Posted on 11/09/2005 5:33:13 AM PST by SJackson
TRAPPES, France -- For the Muslims of Trappes, decades of praying in basements and cramped rooms in decrepit buildings will soon be over, once the finishing touches are applied to their new, hard-won mosque - a shiny domed structure with a minaret and wooden Moroccan doors.
It took sit-in protests in front of City Hall in Trappes, some 45 miles southwest of Paris, to get approval for the mosque in 2000.
With different customs, beliefs and often skin color, parts of France's large immigrant population have been shunted to the margins of French life and left to struggle with dual identities.
Those tensions partly explain the eruption of rioting that has engulfed low-income suburbs and towns - including Trappes - for nearly two weeks.
Trappes' new mosque, now open for Friday prayers and soon to be open full-time, offers hope for many here that, with a proper venue allowing Muslims to worship in the open, youths may be less tempted to turn to religious radicalism.
"We wanted a respectable place of worship," city councilwoman Khadija Aram said of the new $2.7 million mosque. Aram, a secular Muslim of Algerian origin, has lived in Trappes for 30 years.
"Christians have their church, Jews have their synagogue and Muslims pray in the basement," she said. "French Muslims are not yet at home in France."
But across the nation, many Muslims say they are still humiliated by the need to pray in cramped quarters in the basements of housing projects because of a lack of mosques.
Even in Paris, Muslims are forced to spill out onto the street, worshipping on trash-strewn pavements, at Friday prayers because some mosques are so small. France has some 5 million Muslims, the largest such community in western Europe.
The social unrest has forced the nation to confront immigrants' feelings of discrimination and France's shortcomings in integrating them.
Since colonial times, France's emphasis on integration has translated into a strong drive to assimilate cultures into a single French mold according to the nation's strong secular traditions.
In 2004, a law banning "ostentatious" religious symbols, and aimed at Islamic head scarves, went into effect - angering many Muslims.
Immigrants and French of immigrant origin - often Muslims from former colonies in North Africa - largely populate the low-income quarters ringing big cities.
In such conditions, Muslims "have no means to weigh in on decisions that could change their own situation," said Angelina Peralva, a sociologist who specializes in urban violence. "They are so consigned to their world that, collectively, they can't get out."
In Trappes - where about 70 percent of the 29,000 residents are Muslims - the National 10 highway cuts through the city like a demarcation line, the French downtown area on one side and the vast expanse of housing projects on the other.
"Religion offers a reference point," said Bechier Lassoued, a board member of the Union of Muslims of Trappes, which built the mosque and led the protests to get it. "Someone who follows religion normally doesn't get lost."
"For Muslims, religion is fundamental. Religion is life," he said.
Trappes has had its share of terrorism fears - linked to the practice of worshipping underground.
In September, police arrested four terror suspects in Trappes and are investigating evidence suggesting a plan to attack targets in France.
The alleged ringleader, Safe Bourada, served eight years in prison for helping Algerian Islamic extremists and was being lodged here by friends. The men had frequented a prayer room in the projects, Lassoued said.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, French authorities have taken steps aimed at pulling Muslims from the shadows if only to watch them more carefully.
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has condemned the plight of Muslims forced to pray in cellars because of a lack of mosques.
In March 2005, a foundation, to be privately funded, was set up to help finance mosque renovation and construction. A council that acts as an umbrella group for squabbling Muslim factions, and a link to the government, also was created.
The Muslims of Trappes have been saying prayers in a small room on the ground floor of an aging building for years. The overflow crowd prays in the basement.
On feast days, the huge crowds of faithful pour into the adjoining lot - or climb a ladder to the roof of a one-story building nearby.
"Fundamentalists and terrorists take in those who have been marginalized by the politicians," said city councilwoman Aram said. "To have a mosque open to all avoids anything deviant. It's in daylight. There is no secret."
If they don't like the culture in the country they move to, then why did they move there? I can't possibly imagine choosing to live in Saudi Arabia, so why do they want to move to the US or France?
What the world needs now,
Is mosques, more mosques,
It's the only thing,
That there's just too little of.
Simple. They are commanded by the Koran to make the entire world the House of Ummah, which is to say, where Allah reigns completely. They must convert everybody in the world, with the exception of those they allow to live in Dhimmitude (second class slavery) or those who resist, who they must kill.
For Muslims, there is no peace except under the total reign of Allah and his Prophet. They cannot be appeased. All the hopes and wishes of non-Muslims to the contrary won't change those facts or commands of their scriptures. It is an essential part of their belief system they convert, conquer, and subjugate (or kill) the Infidel.
In other words, it's "them" or "us"!
yes, thats it!!
give them more mosques so they can integrate and assimilate
There are none so blind as those that WILL NOT see.
One thing this article never makes clear is why there wasn't a mosque before - was the government preventing them from building a mosque, or did they just not have the money? If the latter, why should that be a concern of the government? The story makes it sound like the government was somehow forcing Muslims to worship in basements. There's something missing here.
This article makes it sound like mosques are uncommon in France. I wish it were so.
"As are the Muslims. The foundation is privately funded. It sounds like they were having problems with permits and the like"
Yeah, "privately funded" by Saudi Arabia, who is the main source of which Muslim radicalism has grown from seeds planted in Saudi-financed religious centers through out Europe. Last year Dalil Boubakeur, head of the Mosque of Paris, after the victory of the UOIF(L’Union des Organisations Islamiques de France - Union of Islamic Organizations of France) claimed in Le Monde in the wake of his receiving Saudi money:
"Dalil Boubakeur, head of the Mosque of Paris, recently stopped attacking “Wahhabi fundamentalism”. He is no longer crying about the money, which he lacks... Those days are long gone. The Mosque of Paris, will not only be the beneficiary of government support to finance its renovations, but it will also be able to rely on Saudi petro-dollars... The Saudi financing, which was already approved in principle, led to a confrontation between the Interior Ministry and the Foreign Ministry. The Foreign Ministry does not hesitate to characterize the deal in non-diplomatic language: “Abysmal retardation”, as the Saudis never give without receiving something in return... The Interior Ministry, which usually seeks to encourage “French Islam” turned a blind eye with no pangs of conscience. The information was provided by the Saudi periodical, al-Medina, and was confirmed for Le-Monde by multiple sources)."
Last year the Greek government approved of the first state recognized mosque to be build in Greece - RIGHT NEXT TO ONE OF GREECE's MAJOR AIRPORTs NO LESS - and it would have been funded by guess who - YUP, you got it our friendly neighbor King Fahd Foundation of Saudi Arabia, one of the main source of the spread of Muslim radicalism. The government set aside land in Peania which is a suburb of Athen's - 20 km north of the city center and NEAR the Athens International Airport. They'd have it made - they can just take pop shots at airplanes from the mosque and claim "religious sanctuary" afterwards. But the Mayor of Peania, Greece told them all to go pound sand so the deal never went though. I don't know what these politicians are thinking at times.
Here it is - found the article. The title speaks volumes, I think.
The Trojan Horse of Wahhabism
http://www.techcentralstation.com/120904D.html
"King Fahd has erected over 200 Islamic centers and some 1,500 mosques worldwide."
Wahhabism on the rise...I shudder at the thought..
http://www.grecoreport.com/planned_new_mosque_in_paenia.htm
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.