cemeeries, or Muslim girls exempedrom swimming or PE lessons. Tese conribued o an image o oreigners ha

was no always posiive, and hey increased suspicions ha some oreignersreused o inegrae. In 2007, he own o Buchs (Aargau) rejeced he naurali-saion reques o a urkish woman who had been living in Swizerland since1981, because i considered her wearing o he headscar as proo ha she hadinsufcienly assimilaed he key values o Swiss sociey and hough she had

undamenalis endencies. Tis decision was annulled by he Federal Cour in2008. Te minare debae coalesced all o hese ricions.

Te ciizens iniiaive was launched in May 2007. Wih deliberae or unwi-ing irony, he ofcial presenaion ook place in a uncion room o he HoelKreuz (meaning cross or crucix)! How hard i is o escape symbolism Tecommitee was ormed by members o he SVP/UDC and he Federal Demo-craic Union (EDU/UDF), a small evangelical Chrisian pary. Te ex had he

meri o simpliciy: i waned o add a paragraph 3 o Aricle 72 o he FederalConsiuion which would declare ha he building o minares is prohibied.Te SVP/UDCs Naional Councillor Ulrich Schler, who described himsel as


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respecul o Islam, once again dispued ha minares were religious in naureand expressed surprise ha Muslims living in Swizerland should suddenly eelhe need or minares, when hey had been conen wih prayer rooms or dec-ades. Te EDU/UDFs Naional Councillor Chrisian Waber wen much urher,

explaining ha he did no consider Islam a religion bu a declaraion o war onhe Chrisian world and oher aihs (Neue Zrcher Zeiung, 4 May 2007).

Te iniiaive commitee needed o collec a leas 100,000 valid signaures in18 monhs. As o ha momen, he Swiss auhoriies began o worry abouhe possibiliy o inernaional repercussions, in paricular aer a repor had

been broadcas on he saellie channel Al Jazeera. During a meeing o heUN Alliance o Civilisaions in Madrid, he Swiss oreign miniser, Micheline

Calmy-Rey, explained o he Secreary-General o he Organisaion o heIslamic Conerence (OIC) ha she had condence in he good judgmen ohe Swiss (La Liber, 16 January 2008). Tis did no sop an OIC repor womonhs laer rom being preoccupied wih he developmen o Islamophobiain Swizerland.

Evenually 115,000 signaures were led a he Federal Chancellery in Bern on8 July 2008. During he press conerence, a SVP/UDCs MP, Dominique Bae-

ig, siuaed he iniiaive in a wider ramework: Islam oday seems o providea simple, virile and combaive sense o ideniy or poor and prolic popula-ion groups, who have se ou o conquer wealh and consumer goods wiha view o avenging he humiliaions hey have suered (). Te esablished

values o our culure olerance, gender equaliy, respec, dialogue are husdesabilised by massive immigraion, which is secrely susained by miliansin he war agains moderniy, a moderniy whose weakness owards hem heydespise. Tere was no quesion o leting an inoleran impored pracice

() plan is ag o revengeul conronaion. In he name o Swiss values,one had o demand discreion and resrain.

Wih unusual speed, he ederal governmen ook a sand agains he iniiaivein a long message on 27 Augus 2008. However, i reused o nulliy i. Whilehe iniiaive violaed cerain undamenal righs, he governmen argued, idid so wihou inringing he imperaives o inernaional law, since i did nopreven Muslims rom orming a religious convicion and living in accordance

wih ha convicion. Neverheless, he governmens analysis was harsh: heiniiaive waned o impose an unnecessary and disproporionae prohibiion,which would be a de aco resricion o religious reedom; he iniiaive clearly


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missed is goal o checking he growh o Islam in Swizerland and preveningour legal sysem rom being supplaned by Sharia law because a mosque migh

be requened wih good or evil inenions, wheher i had a minare or no;he iniiaive also inroduced an inequaliy o reamen, since i only argeed

he Muslim communiy. Te governmen urher considered ha he iniiaivewould damage he counrys ineress and would no help reduce he discrimi-naion suered by Chrisians in Muslim counries, bu raher he opposie.

Te ederal governmen urhermore recalled an hisorical ac: he 1848 and1874 Consiuions had conained clauses ha were discriminaory owardshe Roman Caholic Church (he expulsion o Jesuis rom Swiss erriory, a

ban on new convens and he creaion o new bishoprics wihou he govern-

mens agreemen). Te clauses regarding Jesuis and convens were repealed in1973, bu he aricle limiing he creaion o bishoprics did no disappear unil2001. Unil ha dae, i eaured in Paragraph 3 o Aricle 72 o he FederalConsiuion he very same passage ino which he auhors o he ciizensiniiaive waned o inroduce he ban on building minares.

A majoriy in boh chambers o Parliamen declared he iniiaive legally valid,bu recommended ha ciizens rejec i: by 36 voes o 3 in he Council o Sae,

129 voes o 50 in he Naional Council. Te debae was launched hroughpress aricles, conerences, websies, and radio and elevision broadcass. obegin wih, none showed grea originaliy, wih he argumens on boh sidesseeming o rework he same hemes. Te opponens o he iniiaive consideredi discriminaory and an atack on religious reedom, and declared ha i wasmore likely o preven he inegraion o Muslims. Conversely, he iniiaivesadvocaes believed ha i signalled a rejecion o any Islamic conques men-aliy, ha i would help avoid ensions during uure minare-building projecs

and ha i would encourage he Muslim communiy o adap o Swizerlandsrules and modus operandi. For anyone approaching he issue dispassionaelyand in he ligh o he resuls ha oher measures o a symbolic naure havehad, such as he ban on osenaious religious signs in French schools (prin-cipally he Islamic headscar, alhough some Sikhs wearing urbans have alsoel is eecs), i would have been difcul o decide or one camp or he oher

based on heir expecaions.

In all cases, however, such an observer would have noiced ha he debaealways shied away rom he specic minare quesion o Islam and is variousmaniesaions. Te shadow o he minare covered a muliude o more or less


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sensiive subjecs. Tus he SVP/UDF announced, or example, ha i wanedo emphasise argumens such as reciprociy [or Chrisian places o worshipin Muslim counries], respec or Swizerlands Chrisian hisory and culure,he indierence o moderae Muslims vis-a-vis he iniiaive and he deermi-

naion shown by Islamic undamenaliss in rying o place Sharia above heconsiuional sae (Impulsion, ofcial UDF mouhpiece, May 2009).

In he spring o 2009, he Isopublic Insiue conduced an opinion poll on asample o 1,000 people. Wha is paricularly ineresing are he reasons peo-ple wre giving or supporing he iniiaive. Few menioned he minare as asign o power, or he noise ha migh be creaed in he unlikely even o amuezzin using i. Te our main reasons or voing Yes appeared o be he con-

vicion ha minares do no belong in Swiss landscape or culure; he belieha Islam is inoleran and hampers he building o churches in he counry;ear o Islams excessive inuence and expansion; and he idea ha Muslimsshould adap and inegrae.

Tere are oher debaes concerning religious buildings in Swizerland oday.For insance, an associaion ha is acive in German-speaking Swizerland

brings ogeher people who are bohered by he noise o church bells (and

hereore also cowbells). Te associaion claims i would be equally commi-ed o limiing he sound emissions rom minares i muezzins ever used hemor calls o prayer. Bu he minare debae diers rom such worries abounoise and rafc, alhough hey migh be graed ono i in he case o heavilyrequened places o worship. Te minare debae is a phase and, or Swi-zerland, perhaps a urning poin in he wider debae on Islam and is placein he Wes. Tis wider debae would be aking place even i he unexpecedciizens iniiaive had never seen he ligh o day, and does no concern Swi-

zerland alone. Bu i has orced boh poliicians and ciizens o conron heseissues head-on. Ta is why he iniiaive, and he discussions surrounding i,deserve our atenion and represen much more han an anecdoal episode.


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CITIZENS INITIATIVES IN SWITZERLAND

Stphane Lathion

T Pcp

The right to citizens initiatives is key to Swiss democracy. It allowsindividals involved in politics or a grop of citizens to force a vote on aproposed revision of the Constittion. This revision may consist of adding,removing or altering one of the Constittions articles. The right exists atboth the cantonal and federal levels. At the cantonal level, the initiative

can in addition be sed to propose draft legislation.

h it ws

An initiative committee, linked for example to a political party or apressure group, les its proposal at the Federal Chancellery. It then haseighteen months to collect a minimm of 100,000 signatres.

If the nmber of signatres is obtained within the allotted timeframe, thegovernment will examine the initiative and determine whether it is admis-sible. If its objective violates an international treaty, it is not admissible.

Where an initiative has been declared admissible, the Federal Concil mstsbmit it to the vote within a reasonable timeframe. Meanwhile, Parlia-ment may formlate and propose a conter-proposal to the initiative. Aconter-proposal sally recycles the spirit of the initiative bt redcesits scope.

To be passed, an initiative mst win a doble majority: this means notjst a majority of votes bt a majority of cantons, too (at least 14 of Swit-zerlands 26 cantons).

Pps

Initiatives help grops on the margins of the political system (small par-ties, pressre grops) to pt their demands directly in the political arena,rather than go throgh traditional representative bodies.


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Initiatives rarely pass: fewer than 15 of the 160 initiatives sbmitted since1891 have been sccessfl. This does not mean they are ineffective: initia-tives can work indirectly and in different ways:

They inuence the political debate. Initiatives are sometimes intendedto make the political system aware of certain qestions, rather than pshthrough specic demands.

They raise awareness within the political system of specic questions,sanctioned by pblic opinion and the peoples vote, whose importancewold otherwise have escaped decision-makers.

As a reslt, even when an initiative fails, its initiators are not necessarily

the losers. An initiative has effects that can be measred not jst by itsability to win the poplar vote, bt also by the impact of the vote in thepolitical arena. The higher the initiative scores, the more likely the politi-cal system will integrate the general thrst of its demands.

So a citizens initiative assmes its role in the Swiss Confederation throghits wider impact rather than throgh the reslt itself (only 10% of initia-tives pass). As one of the advocates of the anti-minarets initiative pointedot: Ive signed initiatives even where I didnt totally agree with the con-

tents, jst to force a debate.


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The MinareT in The hiSTory oF iSlaM

Rachid Benzine

Each ime Islam, or he presence o Muslims in Europe, is seen as a problem,religious exs or hisory books are combed or argumens ha back up heposiions o he various ineresed paries. Tis is happening now wih hedebae over wha he minare means. We need o recall some hisorical acsabou his cenral elemen o mosque archiecure, and hen consider how per-inen such hisorical perspecives are.

Te minare is no more par o he origins o Islam han he cahedral is oChrisianiys. Even so, his emblem o Muslim archiecure has been par oIslams hisory since a leas he 8h cenury AD. From his ime, he minare

became a consan eaure o mosques in much o he Muslim world, and even-ually spread o regions where i was previously uncommon.

Minares shor, all, hin, a, square, round, ocagonal, spiral, brick, sone

call he aihul o prayer and demonsrae he presence o Islam in a highlyvisible way. As o he 13h cenury, in paricular, hey became dazzling symbolso he riumph o Islam.

Te Otoman Empire in paricular disinguished isel, wih immense minaresha soar heavenwards; and each year millions o ouriss gaze in rapure a hesix minares o Blue Mosque, buil in Isanbul in he 17h cenury on he orderso Sulan Ahme I. Te minare symbolises he raising o mankind owards

God. Someimes i is he only signal o he presence o a mosque, sandinguprigh like a lied nger poining a Allah, he One and Only, esiying ohe cenral dogma o Islam, awhid or oneness. So he imporance o minareso Muslims is obvious (even hough no every mosque has o have a minare).

We do no know which was he earlies minare. Arab radiion has i hahe rs building o deserve his name was ereced as early as 665 AD inBosra (Syria), a ciy which was conquered in 634 by horsemen o he nas-cen Arab-Muslim Empire. Ohers claim ha he rs minares were hose ohe Grea Mosque o Damascus, buil by he Umayyad Caliph Walid I in 705.

We know or sure ha he oldesphysical race o a minare is a Bosra, 145


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kilomeres souh o Damascus. Archaeologiss ound an Arabic inscripionon a block o basal: In he name o God he Clemen, he Merciul. Teservan o God Yazid, prince o believers, ordered he consrucion o hismosque and he ounding o he minare. Al-Hri led he consrucion. In

he year 102. Writen by al-Hri (quoed by Jean Sauvage, Les inscripionsarabes de la mosque de Bosra, Syria, 1941). In oher words, in he year 724AD, he Umayyad Caliph Yazid II waned a ower buil ha would adjoin hemosque and exceed i in heigh. Anoher minare, almos as old, was repuedo have been buil a Kairouan (in presen-day unisia) rom 724 o 727, onhe orders o Caliph Hisham Ibn Abd al-Malik. However, archaeologiss now

believe he consrucion mosque and minare daes rom he 9h cenuryand was ounded by Caliph Ziyada Allah I. Regardless, i is he oldes surviv-

ing minare in Norh Arica.

Te appearance o minares seems associaed wih he Umayyad dynasy hecaliphs who moved Islams poliical capial rom Mecca o Damascus, and ledhe Muslim world rom 661-750 and laer became widespread under he

Abbasid caliphae. So could Syrian churches, several o which had owers, haveexered an archiecural inuence? Damascus was, aer all, a grea Chrisianmeropolis, and he common people and elies who ranserred heir allegiance

o he new masers inuenced hem prooundly in many elds. Wha has beencalled he Umayyad civilisaion is he resul o he encouner beween hehorsemen o he Arabian Peninsula and he Syriac world.

Wha were minares or? Were hey o esiy o he riumph o Islam; ac asa signpos or a place o prayer, visible rom aar; encourage he eye o lookskyward; launch he call o prayer ve imes daily; orm a wachower, or evena oricaion in he even o a hrea? Minares quickly ullled all hese unc-

ions. From he 4h cenury onwards, he Syriac church owers were inendedo be used as preaching places or mendican preachers (a sor o open-airpulpi) and as places rom which o call he aihul o prayer. Ten, hey didno exceed eigheen meres. Gradually, hey became a visible esamen ohe Chrisian aih in he ciy. I is no impossible ha minares buil nex omosques may have had a similar purpose, assering he coninuing riumph oIslam. Much laer, especially rom he 12h cenury AD, we should also remem-

ber ha all European villages and urban neighbourhoods had bell owers

sanding proudly nex o heir churches being buil in ever greaer numbers in order o inscribe he vicory o Chrisianiy on he body o Europe.


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Te wo Arabic words used o reer o wha in French and English is called aminare ates o his dual meaning. Te rs erm madhana was ound in heinscripion a Bosra daing rom 724. Te word reers wihou any doub oadhan, ha is, he call o prayer. Te madhana is, above all, he place where

he muadhin (muezzin or caller o prayer) iniiaes and ofciaes. Te seconderm is manra , which designaes a lookou ower wih or wihou a li re.Te descripion omadhana as manra came second in he hisory o Islam.I ells us ha he place o call o prayer has also become he place ha visiblyesablishes he presence o Islam ino he public sphere. Te word minarederives rom he Arabic word manra, via a urkish derivaive rs used in he17h cenury in he Otoman Empire, menr.

Madhana or manra are sill used o reer o a anr (place o re) mean-ing a lighhouse. Tis descripion o he madhana as manra or anr leads oa parallel beween minares and he amous Pharos o Alexandria lighhouse,one o he Seven Wonders o he World, which li he way or sailors or sev-eneen cenuries: hree cenuries beore Chris, oureen cenuries aer. Somecommenaors have noed similariies beween he very sophisicaed archi-ecure o he lighhouse (hree successive levels, each corresponding o aoor: square, ocagonal and circular) and he ocagonal minares on square

bases ha appeared in Aleppo (Syria) and hen Cairo a he beginning o he14h cenury. Te souhern minare o he 10h-cenury al-Hakim mosque inCairo, wih is base in he shape o a pyramids rusum, is said o have beeninspired by he lighhouse o Alexandria.

Te larger areas where Islam esablished isel: square had hree ypes o mina-re; cylindrical sha; polygonal sha. Te square minare is he oldes; i camerom Syria, developed in he easern Medierranean and spread o Europe

when he survivors o he Umayyad dynasy setled in Spain.

Tese square minares consis o several soreys, each conaining one roomdecoraed wih windows. Te 12h cenury Kououbia Mosque in Marra-kesh is one o he nes examples o his ype o minare. Te minare wihcylindrical sha appeared in he 11h cenury wih he Seljuk urks. Origina-ing in Iran and urkesan, his ype o minare spread o India as early as he12h cenury, beore ourishing in Anaolia winess he minares o Isanbuls

Blue Mosque. o hese should be added he minares o he grea mosque oMecca, currenly nine, each 89 meres high. Te minare wih polygonal shais a varian o ha wih cylindrical sha. I appeared in Ghazna (Iran) and can


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be ound in Samarkand and Cairo. Te bes-known is he presigious QubMinar in Delhi. Minares wih cylindrical or polygonal shas are someimesenhanced by small balconies and high poined conical roos.

We do no know wha orm Swiss minares migh ake, bu le us ask a ques-ion: even i hisorical exs had provided proo o he exisence o minaresrom he very beginning o Islam, would ha have made heir presence moreaccepable o non-Muslim Swiss ciizens? I hey eel challenged or disressed

by such srucures, would heir discomor decrease i hey learned ha mina-res had an unquesionable religious legiimacy? By addressing he issue in his

way, we make wo misakes: we give oo much normaive power o he ound-ing exs; and we se hem up as sovereign exs. In doing so, we eliminae he

human dimension o religious radiions. Tese radiions do no exclusivelyderive rom a ex; hey are also social and hisorical.

So he quesion is no wheher or no hese edices are legiimae rom a reli-gious poin o view. Raher, he quesion is how a Muslim presence ha is now

well-rooed in a non-Muslim counry will perpeuae isel, and wheher hispresence will become par o he counrys culural heriage. Tis process isineviable. I atess o he ac ha wha was previously oreign or exogenous

is now endogenous albei in ways ha may be anagonisic a imes and hasa proound inuence on he archiecural, hisorical and culural landscape ohe Old World.


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ISLAM IN SWITZERLAND:FIGuRES

GRIS and Religioscope Institte

Any discssion of Islam in Switzerland needs to distingish between thegrowth of a commnity and organisation of its religion. The qestion of aMslim poplation is important becase the nmber of people identifyingwith Islam is so large and so recent.

There were few Mslims in Switzerland before 1970. Politicised Arab-

speaking Mslims began to arrive from the 1950-1960s following politicalrepression in the Arab world. They (and not the immigrant workers whoalso began to arrive at this time) were responsible for the rst attempts atself-organisation even thogh they were then only few in nmber.

From the 1970s, their nmbers qickly grew; now poplation growth hasstabilised. The nmber of people who declared themselves Mslim in Swisscensses in 1970 was 16,300; 56,000 in 1980; 152,000 in 1990; 310,000 in2000. Estimates for 2010 pt the nmber at some 400,000.

Several factors explain this strong, steady increase. A policy of familyreunication initiated at the end of the 1970s helped stabilise a populationthat had been mainly composed of seasonal migrants, and gradally led toa relative balance between the genders: 169,000 men to 141,000 women.In the 1990s, the substantial inux of refugees from the Balkans supple-mented the contined growth.

In terms of national origins, 56.4% of Mslims crrently come from formerYgoslavia, 21% are Trkish and 12% Swiss (natralised or converted). Only

6% of the Mslims living in Switzerland come from the Middle East or NorthAfrica.

The recent growth of the commnity explains the varios isses related tothe organising of their religion and the planning problems that arise fromit. It was in the 1990s that questions were rst being asked about thehijab, Mslim sqares in cemeteries, girls being exempted from swimminglessons. Over the next decade these isses became less rgent, althoghisolated problems appeared from time to time. After long negotiations,

separate sqares were added to cemeteries and the polemic abated. Baseland Bern got their Mslim sqares in 2000, Lgano in 2002, Zrich in2004. Requests were led in Fribourg and Neuchtel.


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The recent natre of Switzerlands Mslim poplation also means thatsocial circles still tend to be strongly linked to nationality. There is not yetan accltrated Islam, similar to that of the second and third generations

in other Western contries. In Switzerland, places of worship were mainlyset p dring the 1980s and fnction as an extension of family grops.There are crrently abot 200 Mslim centres which offer a place of prayerfor all tendencies and origins. For of these have a minaret.

A strctral innovation of the past 15 years is the establishment of mbrellaorganisations. These have not, however, helped to homogenise the repre-sentation of Mslims in Switzerland: for Trkish Mslims alone there areve umbrella organisations.

Representational nity is also lacking among Albanian and Arab Mslims.There have been attempts to create strctres at the national level, btnone of these can be regarded as representing the vast majority of Ms-lims. The Federation of Islamic Organisations in Switzerland (FIDS/FOIS),fonded in 2006, has broght together approximately 130 centres. TheCoordination of Islamic Organisations in Switzerland (KIOS), fonded in2000 and chaired by a Shiite Mslim, represents a smaller nmber. Thereare other federations, too, sch as Mslims and Mslim Women of Switzer-land (MMS) or the Leage of Mslims in Switzerland (LMS). Probably the

most sccessfl attempts so far have been at the local level, in a town orcanton, where different local Mslim commnities attempt to establishat least a minimal coordinating strctre in order to prse a dialogewith the athorities and local society. Since 2002 mbrella strctres haveappeared in the cantons of Geneva, Vad, Friborg, Zrich and Lcerne.


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CulTural ChallenGe:

iSlaMiC arChiTeCTure CroSSeS

inTo The weSTStphane Lathion

In Europe, dissociaing religion rom culure has liberaed arisic creaiviyamong Muslims. Tere is no so much a single Islamic archiecure here,dened by a saic religious canon, as relaively loose religious sandards wih

very diverse archiecural radiions. Islams crossing ino he Wes does nomean reproducing a culural model so much as a space o archiecural inven-iveness.

Tis chaper will demonsrae ha archiecural inveniveness has long beena par o Islamic archiecure hrough is impulse owards culural exchange.I will also show he curren exen, and limis, o he wesernisaion o Islamhrough he consrucion o new mosques in Europe.

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Edinbrgh Mosqe.


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Cltral Challenge: Islamic Architectre Crosses into the West

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Culural exchange as a consan in Islamic archiecure

Troughou heir hisory, Muslims have adaped very well o whaever heyhave ound in new lands Asia in he Eas, or Norh Arica and hen Europe in

he Wes and have progressively appropriaed i. From is origins, Islam wasimmersed in a muliculural world, surrounded by wo empires in decline (Persiaand Byzanium) and inuenced by Greek and Roman legacies, noably in heareas o own planning, asronomy, physics and medicine. Te Prophe and hisollowers were also amiliar wih he various belie sysems o he peoples wih

whom hey coexised (Judaism, Chrisianiy, Zoroasrianism, ec). SuccessiveMuslim civilisaions were aeced and nourished by all hese culural inuences.

Tis culural exchange is rue o archiecure as much as anyhing. wo archiec-ural elemens inheried rom he Persian Empire illusrae he phenomenon:he wn, a wide vauled space ha opens ono he ouside o a couryard, andchehar q, a srucural uni ha consiss o a cupola resing on our arches andmay be used on is own or combined wih ohers, especially he wn.

Te culural syncreism o Muslim archiecure goes back a long way. Indeed,he ac ha many erriories were only supercially Islamised, hrough he

esablishmen o garrisons, encouraged Islamic archiecure o adap o heculural realiies o newly Islamised populaions. In order o mee he needs oMuslims while a he same ime respecing local own planning, he consruc-

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Interior of CordobaMosqe with its famospillars and arches.


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ion echniques and maerials used were hose locally available. Te gradualransormaion o he ciy o oledo demonsraes such successive inuencesover he cenuries. Equally, he Church o he Holy Sepulchre buil in Jerusa-lem under Consanine had a cupola idenical o ha o he Dome o he Rock,

whose layou corresponded perecly o he orms o Chrisian ar hen currenin Syria and Palesine. Muslims knew how o appropriae a place and Islamisei o he poin o urning i ino one o he symbols o Islamic ar. Tis occurredagain wih he Mosque-Cahedral o Cordoba, and even he Basilica-Mosqueo Sain Sophia in Isanbul. Te re-use o old Chrisian places o worship someimes imposed by orce shows Islams abiliy o mould isel on earliersacred radiions, albei hrough conques.

From he rs cenury o Muslim expansion onwards, he mosque husremained he symbolic and pracical space in which diverse Muslim move-mens pracised heir aih. Bu i clohed isel in local culure, wheher in

Norh Arica, he Middle Eas, he Indian subconinen, China, or Anaoliaand he Iberian Peninsula under Muslim rule.

In he 19h cenury, European colonial expansion caused proound socio-poliical and economic changes in he Islamic world. A number o Europeansaugh European archiecural heories a universiies or recenly oundedschools o ne ars (paricularly in Egyp and Algeria), hus inuencing heirsudens way o seeing he world. Simulaneously, more and more sudens

were sen o sudy archiecure a European universiies (Rome, Paris, London,Berlin, ec), where hey realised ha hese new heories, developed in Europe,could easily be applied o he consrucion mehods o he Muslim world.

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The basilica of HagiaSophia, bilt forEmperor Jstinian I in532. After the conqestof Constantinople, for

minarets were addedto the bilding to giveit the appearance of amosqe.


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Te desire o discover new horizons hereore enabled culural exchange odevelop in boh direcions. Ta is rue as much o Le Corbusier or Gropius,

who discovered atracions in he Eas ha hey inegraed ino heir concep-ion o modern archiecure, as i is o he Orienals: easern archiecs who

combined classicism and modernism include he Iranian Jahangir Mazlum(designer o ehrans al-Ghadir Mosque) and he Pakisani Veda Delakoy(Islamabad Mosque).

Te globalisaion characerising he early 21s cenury has acceleraed hiscross-erilisaion o archiecural radiions. On he archiecural level, Islamis anyhing bu a monolih closed in on isel and is sensiive in regard o cul-ural exchange.

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Faisal Mosque in Islamabad. Pakistans largest mosque, nanced by SaudiArabia, was begn in 1976 and completed in 1986. Traditionalists havecriticised the excessively modern design and the absence of a traditionaldome, here replaced by a trianglar shape recalling Bedoin tents.


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Hassan II Mosqe inCasablanca. Africaslargest mosqe with its

minaret, architectrallysymbolising the glory ofthe kingdom. It respectscrrent norms so as toconsolidate a nationaltradition.

Malaysia: As SyakirinMosqe with the

Petronas Twin Towers in

the backgrond.


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Deculuraion as a means o acceleraing innovaion

in Islamic archiecure

Islams passage o he Wes expanded his radiion o exchange and accenuaed

i along hree lines: acculuraion, ha is o say, sweeping away all radiion; incul-uraion or borrowing rom he culural models o he new environmen; anddeculuraion or he redeniion o archiecure according o aesheic canonslinked o he designers personal creaiviy, separae rom he culural environmen.

Islams crossing ino he Wes reinorced an acculuraion o he archiecuralradiion. According o ariq Oubrou, imam o he Bordeaux Mosque, in orderor he mosque o adap o he ciy, i had o ge rid o radiional archiecural

consrains. Tis is consisen wih a endency owards a culural abula rasa,desired as much by moderniss as Salass. Boh would like o shake o a ra-diion seen as backward and supersiious and reurn o an auhenic orm oIslam o a purely religious naure, liberaed rom he workings o hisory.

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Ab Dhabi: a different

architectral contrast,with a mosqe in thecentre of a hyper-modern part of town.


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Inculuraion involves adaping o he culures and aesheic orms o he hossociey. Te whie mosque o Visoko in Bosnia is a good illusraion o his ideao a new European Islamic archiecure.

Inculuraion requires reconciling he imperaives o worship (minbar, qibla,inner couryard, basin or abluions, minare, ec) wih he incorporaion oarchiecural novelies, in erms o boh he maerials used and he shapes, whichhave o be adaped o planning regulaions in orce in various European conexs.

Deculuraion means being recepive o DIY ideniies, and o he mixed re-

erences o archiecs who are oen non-Muslims, as insanced by he vision oPaolo Poroghesi (builder o he Rome and Srasbourg mosques). In an inerviewwih Lazari Abdeddaim, Poroghesi reminds us ha his goal is o keep he origi-nal srucure, bu his ime by eliminaing he pillars and he inernal columnsin a ques or beter visibiliy. Te dome will be suspended. I remember seeingsome uaregs pray in he deser. Teir mosque was jus a space demarcaed bya low wall. Tas wha I waned o reproduce. Ive also ocused my atenion onresearching ligh. () For Rome I used ypical maerials, lead or he dome,

bricks or he walls. For Srasbourg Id like o use Vosges sandsone and copper,used in many buildings in Alsace. Im also planning a conical roo or he minare,in reerence o he Cahedral (La Mosque dans la ci, La Mdina, Paris, 2001).

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Pocitelj Mosqe, 15thcentry, Bosnia.


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Ye, alongside his radiion o exchange, here is also a radiionalis posiionin which he mosque is as much a place o prayer as a reminder o a culuraluniverse. Tis is he case wih some Muslim associaions managed by rs gen-eraion migrans, who wan classical mosques ha conorm o he dominanmodels o heir counries o origin. Te Paris Mosque, under Algerian inu-ence, is he perec illusraion o his.

Europe is, hen, a window o opporuniy or Islamic archiecure, wih con-srucion oering a choice beween wo possible ways o negoiaing he

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The Oxford minaret.

Paris Mosqe: nder thettelage of the Algerianstate, a traditional stylethat emlates principles

in effect in the former

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relaionship o he archiecural radiion o ones counry o origin. EiherIslam is kep locked ino a culure, or i shakes o is culure o origin so as oree isel rom he weigh o ha local radiion.

As Muslims setle deniively in Europe, he second opion is assering isel.I underpins a new generaion o much more original and innovaive projecs,in which archiecs srive o express he new realiy o he European Muslim.

Tey wan heir places o worship o reec hese plural ideniies and deliber-aely seek ou hybridisaion. In oher words, over ime, radiionalism may well

become he minoriy posiion in Islamic archiecure in Europe.

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Mosqe in the town ofEscadain (NorthernFrance), bilt on formerindstrial wasteland.

Exterior view of the Disbrg Mosqe.


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A Roubaix, in he norh o France, he iniiaors o he mosque-building projecinsised on is local characer. Te projec aimed boh o ranscend heir cul-ures o origin and o arrive a a symbiosis beween he building and he regionsarchiecural ideniy: Our projec ranscends he dieren backgrounds anddieren percepions o wha a mosque should be by inegraing he build-ing ino he ciys archiecural hisory. Tis mosque is above all he mosque

o Roubaixs ciizens, a mosque ha he aihul may be proud o and ha allinhabians may consider a par o he owns culural heriage (commens byhe archiec Oussama Bezzazi,La Voix du Nord, 28 Sepember 2008).

Local reacions:

beween resisance and cooperaion

Above and beyond archiecure, here are socieies. Te esablishmen o amosque is also a process o negoiaion and communicaion wih is environ-men. Tis negoiaion may produce very dieren scenarios, bu he golden rule

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Front view of the bilding of the Geneva Mosqe with its Islamic architectralelements (minaret, colonnades, etc.).


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is ha good communicaion wih local environmens can deuse any increasingension and brinkmanship, provided ha he appropriae poliical circumsancesexis (weak presence o he exreme righ, a quie securiy siuaion, ec).

ake Germany, or example. Te Duisburg mosque, opened in he auumn o2008, can probably be cied as an exemplary consrucion process o a Euro-pean mosque. From he very beginning o he projec, Muslim leaders sougho collaborae wih local auhoriies. An advisory commitee was se up hacomprised dieren Muslim communiies, represenaives o churches, polii-cal paries and educaional bodies, as well as local residens. I demonsraedhow an amosphere o condence can be creaed, and how prejudices wihin

various groups can be more easily reduced.

Wih is cupola o 23 meres and minare o 34 meres, he Otoman-inspiredDuisburg mosque is he bigges in Germany, able o accommodae up o1,200 worshippers. Locaed norh o he ciy, he mosque is a rare exampleo successul cooperaion. From he beginning o he end o he projec, iatraced no conroversy.

By conras, he siuaion in Cologne is very dieren. Aer wo years oensions, he own has endorsed he consrucion o a ciy-cenre mosque.Inended o be larger han ha o Duisburg, wih wo minares culminaing inheighs o over 55 meres, i roubles some inhabians: A building his ashydoesn conribue o inegraion, and anyway here are enough Muslim prayerplaces in he ciy, says Markus Wiener, one o he projecs opponens. How-ever, or he ciys mayor, Friz Schramm, i is a means o geting Islam ou o

backyards and giving i a dignied place a he hear o German sociey so as oaciliae inegraion. Te mayor o he disric where he mosque is o be buil

agrees: I am convinced ha he new mosque will be a majesic archiecuralwork, o he poin o atracing busloads o ouriss, who will come o admirehe Cahedral, bu also he new Islamic religious cenre.

In Poiiers, France, he consrucion o a minare is sirring up debae as much wihin Muslim communiies as he non-Muslim populaion. According o Abderrazak Halloumi, an eleced represenaive rom he Socialis Pary,alhough he minare is no an essenial elemen o a mosque, ha is no reallyhe poin: Te mosque is a place o worship ha mus be open o he ciy andaesheically beauiul. Work is underway (phoo below rom April 2009),and he conroversy now seems o be somewha running ou o seam.


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Te consrucion o mosques is, hen, a process o negoiaing wih he envi-ronmen, a process ha can have srongly conrasing characerisics. Bu ingeneral, he beter communicaion is, he more likely he process is o go o

wihou major disagreemens unless here are paricipans (paries or indi-

viduals) who have become ideologically opposed o Islam.

Mosques wih minares:

Zurich, Geneva, Winerhur and Wangen

Swizerlands wo hisoric mosques, in Zurich and Geneva, boh have mina-res and are hus imporan or undersanding he curren conroversy abouhe building o new minares in Swizerland. Tey show he signicance hisarchiecural atribue can have, bu above all hey reveal how his can inoa disrics ciyscape. In Zurich, he mosque is an exension o 1970s modernresidenial archiecure: a wo-sorey building o pale concree wih a whieminare reaching o a heigh o 22 meers

In Geneva, a Pei-Saconnex, a ew kilomeres rom he ciy cenre, here ishe same residenial conex, and he same minare overlooking an ocago-nal building wih a glass cupola a is cenre. Te singulariy o his mosquea he Islamic Culural Cenre o Geneva lies in he willingness o conracorsand public auhoriies o combine he old building which had a urre andresored walls ypical o 17h cenury archiecure wih he classical elemenso Islamic archiecure. Te whole blends perecly ino is surroundings.

European mosques

Wha does he crossing ino he Wes o so-called Islamic archiecure show? Ishows ha Muslim culures have been wesernised wihou religious docrine hav-ing necessarily been modernised as well. Muslim archiecure (paricularly whereplaces o worship are concerned) is open o exernal inuences because i is a cul-ural mater. In ha sense, i resembles Islamic rap, Mecca Cola or he headscarvessold in he sylish bouiques o Cairo, London and Singapore. By conras, hecrossing ino he Wes o Islam does no imply is modernisaion and is in no wayan obsacle o a undamenalis ques or purely religious phenomena.

Any answer o he quesion o wheher a new Islamic archiecure has emergedin Europe mus necessarily be nuanced. Even hough, as has been shown


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above, mosques do no merely reproduce he archiecure o he Muslimworld, cerain culural inuences persis. Tis is because we sill nd ourselvesin a ransiional period, which sees rs-generaion immigrans waning omainain culural reerences linked o heir counries o origin. However, archi-

ecure, jus like urban planning, is no rozen or saic; on he conrary, i isdynamic and reveals he social and culural developmens o sociey.

Te sacred has always been a heme

cherished by archiecs and builders

Muslims, like believers o oher major religions, have always endeavoured ond he archiecural soluions ha were mos capable o responding prag-maically o heir needs and desires. And even i economic consideraions(unding) or poliical consideraions (inererence by cerain saes) may sillinuence he archiecure o places o worship, more and more Muslim organi-saions are choosing independence and ransparency in religious managemen.I is hereore cerain ha he European conex will change he way Muslimsregard heir pracices, belies and places o worship, as has been he case wihChrisianiy, Buddhism and Judaism. Te process has been se in moion.

Islamic archiecure in Europe:

diversiy rules

2009StphaneLathion

Rear view of the GenevaMosqe showing, inthe foregrond, thetypically Genevan

bilding that becamean integral part of thearchitectral ensembleafter renovation.


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2009Fitzer

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2009esp

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ing

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Birmingham Mosqe.

Glasgow Mosqe.Hambrg Mosqe.


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2009www.aulia-e-hint.com

2009OmroMarongiu

Stockholm Mosqe.

Mosqe in the town centre of Denain(Northern France).


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40

OSKAR FREYSINGER:LETS NOT BE THE VICTIMS OF MuLTICuLTuRALISM


Oskar Freysinger parliamentarian, founder of the UDC party in the Cantonof Valais, and writer is above all known as a public speaker, and oftenaccused of populism. His website says his vocation is to ask the difcultqestions. He is particlarly motivated by the possible dangers arisingfrom poorly controlled immigration.

It was dring the case of the Wangen minaret project, imposed on thepoplation in spite of the strong resistance it has provoked, that Freys-inger became aware of a problem specic to Islam. He remembers theMslim districts that he visited in Antwerp as worse than lawless cities:spaces already rled by Sharia law.

With this in mind, he joined the committee which lanched the citizensinitiative for a ban on bilding minarets. Freysinger did not believe at thebeginning that the initiative wold pass. For him, the resistance of thepolitically correct system to any discssion of the isse was so powerflthat he saw the need for the initiative above all to open the debate.The debate would not be on the minaret in itself, but rather on Islam thisexplosive cocktail of doctrine and clan, as he calls it, which combinesprotest movements in search of parallel societies and ghettos with anexpansionist ideology still awaiting its Enlightenment and with rampantpoplation growth.

However, rather than attack a poplation, Oskar Freysinger wants to crossswords with a religios ideology which still hasnt settled its problems

with the constittional state. And if that is so, he says it is becase Islamis riven by a doctrinal strggle in which moderates lose ot immediatelybecase, when competing, certain literal readings will always eliminatethe others.

For Freysinger, the fact that radicals are in the minority is not a persasiveargment, for two reasons. First, becase of a fndamental fear of thestrength of minorities: he reminds s that minorities took power in Czecho-slovakia and in Nazi Germany. Second, becase this minority sitation is

only temporary: In France, they doble in nmber each year. Obvioslytheyll impose their wishes in the end.


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The otcome of the confrontation will be fndamentally totalitariansince the ltras always win becase they are rthless; faith moves mon-tains, which are often montains of corpses.

And what of the faith of the evangelicals with whom he has joined forcesin his battle to ban minarets? He concedes that they certainly are ltra-religios people, for whom Switzerland is qite simply a Christian land.Bt that matters little becase Christians in Erope are eradicating them-selves and also Democrats are almost exclsively present in contrieswith a Christian tradition, becase Christianity has separated Chrch andState. Islam, in other words, is an ideological corps that is incapable ofaccepting that politics can organise itself otside of the religios domain,a corps dominated by radical readings. As sch, it threatens or cl-

tre, that thin layer which is so qickly dismantled and whose protectionreqires wariness.

In this ideological sbstrate, any minaret will necessarily lead to a mez-zin and his calls to prayer. As proof of that, Freysinger pts forward thecontradiction he sees in politically involved Mslims, who say they donot want a mezzin and yet also consider that a minaret withot mezzinmakes no sense.

Freysinger is well aware that bilding a minaret does not entirely solve aproblem which, according to him, is located elsewhere, part of the opaqeworld inside the mosqes. When existing legislation is nable to controlradicalism in mosqes, blaming the minaret is less a soltion than an act ofresistance to a symbol that is not innocent and smells of slphr.

It also affords him the opportnity to condemn the political system ingeneral which is, he says, dominated by a bnch of cowards. These cow-ards are paralysed by the dilemma of the constittional state confrontedby those who are against its existence, and derive great satisfaction fromtheir excessive tolerance and good intentions towards the rebrands whoin the end, will brn down the hose.


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The ConqueST oF The weST

will noT Take PlaCe

Patrick Haenni and Samir Amghar

For is deenders, he iniiaive is an inviaion o debae. Teir cenral argumenis he expansion o Islam. By his, hey mean a projec o poliical hegemony hais atribued eiher o he naure o Islamic ideology isel (inen on increas-ing he birh rae, proselyising and all-conquering) or o he sraegies o hoseinvolved (he Islamiss and heir projecs). Tere is scarcely any doub ha

a Muslim orhodoxy does exis, proselyising and missionary, and ha ceraingroups miliae along hese lines: Islam is a religion ha claims o be he sav-iour o humaniy and he deniive message ha seals he hisory o prophecies.Early Islam, creaed in a golden age and as a model by Muslim orhodoxy, was anexpansionis period o miliary conques and missionary movemens.

Bu beyond religious aspiraions, he realiy is more complex: clearly, in he Weshere are Islamiss and projecs aimed a inuence i no conques, as Sylvain

Besson argues (La Conque de lOcciden: le proje secre des islamises, Paris, Seuil,2005). However, such projecs do no work where Islamiss are in he minoriy.Deprived o heir radiional objecive (an Islamic sae), hese Islamiss becomedigniaries or urn o preaching, a erriory ha is already occupied by pieis andapoliical undamenaliss. Currenly, hese are being radicalised. Bu his is alongsecarian lines, which pus hem in an awkward posiion as regards a conqueringacion, and also exising social dynamics, namely a decline in populaion growhand a real increase o religiosiy, bu on an individual basis.

Neiher sae nor gheto:

he dilemmas o Islamis sraegies in he Wes

Islamis organisaions aced wih wha Olivier Roy calls heir crossing o heWes (Olivier Roy,LIslam mondialis, Paris, Seuil, 2002; ranslaion: GlobalizedIslam , Columbia Universiy Press, 2006), meaning heir ransposiion ino a

siuaion where hey are a minoriy religion nd hemselves in very dier-en circumsances. Paradoxically, he crossing o he Wes aciliaes ideologicalradicalisaion, bu o he derimen o a pracical projec or poliical inuence.


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The Conqest of the West will Not Take Place

43

Digniaries or lack o anyhing beter:

rom minoriy Islamism o pos-Islamism

Te wo bes-known Islamis movemens he Muslim Broherhood and Milli

Grs have worked hardes o ry o poliicise Muslim ideniy along an oppo-siional line o he Wes, oering a collecive imaginaion ha was no onlyuniversalis (Islam is a religion or all) bu also conquering (he goal o worldguidance proclaimed by Hassan al-Banna, ounder o he Muslim Broherhood).

However, he Wes has never really been a sraegic objecive or hese move-mens. Faced wih unres in heir home counries, hey did no come o Europeo conquer bu o seek sancuary. Ta was he case, or insance, o al-Bannas

son-in-law Said Ramadan, aher o ariq Ramadan (Oxord Proessor o Con-emporary Islamic Sudies) and Hani Ramadan, Direcor o Genevas IslamicCenre. I was heir setling here in he long erm ha led hem o rehink heirrelaionship wih he Wes.

Noneheless, he Muslim Brohers are aced wih a dilemma. Teir specicmission is he ques or an Islamic sae. Bu here is no possibiliy o buildingsuch a sae in he Wes, because o Islams minoriy saus. Ta only leaves wochoices: minoriy Islamism, meaning preaching, as illusraed by Hani Ram-adan in Swizerland; or becoming digniaries, meaning a sraegy o graiudeand clienelism. In ac, he Brohers are increasingly becoming managers oprayer services and abandoning grea causes and renouncing mobilisaion,even on issues ha generae grea anger (he headscar in France, Palesine);and are even geting criicised or being bourgeois or oo willing o compro-mise by young Muslims who someimes dissociae hemselves rom hem.Even ariq Ramadan has been repudiaed by some o his ormer colleagues

since being named adviser o ony Blairs governmen in 2005.Personal rajecories increasingly break wih he (Islamis) idea o a close link

beween religion and poliics. Tis is pos-Islamism. Is hree aces are hereurn o pure poliics, he ques or pure religion and culural normalisaion.

Te rs ace he desire o reurn o pure poliics, o use he expressioncoined by Yamin Makri, one o he main leaders o young Muslims in 1990sFrance consiss o seeking secularised poliical commimens. Tis can beaccomplished by joining European paries, boh le and righwing, or by lob-

bying in Brussels (hough he Chrisian lobby is incomparably sronger). A


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imes i can also resul in he invenion o non-religious ideniies ha pro-long he Islamic movemen, such as he French movemen Indignes de laRpublique (French Republics Indigenous Peoples), which denounces heneo-colonial naure o communiy segregaion. On his ron, he indigenous

person is a successor o he pal o he 1980s [Lay o my pal was he slogano he ani-racism organisaion SOS Racisme in he 1980s] and he brohero he 1990s.

Te second ace is he ques or pure religion, embodied by Saudi ArabianWahhabi Salasm, an ulra-rigorous and secarian movemen ha calls or acomplee break wih wesern sociey. Many Islamiss nowadays view poliicalcommimen as a corrupion o pure religion, raher han a springboard or he

rule o divine law on earh. Salasm reed rom he Islamis ascinaion wihpoliics, wih no desire o be implicaed in sociey, and no explici demands advocaes wihdrawing rom wesern sociey, wihou calling or EuropesIslamised communiies o organise.

Te hird ace, culural normalisaion, is he search or a non-sigmaisingMuslim ideniy. I is individualis in naure. Here, salvaion is re-cenred onhe individual, on personal success and compeiiveness. Tis is he era o he

pious winner, successor o he Islamis milian. Culural normalisaion our-ishes in a new rivialised Islamic culure, which is no a couner-culure bua varian o youh culure and hus a sign o inegraion (rom rendy veils oIslamic sreewear, via he religious music ha is developing in he image o

American Chrisian rock and hallal ried chicken). Religiosiy is undemonsra-ive and seeks o express isel hrough globalised mass culure.

Te hree aces o pos-Islamism, in oher words, do no advocae he noion

o conques. Pure poliics lies ouside o religion, and hereore o Islamisaion.Pure religion is par o re-Islamisaion, bu lies ouside o any pracical projecor poliical hegemony. Culural normalisaion belongs o religion bu also omimicry, and no o conronaion or expansionism.

Radical progressions:

rom he gheto o exodus

Ta he Muslim Broherhood nds i difcul o posiion isel in he wes-ern conex does no mean i is disappearing. On he conrary, i subjecs i


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o compeiion rom undamenalis movemens. In he nebulous web oundamenalism, he movemen ha is gaining ground is Wahhabi Salasm meaning no jihadism, bu secarian rigour and dogmaic radicalism.

Salasm is atracive o many. I requenly capures hose disappoined byIslamism or older undamenalis movemens in Europe, such as he ablighiJamaa organisaion. In conras wih he Muslim Broherhood, Salasm ispresen in he poorer areas o large ciies (banlieues [or in Briain, he innerciies]) where, by advocaing a break wih wesern sociey, i raionalises exclu-sion and promoes i, urning an imposed siuaion ino a religious choice.

However, Salasm is no he new lever or conquering he Wes, or several rea-

sons. Firs, because i is secarian raher han muliculural. Salasm advocaesavoiding wesern sociey, earing ha is own values will be conaminaed. Igeneraes a reurn o religion ha akes place less a amily or communiy levelhan as a group o re-Islamised youh hough o as a group o survivors (rqanjiyya). Salasm rejecs he real Muslim communiy: i oends amilies andchallenges radiional imams. Tis is Islam or young people, paricularly wellsuied o people who have broken wih heir environmen. As a consequence,i has litle success recruiing in communiies where solidariy is srong, such

as among Comorians or urks.Second, because Salasm bases isel in pure religion. I is ineresed neiher inculure (and hereore communiy) nor in poliics. Salasm ar rom beinghe mos recen expression o a projec o poliical hegemony is he biterrui o depoliicising Islam: he ideological raionalisaion o a relaionship

wih wesern socieies ha consiss o wihdrawal and avoidance. Te crown-ing achievemen is no conquering he Wes or esablishing Islamised ghetos,

bu achieving exodus or hijra, and reurning o he Muslim world (even houghhe dream o exodus is rarely realised or lack o nancial means).

By posiing deparure as an ideal, he concep o hijra places he new gen-eraion back in he same demobilising wai-and-see policy as heir parensgeneraion as ar as any poenial engagemen wih wesern socieies is con-cerned. Te older generaion lived he myh o reurn o heir homeland: henew generaion is pre-occupied wih he myh o deparure rom he counryo heir birh. Salass are silen on he headscar issue, do no organise anysuppor or expelled Salas imams and remain absen rom demonsraionssupporing Palesine.


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Agains he communiy and wihou a projec:

he nihilism o he new jihadis

Jihadis milians (al-Qaida and he Kaplan movemen) have a secarian spiri

in common wih non-combaan Salass. Tey disparage all he adversarieshey inend o gh hrough akr , denouncing hem as non-believers: Jews,Chrisians, Muslims who are no Muslim enough, and he Muslim Broher-hood. Te goal is no o creae communiies ha resis in he Wes (ollowinghe example o Hezbollah or Hamas) or gheto couner-culures, bu pious andmilian cells ha break wih European sociey overall, as much as wih Mus-lim communiies perceived o be living injahiliyya, or ignorance o Gods law.Radicalisaion always prolongs such breaks wih he communiy and neigh-

bourhood, as Olivier Roy shows in Globalized Islam: Te Search or a NewUmmah (New York, Columbia Universiy Press, 2006).

Having pushed anahema o is exremes, he new jihadiss no longer have anysocieies o liberae and can no longer be involved in poliics. Tey do no have aprecise goal (a erriory or sae o heir own, modiying he inerplay o poliicalorces, regime change), bu aim o creae conronaions and media shocks, anddesroy he symbols o poliical imperialism (ha is o say o American power).

Violence is envisioned as a sacrice. Te gure o he new armed milianismis no longer he mujhid (holy warrior), bu he shahd (maryr). By conras

wih ormer jihadiss, who were acive wihin naional erriories (Hezbollahin he Lebanon, Hamas in Palesine, Lashkar-e-aiba in Kashmir), hese newcombaans in he Wes do no consider hemselves jus bu pure, living ina world conaminaed byjahiliyya. Hence he disineres o he Salas jihadisin any sraegy o creaing communiies, and in reurn, Islamis aciviss unani-

mous disapproval o hem.As a resul, radicalisaion rarely happens hrough he nework o mosques. Onhe conrary, here is a relaionship o misrus beween mosques and radicalollowers ojihad. Ta is because mosques are spaces ha are easily moniored

by he securiy services, bu also because hey are spaces o negoiaion wih hedespised Wes, so heir leaders are compromised. As Jean-Pierre Filiu poinsou (Les Fronires du jihd, Fayard, 2006), he Farid Benyetou nework, one ohe main jihadis channels o Iraq o have been dismanled in France, was radi-calised aer is leader was expelled rom he Salingrad Mosque, in Pariss 19harrondissemen. Te same process was a work or he cell responsible or he


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Madrid bombings on 11 March 2004, which was radicalised ouside he greamosque o Madrid aer a public conronaion beween he cell leader and heimam. Tis means ha, or reasons o boh securiy and ideology, jihadiss arerecruied in oher places and by oher means places as dissimilar as cyber-

cas and spors clubs, marial ars gyms, he inerne, prison. Londonisanis he excepion bu here, as he Islamologis Olivier Roy commens, peoplege radicalised beore joining a mosque precisely because i is radical (as was hecase wih Zacarias Moussaoui). Here, radicalism leads o he mosque, and nohe oher way round.

Islamis miliancy hardly conrms conques as a realiy. On he one hand, hisis because aciviss wihin poliical Islam are becoming digniaries, losing heir

ase or conic and being overaken by a new undamenalism, Salasm. Onhe oher hand, Salasm which rejecs communiy-building and dispuesha he real Muslim communiy is Islamic a all leads eiher o exodus or o aorm o poliical nihilism which consiss o looking o maryrdom or salvaion.

Social dynamics:

he predominance o wesernisaion

Wha remains are social dynamics ha migh ransmi expansionis or con-quering inenions: Muslim demographics, he renewal o religious pracice(by re-Islamisaion or conversion) and he gheto as a display case or a reli-gious sub-culure conrolled by Islamism.

Te quie erminaion of he Islamic baby boom

One o he cenral argumens o he expansionis hesis is he idea o runa-way Muslim populaion growh. Tis argumen reers o a high eriliy raeha is considered real and atribued o a menaliy inen on increasing he

birh rae, which in urn derives rom he supposed undamenally conqueringnaure o Islam.

Tere is indeed a pro-birh menaliy in he religious exs. Tis is someimespu orward on Islamic web orums when quesions are asked abou amily-

planning debaes or he legiimacy o conracepion. Bu wo essenial poinsmus be noed:


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Muslim populaion growh is in ree all everywhere (excep Pakisan and cer-ain counries o sub-Saharan Arica). According o research by Emmanuelodd, especially or his laes book writen wih Yousse Courbage,Le Rendez-vous des civilisaions (Paris, Seuil, 2007), he average eriliy rae o Muslim

women dropped rom 6.8 children in 1975 o 3.7 in 2005. In his same shorime rame o 30 years, Morocco has gone rom 7.3 o 2.4 children per woman;Algeria rom 8.4 o 2.6; and Saudi Arabia rom 8.5 o 3.6. Secular urkey andIslamis Iran have dipped underneah he hreshold o populaion renewal,alling rom 7.3 o 2 children. ribal socieies have been no more resilien:Libya has gone rom 7.6 o 2.8; Jordan rom 8 o 3.5; and Oman rom 8.6 o3.6 children per woman. Te modernisaion o birh raes has, in oher words,arrived lae in he Arab and Muslim world. Bu i has come abou in record

ime and, or he ime being, is momenum coninues.

Tis decline is concomian wih re-Islamisaion. Neiher he processes ore-Islamisaion nor Islamic saes (such as Iran) have hereore had any inu-ence on he alignmen o Muslim populaions wih wesern demographicnorms. Firs o all, he inversion o birh rae curves in he Muslim world is aprogression ha sared in he Arab peninsula, which is incidenally also hegrea provider o undamenalis Wahhabi Salasm. Wha is more, he inver-

sion o birh raes has requenly aken place in he conex o srong religiousand poliical eervescence: in Iran, eriliy raes salled and dropped (rom 6.8children per woman in 1985 o 2.1. oday) no during he modernising reigno he Shah, bu a he peak o he Islamis momenum and expor o he Revo-luion, in abou 1985. As or he sociey o resisance menaliy (mujamamuqwim) ha animaes Shiie Lebanon and Palesine, which has encouragedsome mohers o push heir children owards jihad and maryrdom againshe Israeli army, his has no se in moion any war demographics, o use

he expression coined by Philippe Fargues (Gnraions arabes, lalchimie dunombre, Paris, Fayard, 2000). Tis is above all because he model o miliaryresisance developed by Hezbollah is shor on men and based on asymmericand eliis comba. Te second Iniada in Palesine did no cause an increasein birh raes, in conras o he 1987 rising, which did.

Tus, de-Islamisaion has no been necessary in he Muslim world in conraswih he Chrisian world, where de-Chrisianisaion was one o he variables

(along wih he eliminaion o illieracy) ha sared he process o demographicmodernisaion. One o he reasons or his lies in he ac ha he religiousnesswhich afrms isel in re-Islamisaion is srongly carried by individualis values,


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whereas any policy o increase he birh rae presupposes a communiy ideal(group growh). Ta does no mean ha he Muslim presence in Swizerland isgoing o sabilise a is curren level. I will coninue o grow hrough immigra-ion, and also hrough high eriliy raes due o he young age o he populaion.

Wha is incorrec is o atribue his increase o Islam.

Reurn o Islam and conversions:

consecraion of he individual

Te drop in Muslim populaion growh is he resul o a generalised rendowards sociological normalisaion among Muslim populaions. In oher

words, hese populaions are aligning hemselves wih mos o he canon o wesern moderniy. Beyond demographic modernisaion, his sociologicalnormalisaion can also be seen in rising lieracy raes, urbanisaion, a decline inarranged marriages and endogamy (marriage beween cousins), increased agea marriage, a rise in divorce raes (including among Salas women), he con-san rise in mixed marriages among immigran women, and he mass access o

women o he labour marke.

Te reurn o religiosiy in Islam as in oher religious radiions sars wihhe individual and no wih a collecive projec, even hough his reurn is seenas a ques or communiy solidariy. Te dominan social orms o his reurno religiosiy are volunary groups, congured by a persons personal choices(he reverse o belonging o a communiy) and he auodidac. Moreover,roues o re-Islamisaion are more and more oen ound ouside is radiionalsrucures. Islamisaion hus increasingly bypasses Islamiss. Insead, i akesplace more and more on an individual, DIY or unorganised basis. Prayers arelearned rom books and occasional visis o a mosque, bu a no momen doesa re-Islamisaion movemen ake charge o hese religious aspiraions. Tis isrule by individualised awas , anahemas and enrepreneurs wihou moral-iy. Insoar as here is any supervision, i is hrough social rends, no hroughclerical srucures. As a consequence, he number o imams has risen litle: inFrance, here were 800 imams in 1995 and abou 1,000 imams en years laer.

However, his individualisaion is, paradoxically, he resul o a group eec.Te exisence o Muslim environmens (he suburbs o Bradord in he UK,Minguetes in he suburbs o Lyons, Kreuzberg in Berlin) creaes social habisand norms, such as respecing he as during Ramadan. Te generalisaion o


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religious srucures, meanwhile (Islamic libraries, inerne sies, places o wor-ship), makes DIY re-Islamisaion possible no only or he young bu also andhis is new or he rs generaion o migrans.

More precisely, wo main endencies can be disinguished in his reurn oIslam. On one hand, here is a religiousness shaped by waning o become nor-mal in erms o culure and ideniy. Tis nds expression in Islamic sreewear,he rendy headscar, hallal pop or [French drinks company] Muslim Up. Onhe oher hand, here is a undamenalism lived as a complee break wih he

wesern sysem. Bu neiher pursues an ideal o conques. Fundamenalism, aswe have seen, considers exodus is crowning achievemen, while culural nor-malisaion renounces any idea o alernaives and hinks o isel as a spiriual

supplemen o a wesern culure ha has become globally acceped.

As or conversions, hey exis, hough hey are no paricularly specacular. InFrance, sources rom he Minisry o Inerior esimae ha here are 12 con-

versions o Islam a day, and a oal o 50,000 convers. On he oher hand,conversions in he opposie direcion are increasing. I is esimaed (again inFrance) ha around 800 Muslims a year conver o Chrisianiy, mainly oevangelism (agains 4,000 conversions o Islam). Tere are no reliable esi-

maes or conversions in Swizerland.Besides, hough milian organisaions promoe conversion, hey do no pro-moe he inuence o convers wihin heir mids: convers who carve oumilian careers in poliical Islam are rare. Only Salasm, wheher pieis or

jihadis, makes room or hem (23% o convers in France go hrough Salasm,according o a repor by he secre inelligence branch o he French policecied inLe Monde, 12 July 2005). In ac, Salasm is he only ruly de-erriori-

alised and acculuraed movemen. I has clearly uncoupled wesern miliancyrom he challenges in he Middle Eas, done away wih he ehnic componeno religious belonging and aciliaed he incorporaion o hose who are wes-ern by birh, or rom non-Arabic ehnic minoriies.

In he gheto:

exclusion wihou communiy-building

Wha abou he gheto? Te Muslim enclave is real. Bu i is neiher a spring-board or conques nor a rojan horse by which Islam will inlrae he Wes.


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Te image o a Muslim populaion under he uelage o Islamis milianswho nourish a projec o collecively breaking wih he Wes is exaggeraed alhough elemens o social conrol do exis.

Te gheto is no srucured along he lines o a poliical sraegy o communiybuilding. I is he resul o complex social, economic and poliical processes. Iis also he oucome o he governmens atiude, no only in counries wiha communiy building ideology (Holland, Grea Briain), bu also in France,however secular he counry migh be in oher respecs: pracices ha creae acommuniy include claiming an ineres in religious leaders as par o elecoralsraegies, he someimes ehnically-based disribuion o social housing, andatemps o nd communiy building inermediaries o manage he banlieues.

As or he relaionship beween Islam (and Islamiss) and he issue o Muslimsenclaves, several poins are worh noing.

Firs o all, poliical Islam, cenred on he middle classes and based on an eliismodel, has no hold on he banlieues. Tis was shown only oo clearly duringhe 2005 French rios by he oal ineeciveness o he awa calling or calmha was issued by he Union des Organisaions Islamiques de France (Uniono French Islamic Organisaions), a Muslim-Broherhood relaed organisa-ion. Islamic movemens (boh poliical and missionary) do exis, bu wihou

being in a conrolling posiion. Tey are one elemen among several involvedin he social organisaion o he French banlieues which are no so very muchunder he inuence aer all.

As or Salass, hey do eecively have a communiy-building discourse. Teypromoe he solidariy o he pious, develop sraegies or avoiding he surround-ing sociey, and are well-esablished in he banlieues. Bu hey do no conrolhem. Firs, because hey lack he numbers o wield inuence. Second, becauseSalasm does no have a radiion o organisaion ha migh enable i o ull hisrole. Finally, because he Salass aim, as we have seen, is no o creae Islamisedand/or rebellious urban spaces, bu exodus, he reurn o Islamic soil, hijra.

Above all, he dominan values in predominanly Muslim disrics are heindividualis values o consumerism and he marke. In Le desin des immigrs(Paris, Seuil, 1994), Emmanuel odd announced ha Norh Arican sruc-ures o solidariy were being dismanled. Indeed, his is now he predominanrend: winess he rise o male and emale exogamy (according o odd, he

8/3/2019 Religioscope

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