“The ignorance of Islam leads to misunderstanding it,” De Villepin

By Hadi Yahmed, IOL Paris Correspondent

PARIS , June 16 (IslamOnline.net) - French Foreign Minister Dominique De Villepin called for the removal of all stereotypes etched into the minds of non-Muslims about Islam, stressing that Islam, like all other religions, calls for social peace, tolerance and freedom of criticism.

“The ignorance of Islam leads to misunderstanding it, and even pushes many to claim that the religion does not encourages a spirit for criticism,” De Villepin addressed a lecture organized by the French Senate on Saturday, June 14.

“One of the principles historically associated with Qur’an was the individual ability to interpret it,” he added in the lecture entitled “Islam and the West … From Old World To the Future”.

The French minister cited a number of Islamic scholars whose interpretative judgments painted an enlightened picture of the Islamic thought, such as Tunisian Mohamed al-Tulbi and Syrian Burhan Ghalyoun.

But he lamented the lack of democratic institutions, social justice as well as the rampant financial corruption blocks the path to an enlightened western vision of Islam.

For All Peoples, Cultures

De Villepin said he admired Islam for its assimilation of varied civilizations, cultures and languages given his ubiquitous nature in many geographical spots in North Africa and the Middle East .

“ Europe is in need for this diversification down the road of building its future,” he said.

Such cultural enrichment carried by Muslims allowed them a smooth integration not only in France , but all over Europe , De Villepin said.

France is a rigid secular country, with six million Muslims, or up to ten percent of the overall population, hailing from 53 countries and speaking 21 languages other than French.

The number is expected to triple to 20 millions by 2020 due to high birth rates, growing flow of Muslim immigrants and the conversion of not so small number of French citizens to Islam.

Stereotypes ‘Close-minded’   

In spite of their large numbers - some 50,000 Frenchmen and women reportedly convert to Islam every year - Muslims complain that many of the French refuse to accept the Muslim presence and consider Islam an alien force which "should be eliminated."

As portrayed in many parts of education, media, literature and politics, Muslims are just enemies who had attempted to invade France or infidels who persecuted Christians of the East.

In media, Islam is mostly associated with France ’s social ailments of terrorism, crime and unemployment, accusations that lead to many forms of racial indiscrimination.

In the last legislative elections, none of the 125 candidates of Arab origin won. Unemployment is another problem facing the French Muslims, 40 percent of whom are jobless.

Muslim families, having been forced to accept that their daughters cannot wear the Islamic headscarf to school, were confronted last year with a new policy, which makes the abortion-pill freely available to teenage school-girls, "making illicit sexual activity routine and subverting parental authority.”

French Muslim groups say that their communities are being overwhelmed by the "secularism" sweeping over all spheres of life in France , where it is increasingly difficult to live or bring up children as Muslims.

A French court has rejected in June a Turkish Muslim woman's demand for a resident's permit on the grounds that she wore a headscarf for her identity photograph.