PARIS,
November 7, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – French
Muslim leaders on Sunday, November 6, issued a fatwa banning Muslims
from joining the unlawful riots raging across the country.
“It
is not acceptable to express feelings of desperation through damaging
public properties and carrying out arson,” read the religious edict
issued by the Union of French Islamic Organizations (UOIF)’s Fatwa
Body.
“Under
Islam, one cannot get one of his/her rights at the expense of
others,” stressed the fatwa, a copy of which was obtained by
IslamOnline.net.
The
fatwa cited noble verses that read: “Lo! Allah loveth not
aggressors. (The Cow:190), “Eat and drink of that which Allah hath
provided, and do not act corruptly, making mischief in the earth. (The
Cow: 60) and “Lo! Allah loveth not the corrupt.” (The Table: 64).
Sheikh
Ahmad Jaballah, member of the Fatwa Body, said that the fatwa sends a
strong message to the French that these riots are un-Islamic.
“It
came to counter allegations by rightists and extremists who
maliciously tried to link the arson to French Muslims,” he told IOL.
The
fatwa further underlined that minorities in France should live in
dignity and suffer no racial discrimination or maltreatment.
The
rioting began with the accidental electrocution of two youths fleeing
police in Clichy- sous-Bois outside Paris.
Chirac's
government has come under increasing pressure to halt the riots,
sparked by frustration among ethnic minorities over racism,
unemployment and harsh treatment by police.
Many
feel trapped in the drab suburbs, built in the 1960s and 1970s to
house waves of immigrant workers.
Their
French-born children and grandchildren are now out on the streets
demanding the equality France promised but, they say, failed to
deliver.
Police
Shot
 |
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French police holds shotgun shell recovered after they were shot upon in Grigny. (Reuters)
|
The
riots intensified Sunday for an 11th
night despite a vow by President Jacques Chirac to defeat it.
An
Interior Ministry statement said 839 more vehicles were torched only
overnight. Thirty-four police were injured in clashes and 186 rioters
detained, Reuters reported.
“They
really shot at officers,” said one officer after about 200 youths
attacked his colleagues in Grigny, south of Paris.
“This
is real, serious violence. It's not like the previous nights. I am
very concerned because this is mounting.”
The
head of France's main business group, Laurence Parisot, warned of the
consequences of the violence for the French economy, notably on
tourism and investment.
“France's
image has been deeply damaged,” she told Europe 1 radio.
The
violence came shortly after Chirac broke a long silence with his first
public comments since the unrest began on October 27.
“The
republic is quite determined, by definition, to be stronger than those
who want to sow violence or fear,” he said after a domestic security
council met to respond to the violence in which thousands of cars have
gone up in flames so far.
Spreading
Further
violence was reported in other cities, including Nantes, Rennes,
Strasbourg, Lens and Toulouse.
Youths
seized a bus in Saint-Etienne in central France, ordering passengers
off and torching the vehicle. The driver and one passenger were hurt.
In
the eastern city of Strasbourg, rioters lobbed Molotov cocktails into
a primary school.
In
Toulouse in the southeast, a blazing car was pushed into a metro
entrance. At Lens in the north, a firebomb was thrown at a church.
In
Lille, about 50 cars were torched and a Belgian television reporter
was beaten up as he filmed.
The
police union Action Police CFTC urged the government to impose a
curfew on the riot-hit areas and call in the army to control the
youths.
“Nothing
seems to be able to stop the civil war that spreads a bit more every
day across the whole country,” it said in a statement. “The events
we're living through now are without precedent since the end of the
Second World War.”
