Either French or Muslim

In the war against extremists, it is important not to let a hatred of extremists segue into a hatred of Islam

In France, a 29-year-old Muslim woman in the last weeks of her pregnancy was recently assaulted by a man who grabbed her headscarf and hit her several times, while saying “None of that in our country”. This is not the first time a Muslim woman has been attacked for wearing a headscarf and it is unlikely to be the last. While the French interior minister has deplored the attack and the Socialist deputy of Haute-Garonne has strongly condemned it as “racist and anti-Muslim”, the fact is that France has an unfortunate tradition of discriminating against Muslims. Be it the ban against wearing overt religious symbols in schools or the 2011 ban against the face veil, its secular laws seem to be ‘otherising’ its Muslim minority, limiting its freedom and tightening its breathing space. This is not just a philosophical concern, but a very practical one as well.

The effect of such legislation is to marginalise French Muslims politically and isolate them socially. It provides subtle support to the idea that one can either be Muslim or French but not both. Coupled with acts of individual aggression, it ensures that French Muslims occupy an uneasy position at the peripheries never to fully integrate in society. Paradoxically, these laws undermine the ideals of liberty, fraternity and equality, which are the foundation stones of the French republic. Islamophobia is a word much bandied about but it fittingly describes the anti-Muslim nature of this particular hate-crime. In the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo massacres, hate crimes and racist discrimination against Muslims is expected to rise, and not only in France. A UK-based charity estimates that the reporting of hate crimes by Muslim women has gone up by five to 10 per cent in the last 18 months or so. Meanwhile, in the US, the Chapel Hill shooting is still fresh in public memory. While the West is engaged in a war against extremists, it is important not to let a hatred of extremists segue into a hatred of Islam or Muslims. For France, doing so can lead to the erosion of the values it most cherishes.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st,  2015.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.