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The Porte de Clignancourt district in Paris is one of these predominantly Muslim areas gripped by the Ramadan aura. |
PARIS — Ramadan has given a complete facelift to predominantly Muslim districts in Paris with Muslims from different backgrounds and cultures cannot help but stand in owe of the holy fasting month, abstaining from whatever it might anger God and launching an all-out war on vice and self-indulgence.
"It is Ramadan," Madi, a 33-year-old French-Moroccan, told IslamOnline.net Friday, September 14.
Before the advent of Ramadan, the man used his mobile accessories shop as a front to sell cannabis.
Ramadan, Madi says, has this inexplicable force majeure that makes him feel conscious-stricken, wishing to repent one day.
"I'm trying my best during the month of blessings," he said as he arranges several Ramadanian calendars to hand them out to his clients.
"I only sell mobile phones during Ramadan."
Ramadan, which started Thursday in France, has this mystical aura in Parisian districts with sizable Muslim population like Saint Denis and Belleville.
Red-light neighborhoods along the road leading to Paris' northern entrance of Pote de Clignancourt disappear as sex workers do not dare to step out, realizing how dear the month is to Muslims even liberals.
They usually go to other districts that have small Muslim minorities like Porte Dauphine.
Night clubs run by some Muslims in these districts remain closed and pub sales hit all year low during Ramadan.
French Muslims of Moroccan origin tend to give Ramadan the honorary title of "Mr." as if the month was a man with dignity and prestige.
Religious Zeal
Al-Arabi Kouchat, the director of Al-Dawa mosque in Saint Denis, attributes the Ramadan reverence phenomenon to religious zeal among today's French Muslims.
"I first came to France in the 1970s and many people at the time didn’t fast Ramadan," he recalled.
"People were too liberal and unreligious," he said.
Kouchat vividly remembers that day when some Muslims made fun of him and his friends, when they marked Ramadan by passing out some calendars at Strasbourg under ground.
"They said: 'Come on guys, we left Ramadan there (in their Muslim motherlands), and you are reviving it here,'" he recalled.
Kouchat says what solaces him now is that prevailing religious zeal.
"Today, it is really moving to see Muslim youths impressively give up sins and turn to God out of respect to awe-inspiring Ramadan," he said.
An overwhelming majority of French Muslims (88%) fast Ramadan last year, according to an SCA poll.
The survey further found that 70 percent of the respondents were practicing Muslims.
Mohammed Hanish, the Secretary General of the Union of Muslim Organizations in Saint Denis, said his society is inundated with a torrent of phone calls on the first day of Ramadan from youths, who want to know their religion.
"How can we perform the Tarawih prayers? is the frequently asked question," he said.
"It is amazing that some of those curious youths don't know a word of Arabic, but are keen on going to mosques in Ramadan," he said.
Muslims say Ramadan is an interior ministry of its own as crimes and immoral acts sharply decline during the holy month.
"Neither (Justice Minister) Rachida Dati, nor (President Nicolas) Sarkozy, nor police patrols that frequent the streets every 15 minutes can prevent people from selling cannabis or impose the self-discipline brought by Ramadan," said Al-Monsef, a local from Porte de Clignancourt.
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