Abu Hannah
Slave of Allah
The minaret of the new Grand Mosque of Marseille, whose cornerstone will be laid here in April, will be silent — no muezzin will disturb the neighborhood with the call to prayer. Instead, the minaret will flash a beam of light for a couple of minutes, five times a day.
Normally, the light would be green, for the colour of Islam. But Marseille is a port, and green is reserved for signals to ships at sea. Red? No, the firefighters have reserved red.
Instead, said Noureddine Cheikh, head of the Marseille Mosque Association, the light will almost surely be purple — a rather nightclubby look for such an elegant building.
So is this assimilation? Cheikh laughs. "I suppose it is," he said. "It's a good symbol of assimilation."
But as Western Europe is plunged into anxiety over the impact of Muslim immigration — reeling from the implications of a Swiss vote to ban minarets altogether — some scholars see a destructive dynamic, with assimilation feeding a reaction that, in turn, spawns resentment, particularly among young Muslims.
Vincent Geisser, a scholar of Islam and immigration, believes that the more Europe's Muslims establish themselves as a permanent part of the national scene, the more they frighten some who believe their national identity could be altered forever. "Today in Europe the fear of Islam crystallizes all other fears," Geisser said. "In Switzerland, it's minarets. In France, it's the veil, the burqa and the beard."
The large new mosque is a source of pride here in France's second-largest city, which is at least 25 per cent Muslim. But it is also cause for alarm, Geisser said.
Normally, the light would be green, for the colour of Islam. But Marseille is a port, and green is reserved for signals to ships at sea. Red? No, the firefighters have reserved red.
Instead, said Noureddine Cheikh, head of the Marseille Mosque Association, the light will almost surely be purple — a rather nightclubby look for such an elegant building.
So is this assimilation? Cheikh laughs. "I suppose it is," he said. "It's a good symbol of assimilation."
But as Western Europe is plunged into anxiety over the impact of Muslim immigration — reeling from the implications of a Swiss vote to ban minarets altogether — some scholars see a destructive dynamic, with assimilation feeding a reaction that, in turn, spawns resentment, particularly among young Muslims.
Vincent Geisser, a scholar of Islam and immigration, believes that the more Europe's Muslims establish themselves as a permanent part of the national scene, the more they frighten some who believe their national identity could be altered forever. "Today in Europe the fear of Islam crystallizes all other fears," Geisser said. "In Switzerland, it's minarets. In France, it's the veil, the burqa and the beard."
The large new mosque is a source of pride here in France's second-largest city, which is at least 25 per cent Muslim. But it is also cause for alarm, Geisser said.
