Posted on 06/07/2004 9:30:28 AM PDT by Eurotwit
PARIS , June 5 (IslamOnline.net) – The number of mosques in France has increased to at least 1554 by the end of 2003, moving from rented underground rooms to owned places of worship in public places and squares, according to a field study by a French Muslim group on the danger of Islamophobia.
Citing the study findings in the new edition of his book on mosques in France, French journalist and Islamic affairs expert Xavier Ternisien said the Paris northern suburb of Saint Denis hosts alone 97 mosques while there are 73 others in north France .
Ternisien, Le Monde reporter, stressed that France 's Islam has moved to the open and parted with vault prayer rooms, which had in the past been exploited by some to describe Islam as an underground religion.
Mosques are now being built on Muslims' properties and not leased spaces as in the past, he noted.
The French expert said that the current number of mosques is enough but they need to be expanded to accommodate French Muslims.
With mosques fully packed in the Paris neighborhoods of Belle Ville and Barbes, scores of Muslim worshippers are forced to prayer in the streets.
Underground
Ternisien charged that some people started using reference to vault prayer rooms to feed fears and allegations that Islam is an underground religion breeding on fanaticism.
The French expert recalled that the first generation of French Muslims used to perform their prayers in dormitories and small rooms in major factories.
He added that this was initiated by Pakistani workers who turned small rooms for lunch breaks and clothes in the factories into prayer rooms.
Ternisien asserted that the number of worship places has been increasing since 1980 after workers from North African countries were allowed to bring their families from their homes to settle together in France .
He added that the 1991 Gulf War caused an identity crisis to young Muslims from the second and third generations who went in droves to mosques seeking to get in touch with their lost identity.
The French expert noted that the Palestinian Intifada also encouraged more Muslims to return to mosques.
Racism
Ternisien said mosques burn the blunt of most racist attacks on Islamic symbols in the country.
He recalled that since 2001 several mosques were hit by arson attacks and Molotov cocktails.
Other assaults including the drawing of swastikas on the walls of mosques and houses of imams, added the French expert.
He noted, however, that neither human rights organizations nor Muslim associations attempted an estimate of such attacks.
"Islamophobia" and rightfully so!!!!
Tolerance in the Islamic World:
Saudi Arabia - Conversion by a Muslim to another religion is punishable by death. Bibles are illegal. Churches are illegal.
Yemen - Bans proselytizing by non-Muslims and forbids conversions. The Government does not allow the building of new non-Muslim places of worship.
Kuwait - Registration and licensing of religious groups. Members of religions not sanctioned in the Koran may not build places of worship. Prohibits organized religious education for religions other than Islam.
Egypt -Islam is the official state religion and primary source of legislation. Accordingly, religious practices that conflict with Islamic law are prohibited. Muslims may face legal problems if they convert to another faith. Requires non-Muslims to obtain what is now a presidential decree to build a place of worship.
Algeria - The law prohibits public assembly for purposes of practicing a faith other than Islam. Non-Islamic proselytizing is illegal, and the Government restricts the importation of non-Islamic literature for distribution.
10% of the population is Muslim and that community is growing faster than the rest of the country. Except for Albania, France is the most Islamic country in Europe.
I just want to shout to the French to wake up. What lovely Islamic mosques and cultural centers many of the now standing Cathedrals and vinyards will make. I'm not sure we can help them, even if they wanted it and we wanted to. As an erstwhile Francophile, an admirer of their art and Cathedrals and many of their cultural aspects, I am flabbergasted. They should look to Afghanistan under the Taliban if they want a glimpse into their future. At least on their current path. Do they really, REALLY think the muslim radicals they are fond of harboring will be as tolerant of their fashion and wine and art as they now are of their Muslim 'friends'?
And when someone does dare speak out about it or express concern, like Brigitte Bardot, they are persecuted or prosecuted. At this rate, historians will write of how the French did themselves in.
France is a "Target Rich Environment"
The West should be "quid pro quo, re: tolerance of Islam.
France has been conquered (again), and, also again, pretty much without a shot being fired (the only French shots fired were in the 1950s and early 1960s in Algeria; since then, it has been virtually a bloodless conquest by the mohammedans).
Froggies better dummy up or they and their culture will be gone.
Thanks - everyone in work looking at me funny now for brief outburst of laughter!
Anyway, it occurs to me that the muzlims in france should now be on the long list of people thanking us for D-Day!
So, you're getting paid to Freep?
Whats with the muslims....why's this taking so long?
CHARLES MARTEL-you are needed again 1272 later
Yes, we will.
1272 years later
There are about 1200 mosques in the USA, give or take a couple hundred.
where will these french bastards run to when the forced conversions begin?
France, Albania, and Bosna and Hercegovina
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