Radwah Hassan, IOL Staff

PARIS, November 5 (IslamOnline) - Differences between Muslims in France floated to the surface with preparations for the Muslims' holy fasting month of Ramadan.

Islamic bodies differed in determining the end of Shaaban and the beginning of Ramadan, causing confusion among the Muslim community in France.

Some Muslims started fasting Tuesday, November 5, while the majority of them will observe the holy fasting month Wednesday, November 6.

In its Tuesday edition, the French newspaper Liberation accused imams (Muslim scholars) of failing, like they did last year, in fixing a date for the beginning of Ramadan.

Several of the religious leaderships ruled counter to the announcement made by the La Comor committee on the necessity of fixing a date for sighting the Ramadan Crescent.

La Comor is the committee charged with organizing elections of Muslims Council in France (CFCM), which is supported by the French Interior Ministry to represent Muslims in France.

Religious leaderships representing the various Islamic bodies met Monday, November 4, in a Paris mosque to determine the beginning of Ramadan.

French Muslims divided over Ramadan

They included people belonging to Al Tabligh group, representatives of mosques affiliated to the national federation of Muslims in France (FNMF), controlled by the Moroccan community, and the newly-founded Muslim unification group.

These groups form an opposition front to French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy's policies.

Mohammad Hamani, a Tunisian from Al Tabligh group, justifies differences among Muslims regarding the start of Ramadan saying :"We will not wait for the French proposals to teach us how to determine the beginning of Ramadan because we are abiding by the Islamic shariaa which says that as long as one single person eye-sighted the crescent it is enough to announce the beginning of Ramadan."

Paris Grand Mosque disagrees with Al Tabligh group in sighting the crescent and favor astronomical calculations, as so does the union of Islamic organizations in France (UOIF).

The Algeria-funded Grand Mosque is the major sponsor of the idea of modern and developed Islam.

Sarkozy thinks the mosque's Imam Dalil Boubakeur is the best candidate to chair the CFCM.

The previous CFCM elections were postponed because Algerian representatives wanted to have more seats, arguing that French of Algerian origins outnumber all other Muslim groups.

The five-million Muslim community in France include around 1.5 million of Algerian origin.

The Algerian community is, however, less active compared to the one-million Muslim Moroccan community.

The CFCM project was launched two years ago by the former French interior minister.