French Muslims Apprehensive and Alienated

The Crisis In French Multiculturalism (2015)

French Connection (2002): How tension over immigration has put French multiculturalism on the ropes.

France: Muslims Attend Mass in Sign of Solidarity Following Normandy Attack

French Muslim Leaders Boycott Jewish Dinner Over 'Violence' Remark

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Row breaks out between heads of France’s Jewish and Muslim communities after the leader of the country’s main Jewish group blames Muslims for “all violence today”

A row erupted on Monday between French Jewish and Muslim community leaders after the head of France’s Jewish community blamed young Muslims for “all violence today” in a radio interview.

The comment drew an angry response from Muslim leaders, who boycotted the annual dinner of the main French Jewish organisation on Monday night.

They normally attend the event along with representatives of other religions.

The dispute reflects heightened tension and sensitivities in France, which is home to Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim minorities, following the series of attacks by Islamist extremists in Paris that left 17 dead last month. » | David Chazan, Paris | Tuesday, February 23, 2015

Paris Shootings: Marseille Muslims Condemn Violence

BBC AMERICA: More than two million people have taken to the streets of cities across France, in a show of unity after three days of terror attacks.

Seventeen people were killed during the violence, and police are still hunting one of the people believe to be responsible.

One million people of all faiths and origins marched in Paris, while hundreds of thousands of others staged demonstrations elsewhere.

Fergal Keane reports on one march in Marseille, the French city with the largest population of Muslims. (+ BBC video) » | Sunday, January 11, 2015

Syria Becoming Magnet for Young French Muslims

U-T SAN DIEGO: PARIS (AP) — Two high school classmates, both French Muslims, headed off to Syria this month instead of going to school. They were located, brought home — one fetched by his father — and are now being investigated on terrorism-linked charges.

The unfolding drama of the teenagers, aged 15 and 16, highlights how Syria has become a magnet for a vulnerable fringe of young Muslims in the West. It is among a small wave of cases that are putting French authorities, and some families, on edge.

The bloody three-year-old conflict in Syria has drawn thousands of Muslims to join the ranks of battalions trying to topple the regime or other fighting groups looking to conquer the region in the name of Islam.

French authorities say that more than 600 French have gone to Syria, are plotting to go or have returned, and more than 20 French have been killed in fighting. As of mid-January, a dozen French adolescents were in Syria or in transit, according to authorities. » | Elaine Ganley | Associated Press | Saturday, February 01, 2014

Why Many French Muslims Choose Burial Abroad

BBC: From working-class neighbour-hoods of French towns and cities to the villages of Algeria and Morocco, a strange kind of reverse migration is under way - of the dead.

Every year thousands of bodies are being repatriated from France to the Maghreb, as Muslim families return their loved ones to the soil of their original home. It is a costly and complicated business, involving flights, consular administrators and specialist funeral providers. It also prompts the question: why not get buried in France?

After all, France is the country where these families are now destined to live. Would it not be a sign of successful integration if France were also where they chose to rest when they died?

The answer to that question has to do with the complexities of national identity in a world of mass migration.

But also with France's own obsession with secular "republican" values, and its reluctance to give ground - literally - on matters of faith. » | Hugh Schofield | BBC News, Paris | Monday, July 22, 2012