Islam And The Governing Of Muslims In France: Secularism Without Religion (islam Of The Global West)

To fi nd out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com and sign up for our newsletters An earlier version of this book was submitted as a habilitation thesis to the Institute of Islamic Studies and Modern Oriental Philology at the University of Bern. My thanks go to the members of the committee, and in particular to Reinhard Schulze for many good discussions, advice, and comments. I revised the manuscript while working at the College of Islamic Studies, Hamad Bin Khalifa University and would like to thank everyone who made this a pleasant and stimulating experience. Th is book builds upon research conducted at the Department of Comparative Cultural and Social Anthropology at European University Viadrina in Frankfurt/ Oder as part of the research group "Muslims in Europe" funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. My gratitude goes to Werner Schiff auer and the colleagues in Frankfurt/Oder for fruitful collaboration and exchanges. Many thanks also to Dietrich Reetz, who led the research group, and to its members. I am grateful to all those who gave of their time to think about this research. At all stages of the project, discussions in classrooms and offi ces both enriched and challenged me; as did the conversations and interviews I had with various interlocutors in France. Parts of this research were presented in various academic settings and I owe thanks to the organizers and to participants and audiences for their feedback. Cover page 1 Halftitle page 2 Series page 3 Title page 4 Copyright page 5 Contents 6 Acknowledgments 7 Introduction 8 Levels of Analysis 11 Public Islam 13 1 Beyond an Orderly Vision of Politics 22 Secularism Beyond a Sovereign Model of Power 27 Governing Religious Freedom 28 Islam as Exceptional Object in Knowledge Production 30 Secular Rationalities 31 Regulating Worship and Governing Muslims 35 Integrating Muslims 36 Recognizing Islam: “Religion” and “Worship” in State Discourse 38 Islam as a Proper Name 42 The Secular Order of Things 43 The “Transcendental Mobility” of Human Sciences and the Postcolonial Critique of Sciences 46 The Truth of Fiction 50 Conclusion 52 2 The Social Republic 54 Introduction 54 A Republic Unlike Any Other? 57 The Invention of the Social 58 Politics after the Invention of the Social 60 La Politique Musulmane 63 The Banlieues of Islam 65 Conclusion 71 3 Rationalizing Integration 74 Introduction 74 The Haut Conseilà L’intégration 77 Integration 78 Culturalism 80 Who are Muslims? 82 What is an Appropriate Muslim Subjectivity? 84 How Can Muslims be Governed? 86 The HCI (2002–8) 88 The HCI (2008–12) 92 Conclusion 95 4 Islam and Society: Entwinement and Differentiation 98 France as a Problem-Space 102 Visions of Integration: The Union des Organisations Iislamiques de France 103 Visions of Integration: Tariq Ramadan 106 Visions of Integration: Tareq Oubrou 111 Governing the Banlieue 114 The Critique of “Islamization” 117 The Critique of “Islamization” and its Critique 119 Conclusion 124 5 Teaching Freedom 126 Spirituality and the Reform of One’s Self 127 Muslims Contributing to Human Civilization 132 “Damn France?!” Shift ing Perceptions of Social Determination 136 Conclusion 142 6 “The History of Some is not the History of Others” 144 Introduction 144 Beyond the Unitary Regime of Memory 147 Memory and the Remembering Subject 151 History and Sovereignty 153 Narrating Europe’s Difference 155 Remembering al-Andalus 157 Divisive Memories 163 Patriotism beyond Critique and Repentance 165 Conclusion 170 7 Islam and Fiction beyond Freedom of Speech 172 Introduction 172 Two Victims in Court 174 What is Charlie Hebdo the Name of? 177 The Republican March: An Imposture by Zombie Catholicism? 180 Mokhtar Awards: Making Manifest the Reality of Islam 183 Soumission as the Future of Multicultural France 187 Soumission as Provocation 188 What Does it Mean to be a Human Being Without Faith? 189 Soumission and the Failure of Integration 189 Changing Identities and Alliances in Multicultural France 191 Religion and the Passing of Traditional Society 192 Conclusion 194 8 Islamophobia and the Critique of Integration 198 Introduction 198 Rethinking the Separation Between “Belief” and “Believers” 199 CCIF and Critique of Integration 202 Conclusion 207 Conclusion 210 Notes 216 Works Cited 258 Index 302 "Will Islam be able to adapt to France's secularity and its strict separation of public and private spheres? Can France accommodate Muslims? In this book, Frank Peter argues that the debate about "Islam" and "Muslims" is not simply caused by ignorance or Islamophobia. Rather, it is an integral part of how secularism is reasoned. 0Islam and the Governing of Muslims in France shows that the understandings of religion that separate it from other aspects of life, such as politics, economy and culture, fail to capture the ways religion has operated and been managed in "secular" societies such as France. This book uncovers the varying rationalities of the secular that have developed over the past few decades in France to "govern Islam", to argue that scholars should instead examine how Islam is managed politically, culturally, and socially. This book includes empirical research in a close analysis of French secularism as it was experienced by Islamic intellectuals and activists living in France from 1989 until the present. It will influence the study of secularism as well as the study of Islam in the French Republic, and reveal new connections between Islamic traditions and secular rationalities"-- Back cover "Will Islam be able to adapt to France's secularity and its strict separation of public and private spheres? Can France accommodate Muslims? In this book, Frank Peter argues that the debate about "Islam" and "Muslims" is not simply caused by ignorance or Islamophobia. Rather, it is an integral part of how secularism is reasoned. Islam and the Governing of Muslims in France shows that understanding religion as separate from other aspects of life, such as politics, economy, and culture, disregards the ways religion has operated and been managed in "secular" societies such as France. This book uncovers the varying rationalities of the secular that have developed over the past few decades in France to "govern Islam," in order to examine how Muslims engage with the secular regime and contribute to its transformation. This book offers a close analysis of French secularism as it has been debated by Islamic intellectuals and activists from the 1990s until the present. It will influence the study of secularism as well as the study of Islam in the French Republic, and reveal new connections between Islamic traditions and secular rationalities."-- Provided by publisher