Islam In France

Minaret of the Great Mosque of Paris

The Islam is considered the second religion in France after Catholicism. Although no investigation identifies Muslims exhaustively, several studies put the number between 1.84 and 2.46 million adults. The most recent study estimates that the population of Muslim culture, including minors, is 3.8 million in 2009 .

The first period of Muslim population in France is in the South of France by people from neighboring Muslim Spain. This settlement lasted from ^the eighth century to the fifteenth ^century. While Islam is the religion of a people who invaded France, so the first contacts between the inhabitants of present-day France and Islam are warlike confrontations. Saracens reflux occurs after Battle of Poitiers (732) , but the struggle of France against the Muslims on the southern fringe of their field lasts until the end of the ^tenth century and the Battle of Tourtour that drives their Saracens bases of Provence. Now the contact is limited to some trade, and raids of the Saracens who kidnap people from the coast to reduce them to slavery , the entire Muslim world still unknown to the crusades. The information available to the West about Islam were so scarce and often inaccurate, coming mostly pilgrims or merchants. This ignorance, also mutual, made that for several centuries, few people knew how to name and names were chosen mostly from the Old Testament. They were called Agarnes (named Hagar the mother of Ishmael ancestor by Bible of the Arabs), the Arabs , the Moors and the Turks , or more broadly the Saracens , the words Islam and Muslim appearing only later, from the seventeenth ^century .

It was during the Crusades that the Muslim world and its holy book, the Koran , are becoming known in the West, and France. Meanwhile, the flow of books, scientific works mainly translated from Latin, Greek or Arabic, reaching Europe from the Muslim world is growing from the crusades until the late Middle Ages. During the Renaissance takes up a significant episode, which sees the king of France Francis ^I forge an alliance with the main Muslim ruler, Suleiman the Magnificent , and the fleet of Barbarossa overwinter in ports of Provence. It is also in the ^sixteenth century that tens of thousands of Muslim Moriscos expelled from Spain, settled in France where they eventually melt into the population.

The confrontation with the Muslim world back to the nineteenth ^century with the conquest of Algeria and the colonization of much of Africa, Syria and Lebanon. Algeria is divided into departments, and officially "part of France," even if its citizens of ethnic North African Muslims are not allowed to vote. This settlement allows workers to bring Muslims from North Africa when France lack of arm early in the ^twentieth century with the First World War. Gradually, they are increasingly more likely to settle in France. It is primarily this flow of workers is the Muslim community in France. It is complemented by harkis or political refugees from Muslim countries by immigrants from Turkey, and since the 1980s, black Africa. It is this community, preserving its rituals, customs and religion, settled in the French countryside and gradually building mosques. In the Department of Overseas The Meeting , the community has been installed for longer.

For the historian Justin Vaisse , the term "Islam of France" is now more appropriate .

During the Middle Ages

The first Muslims arrived in France after their conquest of Hispania began in 711 and settled near Toulouse and into Burgundy. The Septimania and its capital Narbonne were under Muslim sovereignty from 719 to 759. ^In the tenth century, they settled in Fraxinet for about a century. Much later, Muslim refugees, fleeing the Reconquista of Spain, and later, the Inquisition , took root in Languedoc-Roussillon and in the Basque Country and in the French Barn . About 150,000 took refuge in France. "Many then return to North Africa but others remain and gradually blend into the local population" . Several indications suggest that Muslims were settled in Montpellier in the ^twelfth century . A significant population of slaves was also imported Muslims in Roussillon, Languedoc and Provence between the ^twelfth and ^fifteenth centuries and part of that population, once freed, was melted into society ^, .

The Arab-Berber province of Narbonne

The Saracen Army painted by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld in 1822-1827

July 19 711 army of Tariq ibn Ziyad , governor of Tangier enters the Iberian Peninsula. His victory over the king Visigoth Roderic marks the beginning to nearly eight centuries of Muslim presence in southern Europe. Very quickly, the whole Iberian peninsula was conquered, and in less than ten years the Muslims crossed the Pyrenees. In 720 , Narbonne (Arboun in Arabic) is conquered by the third ruler of Spain, Al-Samh. In 721, the Arabs are outside Toulouse or Al-Samh killed and the Muslim army retreats which gives Aquitaine relative peace. From the French point of view, the religion of these new invaders has very little importance. The territory is very frank in often prey to invasions of pagan peoples of the East, as the Hungarians in the late ninth ^century or the Vikings , the Muslim religion was irrelevant to the Carolingian kings, the only peculiarity of the Saracens was simply that 'they came from the south.

Ambiza succeeds Al-Samh and resumed its policy of expansion of the caliphate. In 725 , Carcassonne is taken very quickly and all Septimania to Nmes , then the Saracens began to ascend the Rhone. Despite the death of Ambiza the expedition is a success. The armies penetrate Avignon and arrived at the gates of Lyon , where they pass through the Burgundy besieged Autun on 22 August 725 and reached the Vosges, where they loot Luxeuil . Immediately, the governor Abdel Rahman Al Ghafq gathers his army and plans to conquer Burdhil that is to say, Bordeaux. In 735 with the help Mauronte it takes Arles. But after the defeat of Poitiers, Muslims return to their rear base of Narbonne and apart from a few raids, the Arab advance was stopped. New Muslims from Al Andalus settled there with their wives and children suggesting a colonization settlement according to historian Paul Deacon Lombard ^(eighth century).

For 20 years, the province of Narbonne lives in serenity approximate. They are building mosques as shown by the remains found by Lacan and Muslim preachers get the same conversion of several thousand people who get more rights than Christians are therefore dhimmis. The city becomes under the name of arbun the seat of a wali for forty years, the capital of one of the five provinces of al-Andalus , alongside Cordoba , Toledo , Mrida and Zaragoza. Muslims left the former inhabitants, Christians and Jews, freedom to profess their religion through tribute . The province extended to the current department of Aude , in the Herault , the Gard and Pyrnes-Orientales but the situation changed drastically in the years 750. An unusual hunger strike Al-Andalus and thousands of miles away, the Umayyad caliphs were overthrown by the Abbasid which creates a strong exodus of the Berber population, which leaves the Septimania. The small province of Narbonne finds herself facing a growing Carolingian monarchy. Finally in 759, the city fell to the Franks following a popular revolt .

The defeat pushes the boundary of the Caliphate to the south. In 801 , Barcelona is taken and the progress of Spain was consolidated. However, the Arab raids continue but are moving now on Provence between Arles and Nice although in 827 , is reported to Arab ships off the coast of Brittany

From the perspective of the Caliphate of Baghdad, the province of Narbonne had little importance, France and Europe in general is secondary compared to the riches of India and China. However, historians are divided on the real purpose of this advance in Frankish territory. Settlement or mere raids outside Spain? Raids, looting of churches and monasteries, might suggest a company to plunder without any purpose than to amass the wealth. But from another point of view, this technique of harassment allowed to weaken a region in order to win more easily later. Anyway, this short period, there remains today little trace that can be summarized in a few coins scattered.

The Battle of Poitiers

One of the most famous events in the history of France is surely the Battle of Poitiers. She sees the mayor of the palace frank Charles Martel (who is also the grandfather of Charlemagne and the origin of the dynasty Carolingian ), defeat the Muslim army led by Abd el-Rahman who was killed during the battle. The army of Charles Martel composed of Alamanni , the Franks, of Austrasians , and other Germanic tribes defeated by his discipline and his weapons. This victory does not yet mark the end of the Muslim presence in France , as evidenced by the failure of the siege of Narbonne, headed by a governor Umayyad until 759, but the systematic intervention of the Franks, only able to oppose to them. We still see raids by Arabs until the ^late tenth century Arab-Muslim population until the fifteenth ^century. This battle is also a symbol later used in different situations. For French nationalists of the nineteenth ^century, 732 is a time of nation-building .

Carolingian kings and the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs

White Elephant offered by Caliph Harun ar-Rashid in The emperor Charlemagne

Despite the tumultuous beginning, the first diplomatic contacts were not long. Already in 768, the successor of Fredegaire reports that several ambassadors of the Abbasid Caliph overwinter in Metz to meet King Carloman I before returning to the Middle East arms loaded with presents.

Three decades later, Charlemagne interested in preserving the Christian East and the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem in 797 sends the fifth Caliph Abbasid , Haroun al-Rashid, a delegation on his return five years later an elephant returns offered by the caliph and who will be the pride of Charlemagne. The latest exchanges between Charlemagne and Haroun al-Rashid place in 806 when the Frankish king's war against Byzantium. In 831 a delegation of the Caliph Al-Mamun passes through Thionville to sign some agreements.

Caliph Harun ar-Rashid receives a delegation of Charlemagne

Evince Although the Abbasid dynasty, the Umayyads manage to ascend the throne a few years later, not to Damascus but on the other side of the empire, Cordoba caliphate and dividing in two. Naturally, along with relations conducted between the Frankish kings with the caliph of Baghdad, contacts were established with that of Cordoba. While for the case of the Abbasids, the relationship was especially justified by the defense of the Holy Land and the war against the Byzantines, the situation was much more turbulent with the Umayyad caliphs of Cordoba. The first peaceful relations take place only during the reign of Charles the Bald. Charles, anxious to put an end to incursions by Saracen Septimania and the Emir of Cordoba Abd al-Rahman II worried about attacks Vikings on Spain signed a truce that is also the last between sovereigns and francs Umayyad or Abbasid caliphs, the Muslim raids in Provence terminating. This difference in treatment between the two Caliphates lies not least in Charlemagne's relationship with the two different caliphate. Just as the Caliph of Baghdad was much respected relationship with that of Cordoba was radically different. In 778, it operates in Spain and, despite a defeat suffered by the Basques at Roncesvalles by his rearguard commanded by Roland, described as his nephew in the famous epic poem that bears his name, he won several victories over the brash and even succeeded in conquering a part of Catalonia.

The conclusion of this episode shows that despite cultural differences and religious complex alliances will be forged between the Franks and Arabs. Charlemagne ally of the Caliph of Baghdad against the Christians of Byzantium uses of Muslim mercenaries from northern Spain in his lute against the caliphs of Cordova. Conversely, the Arabs found many supporters as patrician of Provence Mauronte to enter into Frankish territory , or on behalf Eudes of Aquitaine who enters into a covenant and offers his daughter in marriage to Munuza , an Arab of the Pyrenees, dissenting Caliphate of Cordoba against Charles Martel.

A different view of the other

World map dating from 1154 made by Al Idrisi for Roger II of Sicily. On the other side are clearly visible in Europe and parts of Asia and Africa

These contacts between Franks and Muslims rulers should not forget that the East and West had extensive relations before, notably through the merchants on the Silk Road or pilgrims who visited the Holy Land already had an idea of Islam. Very quickly geographers, philosophers, explorers of the two sides will describe distant lands.

The Arab side, it's Baghdad or Cairo that the first geographers begin to draw world maps based on the writings Indian, Chinese and Greek but also to describe distant countries outside the dar al Islam. Geographers such as Greek thinkers divide the earth into three continents: Africa , the Asia and Europe while taking care to put Baghdad in the center. Asia attracts particularly the Muslim society of the time and including China , which impresses with its power and wealth. The Europe for its part, there is little of interest. This continent Arufa named in Arabic, means the northwest quarter of the earth and the Arab vision gives the impression of a single block of people without any distinction between peoples French, Latin or Slavic example.

World map made by the Abbot Abbo in XI ^century. It distinguishes Africa, Asia and Europe. Jerusalem is marked with a cross.

Much more than the division by continents, the Arab geographers divided the world climates (Iqlim) consisting of three, five, seven games or more generally from the equator to the edges of the Arctic. Depending on humidity, heat in particular, Arab scholars thought they could determine the nature and behavior of its inhabitants. Like the Greeks, they believed that the best climates were their own. These climates "central" to allow men to get the most out of agriculture, to be in good health, build houses and solid defenses and therefore, promote the intellectual and adherence to Islam. Conversely, the climate in Europe or Africa too hot or too cold did not have good crops or build defenses and decent housing. Thus they became more frail physically and intellectually and thus is why they could not understand and convert to Islam. Among these peoples are found in North broad set of nations, from France, the Slavs to the Turks (even pagans for the most part) from the steppes of Asia, beyond these cold regions are the peoples of Gog and Magog. Europe (and therefore the Franks) is therefore at the border of these people destroying cities in both the Bible and the Koran. The bloody raids Vikings on Muslim Andalusia or the Mongols in the east will not accredited by this thesis. However from the ^eleventh century that vision begins to change in contact with these "men of the North", features the stories appear in the European continent and is no longer seen as a homogenous group of people. In 1150 , Al Idrissi will map the world on behalf of Roger II of Sicily and Europe is clearly distinguishable and accompany it with a description or Normandy is described in detail such as Bayeux is a city "pleasant, beautiful and prosperous" and Paris "a city of moderate size" . Ibrahim ibn Ya'qub Andalusian merchant sent by the Umayyad Caliph of Cordoba give a description of several cities in France such as Bordeaux, Montpellier and the island of Noirmoutier going so far as to provide the regional characteristics within the French territory:

"Ifranji (land of the Franks): This is a huge country, a vast kingdom in a Christian land. The cold is very bright and therefore the harsh climate. But the country is rich in grains, fruits, crops, rivers, crops, in cattle, in trees, honey and all kinds of game. It contains silver mines, which are made formidable sword, sharper than those of India. The inhabitants, Christians, obey a king brave, strong, leaning on a large army which are two or three cities on this side of the sea, in full Muslim country: it protects them from the other board, and, each shipment that the Muslims launched against them, reply by sending a rescue mission. His soldiers are of extraordinary bravery: they can not, ever, when they fight, preferring to escape death. We can see people dirtiest, most deceitful or more vile: ignoring clean, they wash once or twice a year, with cold water. They never clean their clothes, they don once and for all, until they fall to pieces. They shave their beards, which pushes every time a nasty and rude manner. And as they questioned one of them this: "The hair, he says, is superfluous. If you remove other natural parts, why should we let ourselves in the face?

Bordeaux is a city of the country of the Franks, rich in water, trees, fruits and grains. Most inhabitants are Christians. The city has very high buildings, supported by enormous columns. The shores of this town is a collection of high quality amber. It is said that when the cold is very strong and prevents the browser, people go to a nearby island, named Anwti, where grows a kind of tree called mdiqa. In case of famine, they bark and find this tree, between sapwood and heart, a white substance on which they feed for a month or two, or even longer, until the time again become lenient. There, overlooking the city and the ocean, a mountain with an idol, as if to invite people to stop doing road on the sea and sail to discourage those who would leave Bordeaux with this desire

Noirmoutier: It's an island in the ocean, it stretches over twenty miles long and three wide. Located in the middle of the sea, it has a good climate, good soil, freshwater wells. Populated and cultivated, it is the excellence of the soil and air to ignore what are reptiles, since they, with insects, born of corrupt principles, which are unknown here. It is said that the island produces a rudder of an extraordinary quality, that are found nowhere else.

Saint-Malo is a fortified place, the land of the Franks. From 'Udhr, Christians in the region tell that St. Martin, spending a day there, was attacked by a woman who professed, with her husband, robbed the passengers and rob them of their clothes. St. Martin obediently took off with no resistance and gave his clothes to woman. But when it came to breeches, while Martin, invoking God against Women, on the hour metamorphosed into a hard stone and placed in the mouth of the statue a vine. The vine grew and bore fruit, but with the property of sterilizing all those who ate fruit.

Rouen is a city in the country of the Franks, built of stones of a beautiful device, on the River Seine. The vine and fig tree do not grow well, but wheat and rye abound. In the Seine, it takes a fish called salmon and another, smaller, which is similar in taste and smell, a cucumber and fishing also in the Nile in Egypt, where it is called ' ayr. Turrsh said he saw a young man in Rouen pledged a beard that reaches his knees in the painting, he had won another four fingers long. With this, her cheeks were still sparsely furnished and had, as he asserted, that beard for six years. Turcsh also said that the coldest winter in Rouen are emerging a kind of goose with red legs and beak, called "'Ayisha" and not brooding its eggs in the island of' AHQ , which is uninhabited. Sometimes, when a ship lost at sea, that men set foot on this island and feed for a month or two, eggs and chicks of this bird . "

Zuhri, another explorer still gives him the description of Narbonne in the eleventh ^century:

"On the coast east of Barshalna ( Barcelona ), there is the city of arbun (Narbonne). It is the extreme point conquered by Muslims in the country of the Franks. There was the statue on which was inscribed: "Half turn, children of Ishmael , here is your word! If you ask me why, I will say this: if you do not turn around, you will fight each other until the Day of Resurrection. " This city is crossed in the middle by a great river, the largest river in the country of the Franks, a large bridge spans it. On the back of the arch, there are markets and houses. People use to go from one part of town to another. Between the city and the sea, the distance is two parasangs

Muslims in Provence

Main article: Fraxinet.

Massif des Maures Provence

The Muslim presence in Provence from some sources as Liutprand, vessel failed due to a storm in the late ninth ^century. According to legend, twenty-one Saracens stranded on the shores of Fraxinet and decide to settle there by calling for reinforcements. Very quickly several hundred men answered the call. Initially the private company quickly attracted the attention of the emirs of Cordoba, Umayyad that place under their control. The death of Louis the Pious in 840 , internal strife following the Treaty of Verdun in 843 the Saracens in helping their companies . This presence, which lasted a century, has to populate the area, contrary to the conquest of Narbonne , which was more focused on the looting.

Established on the southern slopes of the Massif des Maures (Arabic Jabal al-Qill: Many mountain summits) and the peninsula of Saint Tropez, the settlement seeks to expand each year and leads an expedition for ten years towards the Alps. Hawqal Ibn noted that agriculture in the region is very productive.

In the mid- ^tenth century a group of Saracens settled in the Alps and especially in the valley of the Arc. Sent by King Hugh who concluded a treaty with the Saracens, they were essentially prevent any enemy invasion, mostly from his rival the King of Italy Berenger . Part of the Saracens leave the region, another party is defeated at the Battle of Tourtour and a third moved into the region. "Time and countless mixtures of people did the rest: slowly, over generations, the quota is dissolved and buckwheat in the population of Provence" .

Present during almost a century on the territory, the Arabs were finally driven out in 972 total disinterest in the Umayyad caliphs of Cordoba focused on the Maghreb and the new caliphate Fatimid expansion .

This does not defeat the disappearance of the Muslim population in Provence. Thus in the twelfth ^century,Benjamin of Tudela who visited the south of France noted that the city of Montpellier "very popular with all nations, both Christian and Mohammedan traders found there comers including the country Algarb (Al Andalus and the Maghreb) and throughout Egypt the land of Israel. " More numerous tombs confirm that presence, including a tomb found near Aniane in the Herault for a student in religion named Ibn Ayyub . From the installation period Muslim Provence several traces remain, even today. Ramatuelle : Common Var , according to several historians comes from Arabic rahmat-Allah ( in Arabic), which means Grace of Allah. Or the beach Almanarre in Hyres, Arabic Al Manar meaning lighthouse. Finally, several wrecks along the Mediterranean coast are remnants of Arab trade on the southern coast of France. In 1962, off of Agay , near Saint-Raphael , several jars containing a wreck has been found ^, , another wreck was discovered in Bataiguier in the bay of Cannes.

The Slave Trade

Saracen slaves, pier of the church of St. Mary Oloron, early twelfth ^century.

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Dinar of Offa with inscriptions in Arabic (Muslim profession of faith) for trade with the Saracens

Until the ^eleventh century the Mediterranean was a "Muslim lake". The islands like Corsica or the Balearics are dens of Arab pirates who roam the sea attacking cargo ships and men. Privateers sent by their caliphates plunder the coasts of Italy, Spain or France and try to relate to each occasion that prisoners are freed in exchange for ransom, or sold as slaves. European traders forge trade links with Muslim countries and thus have passage facilities at sea of the East West bought spices, silk, sugar and sold among other iron or wood which yielded little. Incursions by Germanic Slavic territories can bring a new commodity, slaves, sold many of Cordoba , where they form the powerful group Schiavoni ) but also throughout the Mediterranean. Verdun in France is rapidly becoming .

However, this trade does not please the Church, which prohibits trade rapidly in and advises instead to sell the slaves in Christian lands. In 776 Pope Hadrian ^I asks Charlemagne to prohibit such sales because they reinforce the Saracens, but this request like any other has no effect on this highly profitable on both sides . The exchange of goods are so important that Arab gold coins become the reference European merchants and the parallel European silver coins are in great demand in the East. Very quickly counterfeiters imitate the Arabic coins with inscriptions from the Koran which greatly shocked the Pope Clement IV as well as King Louis IX of France .

However with the fall of the Caliphate of Cordoba and the beginning of the Crusades, the situation changes radically. The work of Charles Verlinden helped to highlight the emergence of a new trade, the enslavement of peoples to Islam, which includes both Saracens from new regions conquered by the Spanish kings but also of Tartary or captured by the crews of ships that attack the Italian coast of North Africa , the Balearic Islands or Spain.

The capture of Tortosa and Valencia can catch important men of war. Much of these slaves are sold on the Mediterranean ports such as that of Marseille. These slaves, mostly women, essentially become maids or housekeepers, and men are employed as agricultural laborers. The conversion to Christianity they are not imposed, and the adoption of the Christian faith does not necessarily imply a liberation, this decision belongs only to their master. Subsequently, the slaves not only from Africa but from Tartary Russia, sold on the Black Sea ports and composed mainly of Turkish or Caucasian women.

The Reconquista progressed, the market is becoming prolific. Purchasing a Moorish slave is within reach even of simple peasant as evidenced by notarial records of the time. For example, in Perpignan, the price of a slave is identical to that of a mule. The only way for a slave at that time is either to join his country which is impossible, or join a city offering asylum and emancipation of slaves (something extraordinary for its time) as Toulouse or Pamiers among others .

Exchange of knowledge

Cathedral Notre-Dame du Puy and arches in the shape of a horseshoe-like that of the Mosque of Cordoba

Trade with China and India, but also the capture of Alexandria and Damascus, who were former Roman cities with extensive libraries including many books in Greek are the starting point of science say Arab. While translating these texts, the Muslim thinkers are trying to improve them. This current is not slow to arrive in Europe, timidly at first, it takes its place in the late Middle Ages , contributing in part to the Renaissance in Europe.

The first to translate Arabic texts the Spaniards and Italians, these documents penetrate slowly in France. Paris is in the thirteenth ^century the most important center of theological and philosophical studies of the Latin world, the courses taught at his university are renowned throughout Europe. Despite its prestige, it was only two centuries after the death of Avicenna as the University of Paris recognizes his work completely. The initial interest in Arab thought are nothing but theologians and churchmen French. William of Auvergne , bishop of Paris in the thirteenth ^century showed a great interest in Arabic and Greek philosophies even if n does not hesitate to criticize and denigrate the work of Avicenna on his pro-Islamic thoughts. Later Thomas Aquinas has the same reaction vis--vis the Arab thinker texts .

In scientific terms, Europe is stayed until ^the eleventh century away from Greek science was there as an opportunity to rediscover through the Arab scholars. Gerbert d'Aurillac , having traveled the Catalonia and attended Muslim scholars and Spanish, is one of the first to report the Arabic Sciences in France . Across Europe a vast movement of translation is launched. Although these imperfect translations introduce many concepts in mathematics, medicine, chemistry, etc..

In the arts, the Arab influence is felt in Europe. Many Romanesque churches in the south of France between the ^twelfth and thirteenth century ^century thanks to borrow Arab workers and craftsmen involved in its construction, but the Crusaders returning from the Holy Land, an architecture similar to the mosques and palaces of Al Andalus arches shaped like a horseshoe or biblical inscriptions engraved in stone and directly inspired arabesques that decorate the mosques of the time. The most striking example is undoubtedly the Cathedral of Le Puy-en-Velay Emile Male, whose notice the striking resemblance to the Mosque of Cordoba .

Deterioration of relations and the beginning of the Crusades

Main article: Crusades.

St. Louis and the seventh crusade

After the ^eleventh century century the situation of Muslims in Europe is changing. The removal of the abbot of Cluny Mayeul , the destruction of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in 1009 and the early success of the Reconquista mark a turning point in relations between the Frankish kings and the various caliphates. These events generate initially a feeling of hatred and contempt against Saracens. But in less than a century the idea of holy war begins to germinate in the minds of Christian kings and the Church. Finally in 1095, Pope Urban II launched at the Council of Clermont, the call for the crusade to liberate Jerusalem, where almost a century before the Holy Sepulchre was destroyed. Considered a holy war and a penitential pilgrimage but also of a eschatological , this first crusade widely reported in the Christian world, supported by figures like Peter the Hermit, who exercised over the crowds a real fascination. In less than four years, the Crusaders arrived at the gates of Jerusalem. The war waged by the Christian kings causes a revitalization of Islamic jihad including the return to religious orthodoxy of the Almoravids in Spain. The first crusade in the Muslim world leaves a bad impression. Some scenes of cannibalism attested by Raoul de Caen committed by the crusaders against Muslims famished that had no other choice but to feed on human flesh, shocking both in the lands of Islam in the Christian world . During the siege of Ma'arrat al-Numan in 1097, again the Crusaders will leave a very bad impression. Using catapults, they launched a multitude of Muslim heads against the walls of the city to terrify the population, but the effect is reversed because the people frightened by the alleged cruelty of the Crusaders, peddled by both Muslims by the Crusaders who saw it as a means of sowing terror among the infidels, redoubled their efforts in defending their cities and fortresses. In 1099 with the capture of Jerusalem by Godfrey of Bouillon, who will turn the sword the entire Muslim population and the city's Jewish and is chosen as a prince, this episode marks the end of the first Crusade victorious for the Crusaders.

Scene of cannibalism by the crusaders that will shock the minds of Muslims sustained at the time.

Apart from the first crusade, the following seven are essentially defending the Latin states of the East acquired. The Fourth Crusade, however, a serious consequence will in the future of Europe. Organized originally to reclaim the holy places, it will result in failure and, worse, the devastation and the capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders will give a fatal blow to the Byzantine Empire which never rise again and some historians believe today ' Today it has largely facilitated the capture of the city two centuries later by the Ottoman armies . The arrival of the Mongols changes the game and that's when we will see a decisive figure in the history of France: Louis IX of France. At the seventh crusade he was captured and taken to Cairo but managed to regain his freedom in exchange for a ransom. This failure does not stop it: wanting to avenge the insult, he set July 2, 1267 in Aigues-Mortes to Tunis and then bound for Palestine. The airport of Tunis because certain information allegedly received by Louis IX, that the Emir of Tunisia was willing to convert to Christianity. However the fleet was decimated by a plague and Louis IX died July 25, 1270. Twenty years later, Acre falls and with it the Latin states of the East.

Guy de Lusignan and Saladin after the Battle of Hattin

The results of these crusades is mixed, the conflict has channeled resources to the West for over two centuries and nearly two million Europeans lost their lives during the Crusades because of different climatic conditions, long trips, wars, looters, etc. . but despite this, it is clear that the West and therefore France are better off in other areas such as art, technology and science among others. On the Muslim side of the balance is less glorious Crusades, the Crusades, and especially the fall of Baghdad marked the end of the golden age of Islamic society is slowly closing in on itself and become more and more religious. Muslim strife have come to light and it took almost two centuries for a real fight against the Christian presence to take shape with Saladin. However it is undeniable that over the contacts and the long presence of the crusaders in the Holy Land, relationships knotted. The mutual sympathy between French soldiers and Muslims is unquestionable as evidenced by the stories reported in the West about Saladin. Islam and Muslims are better seen in the bourgeoisie some do not hide their taste for civilization and Arab culture. Guibert of Nogent a crusader say about the capabilities of the Turkish soldiers:

"But someone might object: this was that not troops of peasants, knights, servants, rounded up from everywhere? In reality, the Franks themselves, who faced so many dangers, have acknowledged that they had never met another race of men that can be compared to the Turks, as they showed in battle, bravery and courage. When they battled for the first time in a battle, the Franks were nearly driven to despair because of the novelty of their weapons. Ours in fact, were in complete ignorance of their ability to overlap, their amazing ability to dodge our expenses and our shots, and especially their habit of continuing to fight even though they are running away, turning to shoot arrows . "

Similarly, cohabitation has left traces in the Arabic writings of the time. A prince in speaking of Syrian troops France has shown bravery in battle but also his view of the carelessness of them dating to their wives:

"The idea that the Franks are made of man is no less stupid than they are of justice. You see, for example walking, husband and wife, and it deviate for a moment to talk to a friend meeting the husband and even quietly waiting, as long as the interview continues, continuing his way alone . "

In 1143, Englishman Robert of Ketton translated the Koran into Latin and French monk offers Peter the Venerable of Cluny Abbey. Although the primary purpose of this translation is to allow the Church to study Islam in order to better fight on ideological grounds, inter alia, to provide answers to the soldiers who crossed would have to question their faith in contact Muslims, it is a real breakthrough in understanding the Muslim world because it is the first Latin translation of the Koran and that this fear of seeing the faith of Christian soldiers shaken demonstrates that relations between the two religions could be friendly despite this period of turmoil. The West sees the Muslim world suddenly in a universe evolved and ostentatious.

This vision becomes blurred over time and old hatreds resurfaced with the emergence of the new Ottoman Empire and the threat it poses to Byzantium and the Christian world in general. In 1451, Francisco Filelfo asked King Charles VII of France to take up arms against the Turkish invaders considered a nation of uneducated savages. This request is not acted upon, even when in 1453 the conquest of Constantinople brings back the fear of a conquering Islam. The idea of a crusade to the surface for periods up to the late seventeenth ^century. For example Charles VIII vainly tries to regain Constantinople , replacing the Sultan Bajazet II by her brother Jem, but the latter's death marks the failure of the company. Francois ^I. , architect of the Franco-Ottoman dream as the Crusades, but only leads to assistance for the island of Rhodes besieged by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1522 . The stories of Louis IX, or Godfrey of Bouillon is new news and magnified by the novels of chivalry and prophecies announcing the arrival of a second Charlemagne who would take over the Holy Land from the infidels.

Renaissance

Fall of Constantinople, table Fausto Zonaro

The Renaissance features a renewed interest in the ancient world and mainly Greco-Roman. Printing from China to develop and provide a net benefit to the West about the Muslim civilization in decay. This period also marks the start of a European identity. Despite centuries of wars it became clear that neither religion is able to destroy the other and apart from a few calls to the Crusades in Christianity or jihad in the Muslim world, boundaries are established and sustained. The West has finally turned the page of the loss of the Crusader States and confined to Europe and the Muslim world that al-Andalus and is limited to a Far East. Meanwhile, Christianity is divided with the Protestant Reformation. This idea of a Europe whole Christian and a Muslim East is undermined by the penetration on the continent across the Mediterranean to the Ottomans, which marks the beginning of a new Muslim dynasty that his armies will advance to the gates of Vienna.

The start date of the Renaissance is debate among historians, and among the selected dates, are taken by the Ottomans in Constantinople , capital of the Byzantine Empire in 1453 , and the fall of Granada and the end of the Arab presence in Europe. The fact that these two events stand out clearly shows the importance they had for their time even though it is often the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus, who was chosen. Paradoxically (but also related to recent discoveries terrestrial) Orientalism is emerging. In 1538, Francis ^I permits Guillaume Postel to teach Hebrew and Arabic. Texts extolling the merits of Turkish laws appear even going so far as to justify the use of fratricide within the ruling family as necessary for the perpetuation of monarchical power. The attraction for the Turkish dress sometimes comically appears in entertainment. But particularly in military and commercial level a real closeness between the Ottoman Empire and France will be felt .

The Franco-Ottoman alliance

Main article: Franco-Ottoman alliance.

The fathers of the Franco-Ottoman, Francis ^I (left) and Suleiman the Magnificent (right), painted separately by Titian 1530

La France , fundamentally Christian and Catholic country at the time, saw no welcome this alliance with a Muslim. But the Turkish Armed protected by distance (unlike the Hungarians or Germans), it establishes numerous contacts with diplomatic and military alliances the Sublime Porte and attracting the wrath of the Church. This Franco-Ottoman is one of the best examples of "secularization" of French policy towards Islam and Muslims she had so long opposed by providing many warriors of the Reconquista, actively participating in and leading crusades States Crusader.

Portrait of Charles V common enemy of Francis ^I and Suleiman the Magnificent, painted by Titian (circa 1535).

Francis ^I coveted the throne of the Holy Roman Empire, and thus had to defend Christianity against the infidel Turk. But his failure to ascend the throne at the expense of its Teutonic rival Charles V returns the situation then it shows a greater interest in this new power in Europe. The alliance between the two countries is never broken thereafter, despite the opposition of the nobility who sees an alliance with the infidel unbearable . In 1536 the Treaty of Capitulation allows the French fleet to trade with all ports assigned to the Ottomans and France protecting Christian holy places that are still under French rule .

The alliance did not mean any friendship, but only a common interest against an enemy, Charles V., whose possessions surrounded a kingdom of France, as in a vise. Francis ^I himself admits to the ambassador of Venice, Giustiniani Marino : "I can not deny that I wish to see the Turk powerful, not for its own benefit, because it is an infidel and we are Christians, but for take the ambassador to expenditure, the decrease by a large enemy and give more security to all other sovereigns. "As for the Ottoman point of view was the same elsewhere, the ambassadors who had arrived in Istanbul noted the ambiguous attitude of the Sultan that the alliance was seeking in his own interest .

Barbarossa's fleet at Toulon

It's in the absolute discretion that Francis ^I sends emissaries to Suleiman the Magnificent who immediately understood the value of a European ally: in addition to its struggle against the Habsburgs , France could help him in his quest for domination Western Mediterranean Sea was dominated by the Spaniards. The first ambassador sent by Francis ^I is John of the Forest who in 1535 embarked in Marseilles. He went to Algiers and met Khayr ad-Din Barbarossa then left for Istanbul.

In 1543, the French king invites Barbarossa to winter in Toulon with the fleet, having first ordered the population consisted of 5000 inhabitants, leaving the city under penalty of hanging for security but also for fear of proselytizing Muslim .

"Stay Sieur Barbarossa, the King sent the Grand Turk, with his Turkish Army and his nobles to the number of 30 000 combatants for the winter in his city and port of Toulon ... for the accommodation of the said army, and for the well-being of its entire coast, it is not possible for the inhabitants of Toulon to stay and mingle with the Turkish nation, because of the difficulties that might arise. "

- Instructions to Lieutenant Francis ^I of Provence

The city takes on a Provencal oriental not without cause discontent of people who must leave their homes but also its place and its tools. Some incidents broke out between Toulon and Turks, as the killing of two Turkish soldiers in Conil and presumed that helmets buried by their killers and found theirs in 1961 perhaps. Anyway, the king of France, Francis ^I hesitate not to spoil its guests by providing all the necessary food and housing. Returned Ottoman soldiers guard the memory of a city where life is good .

The multiple reversals French vis--vis Charles Quint, deception, remoteness, difficulty of communication but also the beginning of religious wars in France mitigate the scope of the alliance but the main goal was to disrupt the Habsburgs is reached. This is only a half-century later Henri IV , France and the Ottoman Empire found a common enemy in Philip II of Spain. Joint actions are decided in the western Mediterranean, even if the Ottomans are more involved in their war against Hungary.

Louis XIV, who initially was opposed to the Turks used this alliance . The common point between all these monarchs is never considered this alliance as an endorsement of the Ottomans in Europe since they all share the desire to reconquer the Holy Land. But even if this alliance between Christian kings and infidel power was contrary to the principles of the time, many legal experts and diplomats trying to legitimize it by tapping into the religious and secular examples of alliances between Christians and non-Christians. In addition to the age of discoveries, England rival of France, did not hesitate to forge strong business links with people regarded as wholly pagan. Commercial ties are forged and therefore intensive exchanges taking place, ensuring the prosperity of the port of Marseilles. In parallel with the weakening of the Sublime Porte during the ^seventeenth century , these same prophecies that foretold a return to France in the Middle East are becoming more consistency, but the fear of France is the first of see the land freed from the Ottoman threat fall into the hands of his enemies close. Therefore two solutions were available to French kings, participate in the fall of the Turkish Empire or help in their fight against the common enemies of both nations and it is this second solution is finally chosen. In the late ^eighteenth century , the French Revolution put an abrupt end to this alliance.

Louis XIV, the Sun King

Persian envoy at the court of the Sun King

Mehmed Effendi, the Ottoman ambassador

While the ambassador of the Sultan Bajazet II to King Louis XI in agony, was referred by him for fear of threatening the salvation of his soul if he met an infidel, three centuries later, during the reign of Louis XIV , the situation changes significantly. In order to give an international stature, King Louis XIV in his court receives the ambassadors from around the world, like Siamese sent by the King of Siam, ambassadors Russian, Persian, Ottoman. Every opportunity is used to honor but also impress guests, this exposes the monarchy at its most ostentatious. Even the smallest insignificant emissaries have the right to visit Paris in the midst of a curious crowd of his men from a distant East, but also to meet the king at Versailles in presence of his court. The intention is clear: leave an impression of grandeur and power, that the ambassadors when they return to extol the virtues and greatness of the kingdom of France.

Mehmed Efendi, Ottoman ambassador of primary importance is an example of an ambassador who, charmed by the court of Louis XIV influenced public opinion during his homecoming. He describes the joy of the people who wait to see this man come from as far away as it travels between Provence and Paris, but also the beauty of the royal palaces and castles of the Loire as the Castle of Chambord he describes built as a place of delight, Versailles and its many apartments, fountains and the beauty of its parks; Paris and its cathedral, the Gobelins manufactory, etc. Invalides. In his welcome return to Constantinople he is full of details about his magnificent reception in the French kingdom, which is sure to arouse a certain admiration among the sultan and his court. A fashion flourishes even in Istanbul or building construction "French" bloom as the residence of the Sultan appointed Freshwater in Europe and whose channel mimics that of Versailles Fontainebleau and a little closer the two countries .

France and the countries of North Africa

Tunisian Barbary

At the same time that the Franco-Ottoman relations were in good shape, it was not the same with the Barbary States of North Africa. The Mediterranean Sea is once again part of the "Muslim lake" of the Middle Ages. Hackers are constantly threatening ships and make raids on the coast of Provence. While under Ottoman dependence (apart from Morocco, ruled by the dynasty Sharifian), States of North Africa were nonetheless highly autonomous and led actions at sea that were considered by local authorities as a form of jihad but also a significant source of income. These raids were concentrated on capturing the inhabitants of the coasts of Europe (mostly Christian) and then as domestic servants, slaves, and when possible, make them pay for their freedom. This war began mainly Tunis and Algiers in the ^sixteenth century and then spread to Morocco a century later. These strained relations weigh heavily on relations between France and the Barbary States but do not prevent trade timid. From ^{eighteenth-century} France established links to exploit the coral coast of South Mediterranean and established consulates in Algiers in 1564 and Tunis in 1577 , without the raids continue .

Many grievances are addressed to the kings of France who initially prefer trading using their contacts with Constantinople , but the results are meager, the Barbary being very independent from the Ottoman Empire. This situation lasted for many decades, the kings of France being the busiest on the European fronts and interior ( religious wars ). In 1608, a turning point occurs. Henry IV begins quietly arming the first ships to combat pirates along the French coasts. Initially the victories are small, some hundreds of French slaves were freed at best, the French Navy is still too low . At the end of the seventeenth ^century, taking advantage of a lull on the European front, France decided to make every effort to stop the looting that weaken its Mediterranean coast by arming its ships. The first sea battle took place on 23 July 1681 , Captain Abraham Duquesne opens fire on pirate ships in the Aegean. Subsequently the French ships are hunting down pirates and quickly calmed the situation with the Regencies. In less than a decade, Algiers , Tripoli , Tunis and Morocco sign treaties with France. This fragile but sustainable peace promotes trade that gradually takes over the raids, both parties are finding interest . Therefore ambassadors from the Maghreb settled in France, which is a rare case of Muslim presence in the country at the time. These ambassadors were chosen for their knowledge of French, either because they had been prisoners in France, because in the past they were part of a group of pirates who plundered the west coast. La curiosit tait partage entre les deux parties. Les nombreuses ambassades qui passaient travers la France attiraient toute l'attention du peuple, et la bourgeoisie de l'poque ne cachait pas son intrt pour ces peuples venus de contres considres comme sauvages et qui avaient si longtemps fait craindre tout marin un destin d'esclave. De mme, le raffinement, la culture et l'art franais sont largement vants par ces ambassadeurs de retour au Maghreb. Le revirement des tats barbaresques tait tel qu'en 1699, le souverain marocain moulay Isma'il demande en mariage la fille de Louis XIV tout en promettant qu'elle garderait sa religion et sa libert afin ainsi de rendre les Maures franais et les Franais maures selon lui .

Morisques d'Espagne en France

Article dtaill : Expulsion des Morisques d'Espagne.

, Vincenzo Carducci , 1627, Muse du Prado , Madrid

Entre 45 000 et 150 000 Morisques ^, expulss d'Espagne en 1609-1611 trouvrent refuge en France. Mme si beaucoup repartirent ensuite pour le Maghreb , les autres restrent et se fondirent peu peu dans la population locale . Henri IV rendit le 22 fvrier 1610 une ordonnance permettant de demeurer dans le royaume ceux qui voulaient faire profession de la religion catholique pourvu qu'ils s'tablissent au-del de la Garonne et de la Dordogne. Mme si par la suite Marie de Mdicis ordonna qu'on les expulst, beaucoup cependant restrent dans le Barn et notamment Bayonne avec le consentement des magistrats municipaux. Des documents et des textes prouvent que de nombreux Morisques s'tablirent en France. Ainsi par exemple, deux familles de potiers s'installent Biarritz , les Dalbarade et Silhouette, dont les fours fonctionnaient encore en 1838.

D'autre Morisques taient installs en Guyenne en 1611, certains rfugis au logis d'une dame de la ville faisaient profession de la secte de Mahumet. Il leur est enjoint de quitter la ville ou de se convertir ^, . En 1614, il n'est pratiquement plus question de mesures gnrales contre les Morisques de Bordeaux , le cardinal de Sourdis, absorb par ses fonctions maritimes dtournant son attention des Morisques et ceux qui avaient fini par se faire accepter Bordeaux se mlrent peut-tre la colonie portugaise de la cit. En 1636, ils avaient Bordeaux une situation suffisamment prospre que les autorits locales craignirent de les voir partir si les Espagnols qui venaient de s'emparer de Saint-Jean-de-Luz assaillaient Bordeaux, ville non arme . Tous ceux qui avaient un mtier taient rests : marchaux, potiers, ngociants, etc. L'un d'entre eux, un mtis du nom d'Alonzo Lopez, prit mme quelque notorit et mourut Paris en 1649 aprs avoir russi travailler, sous les ordres directs de Richelieu , la renaissance de la marine franaise, et tre all, dans ce but, plusieurs fois en Hollande / A>. A few years before Lopez disappeared no one spoke longer in France of the Moriscos, "those who had acclimated to the people mingled and lived in the peaceable kingdom. Their departure had impoverished Spain and we inherited some elements of active and industrious population " .

Islam and the Orient in French literature

Collection of Arabic and Persian tales, tales of the Thousand and One Nights would probably be lost without translation by Antoine Galland.

Renaissance and openness to new cultures, a direct consequence of the great discoveries are absolutely not mark a shift in the vision of the West on the East and Muslims. The Bishop of Chalon-sur-Saone , Jean Germain contemporary of the conquest of Constantinople is no exception to the rules of medieval inter-religious debates. In his book Discussion of the Christian and Saracen he opposes a Muslim and a Christian in a debate where each party defends his faith. Through his writings, Jean Germain tries to provide the theological arguments to justify a new crusade against the Turks . In the same vein, Cardinal John of Segovia retired to a priory of Savoy tried a new Quran translation in three languages, Arabic, Castilian and Latin and that two centuries after that of Peter the Venerable. Although his work is now lost, it leaves no doubt that although unlike many authors of his era who performed works clearly anti-Islamic, the primary purpose of John of Segovia, however, was again the conversion of Turkish. In 1486 , Canon Bernhard von Breydenbach publish stories encouraging the Crusades, extolling the previous kings and announcing various prophecies about the return of Christians in the East, and is also the first time a Latin author publishes a course on Arabic alphabet thus showing a timid appeal for the West in Arabic. Nobles such as King Rene d'Anjou is an example of a man coming from privileged backgrounds who will focus on Arab culture .

A century later the Franco-Ottoman but also the religious wars leave traces in the literature. Protestants in the aftermath of the massacre of St. Bartholomew hesitate to compare the French monarchy in the Ottoman Empire, tyranny model par excellence in the collective imagination. On the Catholic side they will accuse the Protestants have adopted a form close to Islam, by their refusal of the cult of saints and religious images or on the question of predestination. In 1576 a book from a movement comprised of nobles of the two faiths (Catholic and Protestant) would foreshadow even with the Franco-Ottoman, France could become a province of the Ottoman Empire. The Turk is constantly described as evil, cruel and intolerant and that his project by this alliance is to import its law in France, to remove any nobility and complete submission to the Sultan of all the French. Catholic missionaries sent into the world will yield too many stories again just as bleak. The Muslim is considered torture of Christians and while resuming the literature of the Middle Ages they believe that Islam is entirely directed against Christianity, even the rare qualities attributed to them are shot with a view to fight against Christianity .

However there are also men who tried to give another perspective. This was true explorers, rich businessmen who will leave in the East and will yield totally different stories. In 1655 Jean de Thevenot share for two years in Turkey, and traveled to the Holy Land of Syria and Ethiopia. He described the Turks as ignorant and the Sultan as a tyrant but admits they are more tolerant and generous than the Christians and concludes that if a Turkish translation could be a very good Christian. Similarly a merchant Tavernier Protestant refugee in Switzerland after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes many trips to the East and whose stories gathered in the book The Six travel ... Turkey, Persia and India will be published during nearly three centuries . The attraction for the East push Antoine Galland translate from 1704 to 1717 the tales of Thousand and One Nights still published today and which would probably have totally lost without translation.

All stories have one thing in common criticism of the Turkish political system or Persian. The sultan is a leader who has power of life and death over his subjects owe him absolute obedience. In this context of near slavery people can not free themselves and the heyday of the French Revolution and the eve of the colonial writers such as Volney's Ruins will call in the fall of the absolute monarch Sultan symbol that must go down.

Contemporary period

Main article: Campaign in Egypt.

The Battle of the Pyramids, oil on canvas by Antoine-Jean Gros, 1810

In 1798 , immediately after the Revolution , Napoleon began a campaign in Egypt. It follows the French revolutionary ideas and believes in a civilizing mission of France in this country, some scholars regard as the country is the cradle of Western civilization. The desire to counter the English, however this and this is one of its objectives by attacking Egypt, we are attacking the Ottoman Empire allied with the British, the second objective is to restore positions lost business with the Revolution . Napoleon unlike Volney keep a good opinion of Islamic religion but also believes that the Muslim world has kept its strength and potential belligerent, he therefore wishes to neutralize or better, the tame . He sees in the Egyptian campaign a way to emulate the great conquerors of antiquity but also to distinguish themselves from other generals even though the country is a step for him. Even if the enterprise is a failure it combines all aspects that characterize it to say, military conquest, the political, economic and cultural. The late Egyptian campaign that does not necessarily mark the end of the relationship between this country and France. The Saint-Simonian even consider a need to unite the countries of the Mediterranean .

After the French departure, France retained considerable prestige in Egypt. The country, helped by France, but also by scientists that Napoleon brought with him and who are called to collaborate on the development of the country by Mehemet Ali. Names such as Champollion founder of Egyptology, from Colonel Sve (Suleiman Pasha after his conversion to Islam) which reorganized the Egyptian army on the European model or even binoculars that selects the long fiber cotton remain famous even today ' Hui . This influx of people value in Egypt does not lack concern for some intellectuals. People like Chateaubriand frightened of the danger that can represent the modernization of a Muslim country for Europe, while others such as Alexis de Tocqueville sees it another sign of the domination of the West to Eastern countries . It will be noted in this early ^nineteenth century that the confrontation is more fundamentally religious as has been the case previously. The Enlightenment and the Revolution secularized the country, the influence of the Church is smaller and, consequently, the goal is not to save Christianity from Islam, but to save Western civilization of all these ancient civilizations that have not made the effort to modernize as was known in France. More than semantics, in this period of territorial expansion, this worldview is designed not to destroy but to raise the conquered countries and to assimilate them by giving them ideas and the means necessary so they make their own revolution . Of course, as was the case for France, this modernization through the emancipation of religion. But modernization is not without question, by what means, what ideas? Is it possible to modernize without fear then that such countries could become a threat as suggested by Chateaubriand and of course it is possible that all human races are not equal and, consequently, the settlement was to be a civilizing mission could into legitimate racial domination .

Modern Era

Population of immigrant

Regarding migrants Algeria before 1962 , the term "immigration" was not employed by the government since these people were legally French. French citizens from 1947 , the Algerian Muslim migrants were so regional as the Bretons and Corsicans with voting rights, equal rights and duties as other French citizens ^, . They were then designated by the terms of French Muslims of Algeria (FMA) and then French-born North African (ANSF), official word at the end of the war Algeria. It was only after 1962 that the term 'immigration' is used .

After the First World War

During the First World War, about 132,000 North Africans migrants came to work in France, most return home in 1918 . Shortly after the First World War , during which these people fought on the side of the Triple Entente , the first great period of immigration from North Africa occurs from 1920 to 1924, when France became one of earliest immigration country in the world .

Estimating the Muslim Population in the 1920 must refer to the 120 000 North Africans present on the ground Metropolitan, 100 000 Algerians, 10,000 Moroccans (Morocco is under French protectorate from 1912 to 1956) and 10 000 Tunisian (Tunisia under the French protectorate between 1881 and 1956). The difference by nationality is explained by the different nature of colonization, much less concerned with the traditional organization in Algeria than in other Maghreb countries. These individuals accounted for 120,000 while 0.3% of the French population. In 1936, the North African colony of about 200,000 people.

After WWII

The second great period of immigration began in the 1950s, with the manpower needs for the reconstruction of war-ravaged France. In the 1960s, it accelerated after the end of the war Algeria. This immigration, coming from Algeria and other former protectorates or colonies of North Africa , is essentially male. It was supplemented by a female immigration linked to existing laws on family reunification.

In addition to this economic migration in 1961-1962 91 000 pro-French Muslims refugees from Algeria. These are mainly harkis , but also other Muslims in Algeria who chose to remain French, including military career ( Boualam Said , former vice-president of the National Assembly, Hamlaoui Mkachra , former Secretary of State, Colonel Meliani Aziz , former deputy mayor of Strasbourg , or the General Ahmed Rafa for example) or officials, some of whom have continued their careers on the mainland, including the prefects (prefects Sheriff Mcheri and Madhi Hacne).

Demographics

According to the magazine Les Cahiers de l'Orient , the only North African population is estimated at 6 million people .

Alain Boyer , based on Census 1990 population, estimated the number of potential 4.16 million Muslims , but many of the data that make up this figure are estimates.

Other estimates suggest a number of Muslims between 3.1 and 3.7 million in the 1999 census the census was in fact a survey completed by families who can better exploit the data. In 2004, Michele Tribalat , a demographer at the National Institute of Demographic Studies (INED), believes the number of people living in France could, according to their parentage or country of origin, to be Muslim, 3 65 million in 1999, including 2.35 million adults and 1.2 million potential voters . Kamel Kateb, in the same book from calculations give different estimates close to 3.5 million people from one of his ascendants of Muslim-majority country , and 3.1 million people in households whose reference person is from a Muslim-majority country . Both authors stress that these estimates relate to the potential number of Muslims, that is to say which one or more direct ancestors are from a predominantly Muslim country. Among these "potential Muslims" are included people who describe themselves as Muslims and not that may be of another religion, atheists or agnostics . However, according to Justin Vaisse , the figure "goes back to 1999 and ignores the converted or illegal immigrants" .

In 2007, according to two polls Ifop and Sofres, 3% of respondents were Muslim ^, , or 1.842 million Muslims.

The CSA poll for Le Monde of Religion, published in January 2007 gave a figure of 4% , 2.46 million Muslims. These polls are close so the figures given by demographers INED. Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life says the number of Muslims in France to 3.784 million including 191 000 to Mayotte.

Politicians and religious leaders are estimates much higher, often close to a symbolic "10% of the population" :

• in 2003, the Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy estimated the number between 5 and 6 million ;
• this number is restored in 2010 by the Interior Ministry in charge of worship , which retains an ethnographic definition of Islam: Muslim is one born of Muslim parents, or whose ancestors come from a predominantly Muslim country. By choosing one religious definition (people who declare a religious Muslim), the number of Muslims is then 1.6 to 2 million people ^{, ,} , 7.7 to 9, 3% (ethnic definition) or 2.5 to 3.1% (religious definition) of the population. The figure, wave, has not changed in seven years;
• the figure is now consensus among representatives of religious communities is 5 million. It is often stated in the press;
• Jean-Paul Gourevitch considers this figure "official" 5 million too low and talking about 7 million;
• the National Front evokes the figure of 8 million .

The State Department and the CIA World Factbook estimates the number of Muslims in France between 5 and 10% of the population, but consider that 100% of French people have a religion ^, .

Over 43% of who might be Muslim originally from Algeria , 27.5% of Morocco , 11.4% of Tunisia (1 former French colony and two protectorates). The others are from Africa Black (9.3%) and Turkey (8.6%) .

Muslims are on average younger, and about half of Muslims in France are under 24 years. According to Justin Vaisse , Paris, Muslims represent one-third of people under 24 years. French cities or live the greatest number of Muslims are Roubaix , a suburb of Lille (50% of the population), Marseille (25%), Besanon (13%) , Paris (10-15%) and Lyon (8-12%) . These young Muslim ancestry reported in 1992, 30% no religion (if both parents were Algerians) or 60% (if one parent only was Algeria) . The department of Seine-Saint-Denis has the largest number of Muslims (over 500,000), followed by Paris .

The number of French converts is estimated at between 30,000 and 70,000 according to sources. . However, it is observed that the fertility rate of women of North African origin is similar to that of French women over time .

Perception of Muslims in France

"Arabs" (to be taken in the sense of Arab-time colonial presence of France in Algeria, thus including Berbers ) present in France, they are mostly Muslims, are also marginally be Christians , agnostics , etc.. Meanwhile, French Muslims may have non-Arab origins: converts, Turks (nationality) (approximately 360 000 ), Berbers , Iranians , Kurds , Malians , Senegalese , Bosnians , Albanians , etc..

The French state does not legally recognize the ethnic and religious (except the special case of harkis ) but to the lack of interlocutors, in recent years, successive governments have tried to organize a representation of French Muslims. The interior minister at the time, Nicolas Sarkozy , created in 2002 the French Council of Muslim Faith (CFCM). This association, although formally recognized by the government, however, is a non-profit association with no special legal status. In 2004, she was led by the rector of the Great Mosque of Paris , Dalil Boubaker .

The first generation of Muslims, now retired, was not perceived as an immigrant, nor state or by employers or by the Muslims themselves. These Muslims have kept strong ties with their countries, where their families are often left to live. The social scientists once thought of Islam as a mere migration of "transplant" . However, in 1974, the government ruled in favor of family reunification, and children and women were able to live in France. Many of them have asked the national French at that time.

The situation is different for subsequent generations of Muslims born incorporated in France, and therefore citizens by the French jus soli or jus sanguinis in case of children of mixed couples. The majority of them now have only a relative knowledge of culture and country of origin of their parents or grandparents, with whom they have kept few ties. This explains, in addition to learn French, some feel as immigrants, even though they have a very vague knowledge of the land of their ancestors.

Muslim Identities in France

Olivier Roy says that being Muslim is only one element among others of the identity of first generation immigrants. Their identification with the area of origin is much higher: they are first Algerians , Moroccans , Tunisians identify themselves by other culture or language Arab , Berber ( Kabyle , Chleuhs , Rif ), etc.. It's not as true with the second generation, who often do not even speak the language of the parents. This observation, however, is not generally valid in the case of certain minorities such as Turks can largely maintain their cultural links with their countries of origin through the international development of their country's media. Still according to Olivier Roy, there gradually, under the effects of globalization and acculturation, the decoupling between religion and traditional culture, as was done in Christianity. Thus Islam takes root in France and Europe, Islam is not a "civilizational" but wants to "pure religion". He said that the religious acculturation is a necessary condition for the emergence of a European Islam, even if the theological content does not change more than that of Catholicism over the centuries .

Conversions

In France, approximately 60,000 people (estimates vary depending on the source) had converted to Islam . There would be about 3600 conversions every year.

Between 150 and 200 Muslims would convert to Catholicism each year, including many children of mixed marriages . This figure is however only an estimate because many Muslims do not disclose their conversion, for fear of reprisals, the apostasy is forbidden in Islam . The number of people leaving Islam without adopting Catholicism, is not counted.

According to Stefano Allievi, this is an area little used in religious sociology because it is "static conceptions of religion" which are usually studied. Nonetheless, the Muslim conversion is a subject exploited by several researchers: Stefano Allievi, Sarah Daynes, Mercedes Garcia-Arenal, the mid-1980s until today. The role of converts appears to be a major issue in the configuration of European Islam, and for several reasons. On the one hand, they are fundamental social intermediaries, because they produce a European Islamic culture. On the other hand, the convert is repositioning itself from its social environment and expresses his act in terms of choice . In studies of the converted Muslims, there are a number of recurring points. There are two types of conversion, "conversion efficiency" and "convert relational" .

The conversion is from a relational set of social ties that produce or even force a decision-making practice Islam. The latter sees itself in two forms: conversion also called re-Islamization or Muslim "Reborn" and the conversion by marriage . The convert is a person of non-Muslim, who became Muslim in adulthood. Many people would discover Islam as a teenager by reading the Koran. They want to make a balance between the negative messages about Islam in non-Muslim societies and Islam as it is in the text . The conversion by marriage for men before marriage who want to marry a Muslim women before or after marriage to a Muslim. Indeed, according to the majority interpretation of the current Quran , the Muslim woman can not unite as a Muslim, unlike the Muslim man has only prohibition of marrying a woman not belonging to the people book , which actually means he is quite right to marry a Jewish or Christian. The conversion efficiency is about people from another religious tradition, the literature does not mention the case of former atheists or agnostics. It is a conversion of an individual born explicit search of a system of signification and meaning, it has an intellectual origin, and satisfies a thirst for spirituality and mysticism . According to various accounts, the converts come to Islam by reading the Koran , they are critically examined, express the desire to take the Arabic name chosen at the time of their conversion as the name of Vital Statistics and feel strongly "Islamophobia" . However the name change is not an obligation upon conversion to Islam and very few cases of change in marital status. The conversion to Islam is only possible without witnesses (even if the presence of two witnesses is recommended), it is extremely difficult to define precisely the number of converts.

Among the famous converts include Eva-Vitray Meyerovitch (1909-1999), a specialist in Sufism and Jalal ud Din Rumi , Rene Guenon (1886-1951), author of many books on metaphysics and Tradition, or Michel Chodkiewicz , former CEO of Editions du Seuil. More recently, there were many conversions in the rap scene (including the singer and writer Abd al-Malik , rapper Kery James ) and in the world of sport (football players Franck Ribry , Nicolas Anelka and Eric Abidal , the coach Philippe Troussier and Bruno Metsu ).

Today, many children who have converted them are simply French Muslims without being in the "Muslims" nor in the category "immigrant Muslims".

Religious and Muslim organizations

Main article: List of mosques in France.

Studies show an evolution of religious practice: According to a CSA poll-Life in 2006, 49% of Muslims polled never go to the mosque, 88% meet the fast of Ramadan and the prayers or the practice of charity, against 60% in 1989 .

The mosque Vigneux sur Seine.

Three major organizations are: the Great Mosque of Paris , the Rally of Muslims in France and the Union of Islamic Organizations of France.

At least 2,100 mosques in France are counted . In 1985 there were about 900 and 5 in 1965 . According to Le Monde , the construction of large mosques is accelerating, with projects in several French cities . The oldest French Muslim school is located on the island of Reunion. Muslims are two colleges, one in Aubervilliers (School Success) and the other Dcines in the suburbs of Lyon (college-high school Al Kindi). A school has also recently opened in Lille, the school Averroes.

The separation law of 1905 that public schools can not be sectarian. Parents wishing their children to study in religious schools must enroll in private schools.

Of the some 2,100 imams in the country, 75% are not French and one third do not speak French .

Social and Economic Integration

In France, the Muslim population is concentrated in certain neighborhoods often disadvantaged, particularly in big cities like Lyon, Marseille, Paris and Strasbourg. It is sometimes called ghettos

Today, some parties of extreme right base part of their program on this theme. Their argument develops the idea that many immigrants of a culture considered to be very different, especially non-Christian, could destabilize the French culture. They also argue that the principles of Islam foster attitudes that they consider harmful, such as sexism and intolerance of religion. Making a link between immigration, insecurity and Islam , they argue that the conduct so-called "Islamists" of French Muslims are a danger to the country. Regional elections of 2004, the National Republican Movement (MNR) has focused his campaign on the slogan "No to Islamisation! .

Proportion to the population, Muslims are underrepresented in politics (parties, high officials ...), television (TV hosts, journalists ...) film . According to a study by sociologist Farhad Khosrokhavar, they are overrepresented in prison cons (50% and 80% of prisoners in some French schools close to neighborhoods) ^{, ,} . For representatives of Islam in France, sociologists and activists of human rights, the causes are economic and not religious .

.

A survey by the Centre for Political Research at Sciences Po shows the proportion of practicing Muslims claiming positions cultural traditionalists. According to the survey, 39% of practicing Muslims condemn homosexuality (as against 21% of all French), 43% approve separate schedules for women in swimming pools and 46% express feelings Semitic (against 18% of French ). This paper compares the responses of the entire French population with fraction practicing Muslim. In contrast, 80% of practitioners expressed a positive opinion on the Christian religion. According to this survey, "While only 3% of French 18 and 35 give responses that classify them as preservatives, they are 40% among those from this immigration. "

According to a 2006 survey, 73% of Muslims are in favor of the separation of religion and state, and 91% say they favor equality between men and women .

According to a survey conducted in 2009, 8% of Muslim women under 35 often wear the veil say .

Sufism

The Western term " Sufism "appears in the form of Latin Sufismus in a book published in Berlin in 1821. The first half of the ^nineteenth century saw the development of Orientalism academic, in which France occupies a prominent place. Sufism therefore creates a growing number of studies and translations, focusing first on the Persian world .

In the twentieth ^century French Orientalism plays an increasingly crucial in knowledge''taste''of Sufism in France , because without doubt its most eminent specialists are themselves engaged in a spiritual quest. In their respective approaches to Christians, Louis Massignon and Henry Corbin have fueled Islamic mysticism and, in turn, have fueled a public located at the boundary between academic research and internal. Some researchers have joint field of study and spiritual guidance in practicing Sufi Islam, as Eva-Vitray Meyerovitch (1909-1999) and Michel Chodkiewicz .

The first physical presence in France of a Sufi or Sufi group dates back to the Emir Abd El-Kader , who has been detained for five years (1847-1852) . The French who were then approached were attracted by his charisma, and unpublished documents show that Christian sisters who want to follow him in his spiritual exile in the East . Rene Guenon is the principal architect of the penetration of Sufism in France in the twentieth ^century . His practice Sufi Islam and its membership have yet been marked with the seal of discretion, but his work and correspondence he maintained with many "truth seekers" has determined to enter the Path of many French .

Established in France in the 1920s, the tariqa 'Alawiyya, all branches, is the path that has the most prominent French Sufism in the twentieth ^century. Initiated by a holy undisputed charisma, Sheikh Ahmad al-Algerian'Alw (d. 1934) , it was directed from its inception to opening the world of Christian Europe, and has counted among its ranks quickly French disciples. From the 1970s, there has been a rapid expansion of the presence of Sufism in Europe, especially France. Several Sufi groups from big way - Shadhiliyya, Naqshbandiyya, Qdiriyya, Tijaniyya ... - then see the day . More recently, the tariqa Boutchchiyya, which relates to the way Qdiriyya mother, managed to make known the teaching of Shaykh Sidi Hamza al Qadiri al Boutchichi , through representatives such as the speaker Faouzi Skali or singer Abd al Malik .

All these guilds rely a Sufi Orthodox, because affiliates remain faithful to the requirements of Islam and are sometimes paid in the Islamic sciences . At the individual or collective, Sufis call themselves apolitical, and show suspicious of ideologies . Beyond providing a proper initiation, the Sufi culture helps to restore the primordial spiritual message of Islam, often stifled by legalism, and break factors instrumentalization of religion . If he offers a spiritual path to some Europeans, Sufism is more widely as a mediator between Islam and the West .

Islamism

Main article: Islamism.

A study by Belgian researchers, Evolution of Terrorism in 2005, states that Muslims are the main victims of terrorism. This term is imprecise, and some are often preferred as "Islamist" (which applies to a person), "fundamentalist movement" or "extremist movement" (which applies to a fundamentalist group), or " terrorist movement "(which applies to a group using violence to achieve its ends). These terms should not be confused with "Islamic" is synonymous with "Muslim" (adjective, eg "Islamic scarf"). The term "Islamic Movement", sometimes used in the media is confusing when it refers to a political movement.

In countries where Islam is the majority, Islamist movements are mostly the work in the political arena. Olivier Roy calls Islamists "who see in Islam a political ideology in the modern sense of the term, ie a theory that purports to apply to the entire society."

References

1. ^{a and b} (in) Selected Bibliography
   • Abdul-Wahab, T. 1999. Exclusive interview. Islam in France, ^No. 6, p. 21-35.-Muslim Journal
   • Allievi, S. 1998. Converts to Islam. New Muslims in Europe. Paris: L'Harmattan.
   • Allievi, S. 1999. For a sociology of conversion: when Europeans are becoming Muslims. Social Compass ^No. 46, p. 283-300.
   • Allievi, S. 2000. Conversions to Islam. Redefining the boundaries between individual and community identity. In Dassetto F. (Ed.). Words of Islam. Paris: Maisonneuve and Larose. P. 157-180.
   • Chedepeau, M., ^Dr. Benoist. 1999. History converted 1950s. Islam in France, ^No. 6, p. 137-139.-Muslim Journal
   • Daynes, S. 1999. Conversion process and method of identification with Islam: the example of France and the United States. Social Compass, ^No. 46, p. 313-323.
   • Bruno Etienne , Islam in France: Islam, State and Society, Editions du Centre National Scientific Research, 1990
   • Gracia-Arenal, M. 1999. Conversions to Islam in European history: general outline. Social Compass ^No. 46, p. 273-281.
   • Gracia-Arenal, M. 2002. Islamic conversions. Paris: Maisonneuve and Larose.
   • Setta, E. 1999. The Swiss convert to Islam: the emergence of a new social actor. Social Compass, ^No. 46, p. 337-346.
   • Franck Fregosi and Ahmed Boubekeur, The Year of the Muslim faith in France. Places of worship and burial, French Documentation, Paris, 2006, 376 p. ( ISBN 2-11-006004-2 )
   • Mohammed Arkoun , History of Islam and Muslims in France from the Middle Ages to today, Albin Michel, 2006, Collective, preface by Jacques Le Goff
   • Joachim Veliocasses, Islamization of France, Godfrey of Bouillon, 2006
   • Vincent Geisser and Aziz Zemouri, Marianne and Allah. French politicians facing the Muslim issue, La Dcouverte, Paris, 2007, 280 p. ( ISBN 9782707149619 ).
   • Bernard Godard and Sylvie Taussig, Muslims in France. Common institutions, communities: an overview, Robert Laffont, Paris, 2007, 454 p. ( ISBN 9782221104736 )
   • Jonathan Laurence and Justin Vaisse , Integrating Islam: France and its Muslims, challenges and successes, Odile Jacob, 2007
   • "Focus on ... Islam in France ", file Humanities , ^No. 217, July 2010, p. 20-25

   Related articles

   Also on Wikibooks the quotes "Islam in France".

• List of mosques in France
• Islamic veil in schools in France
• Islam in French politics
• French Muslim Council
• Affairs of the Islamic veil
• Muslims in France , a documentary film of 2009
• Islam in Besancon

External Links

• News of Muslims in France
• Islam in France under the Ancien Regime and the Revolution: Attraction and repulsion
• (In) Muslims in Europe: Country guide
• (In) Arno Tausch (2006, With Bischof, Christian; Kastrun, Tomaz; and Mueller, Karl), 'Why Europe has to offer A Better Deal Towards icts Muslim Communities. A quantitative analysis of open international data '. Entelequia e-Books, University of Cadiz / Malaga (Spain), CAEI (Buenos Aires)
• (In) Arno Tausch (2007) "The" Muslim Factor "and the Future of" Integration Policy "in Europe" University of Connecticut, Ideas / repec
• (In) Arno Tausch (2007), 'Muslim population shares and global development patterns 1990 to 2003 in 134 Countries, University of Connecticut, Ideas / repec
• The debate on the burqa in France Radio France Internationale in English

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