Version française
 

Muslims of France – source of new vitality

Walk, soirées, questions

Economic transformation in the 1960's led French companies to actively recruit labor in North Africa – which explains most of today's Muslim population, estimated at five million.

The number, the rapid pace of its appearance, the difference in cultures, plus memories of colonisation and of the disastrous Algerian war, make adjustment difficult for both sides. Hopeful sign: the many marriages between Christians and Muslims.

 

 

 

 

  • The muted atmosphère...

 

of the Grande Mosquée de Paris transports us into another world. On days reserved for men or women, Muslims and non-Muslims cross paths.

 

Women can invite Aisha, who comes regularly, to explain how best to use the steamrooms – which sets the mood for the next suggestions.

 

 

 

  • The woman at the back of the bookstore...

 

greeted us with charming spontaneity: she was simply a client who happened to be there. When we asked for her telephone number to continue the conversation later, she accepted with pleasure – once we explained that we did not want to convert her, we only wanted to learn.

 

We'll see what happens next.

 
  • Soirées

 

 

     • Poems by Afghan women

 

 

 

An Afghan princess reads her own poems and those of other Afghan women, which she has chosen and translated. Their meaning is universal, as when they recall exile.
She sent this image to illustrate the world she lost.

     •Chants

 

 

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For more on this Iraqi singer's extensive and varied repertoire, please CLICK.

 

She sings regularly at the "Espace Scribe-Harmattan", a Left Bank bookstore specialized in Africa and the Middle East.


     •Tales that take us under a desert tent... or to a Paris an immigrant's child discovers

 

 

Notice the hands.

Author, story-teller and pillar of the Avignon festival, Moussa Lebkiri narrates memories of childhood in the Atlas and in a Paris that is fabulous and bizarre. En français

 

 

  • Five million French Muslims, most of whom are very young...

 

 

 

...fuse their parents' culture with that of France. How? We don't know yet...

 

To be continued.

 

•Costs: Please CLICK

 

Credits: Bookstore photo / Camilla Macfarlane ; other photos / Claude Abron