Claude Sicard is an international consultant, author of
Le face à face Islam Chrétienté: quel destin pour l'Europe?
, and
Islam at the risk of democracy
, preface by Malek Chebel (Ed. François Xavier de Guibert).
In the speech he gave after the attack on the Paris Police Prefecture in October 2019, Emmanuel Macron expressed his willingness to lead a fight against what he called “
the Islamist hydra
”. had, then, the speech of Mureaux, last October 2, in which he questioned, very clearly, radical Islam, declaring: "
There is in radical Islam - since it is the heart of the subject - a claimed desire to contravene the laws of the Republic
”.
And he reaffirmed, again, on this occasion, his firm determination to fight against "
what endangers our Republic
", specifying that Islam is "
an ideology which affirms that its own laws are superior to those of the Republic.
".
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The question that arises is quite simple: can we really fight successfully against Islam?
Politically, it is very difficult, and, moreover, our government is limited in its means of action by the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Council of Europe, which ensures the proper application of this convention, says, in fact, in one of its recommendations addressed to the governments of the member countries, recommendation 1500, in article 3: "
Muslims are at home. in Europe
”.
And if we refer to history to enlighten us, it teaches us that Muslims have an extraordinarily strong resilience: Islam is their identity and they are ready to die to defend it, especially as their Prophet told them: "
The earth belongs to God and to his messenger
".
Emmanuel Macron is therefore now preparing new legislative texts and a bill will be presented to Parliament next February.
It will not bear, as it had been indicated, the name of “
law against separatism
”, but that of: “
Law consolidating the republican principles
”.
So we can already see a first retreat in the fight we want to engage: we had however put the word "
separatism
" in the plural, but we fear to incur the wrath of Muslim countries.
France should not appear to be specifically targeting Islam.
With your democratic laws we will colonize you, and with our Koranic laws we will dominate you
Sheikh Youssouf al Quaradaoui, one of the main leaders of the Union of European Islamic Organizations
So when our government is preparing to lead with determination a fight against "
the Islamist hydra
", we can only wonder about the means at our disposal to carry it out.
This fight is going to be extremely difficult, and its outcome is most uncertain.
Emmanuel Macron recognized this himself in his speech at Les Mureaux, saying that we have no other weapon at our disposal than to "
bring the Republic into the concrete of lives
", and to instill, in all, a "
republican patriotism
".
These are weapons of a very limited range.
Islamists are aware of this, and we remember that Sheikh Youssouf al Quaradaoui, one of the main leaders of the Union of European Islamic Organizations (UOEI), had informed us, in 2002, of the ambitions of Muslims, saying peremptorily : "
With your democratic laws we will colonize you, and with our Koranic laws we will dominate you
".
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It is interesting, therefore, to examine the lessons that can be drawn from experiences already carried out by other States which had undertaken to lead a fight against the installation of Islam in their country: the cases are extremely rare, and we only see two of them.
But there would also be the fight that the Chinese authorities are currently waging against the Uighurs, one of the fifty-six ethnic groups that make up the DRC.
They live in Xinjang, and are around 11 million today: they are accused of being separatists.
To assimilate them, the Chinese have created re-education centers, they prohibit the access of young people to mosques, they intern men who grow beards and they imprison people who have a Koran at home.
This experience of eradicating Islam from a territory is too recent for any conclusion to be drawn.
And, moreover, the methods employed cannot be transposed.
Islam, this absurd theology of an immoral Bedouin is a rotten corpse that poisons our lives
Mustapha Kemal
It is therefore necessary to examine, first of all, the experience of eradicating Islam carried out in the last century in Turkey by this extraordinary statesman that was Mustapha Kemal, who took the name of Ataturk, that is to say say "
the father of Turkey
".
He was convinced that Islam was the cause of the decline of the Ottoman Empire, and he therefore wanted to westernize his country at high speed.
Benoist-Mechin, in his work "
Mustapha Kemal or the death of an empire
", reports the very severe remarks that Mustapha Kemal made on Islam, such as this one: "
For centuries, the rules and theories of an old Arab sheikh and the abusive interpretations of generations of filthy and ignorant priests have fixed all the details of civil life in Turkey: Islam, this absurd theology of an immoral Bedouin is a rotten corpse that poisons our lives
".
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Coming to power in 1923, Mustapha Kemal abolished the sultanate, then, later, the caliphate.
Thus, he was able to endow Turkey with democratic institutions, making this country a republic.
Among the major reforms operated by Mustapha Kemal we must mention the civil servantization of imams and the creation of the Diyanet, a State Secretariat responsible for remunerating and monitoring them, the adoption of the Swiss Civil Code and the Criminal Code of Italy, he abolition of religious schools, the replacement of Arabic characters by Latin characters in writing, the reform of the status of women, the replacement of the Muslim calendar by the Gregorian calendar, the obligation made to the Turks to remain dress in the Western way, the fez for men being replaced by a hat or a cap, the transformation into a museum of the Hagia Sophia which had become a mosque, etc ...
The list is quite impressive.
After his death in 1938, the military managed to preserve the Kemalist work for many years, but today it is quite different.
Turkey is led with a very firm hand by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a president who is a Sunni very close to the Muslim Brotherhood.
He based his success on the frustration that Mustapha Kemal's withdrawal from the Islamic component in the identity of the Turks had caused in the popular strata, and he gradually erased the legacy of Ataturk to promote an Islamo- nationalism.
Philip III noting that it was ultimately impossible to integrate all these Muslims ordered their expulsion by the decree of September 22, 1609
The soldiers opposed him, but, in the end, he succeeded in controlling them, managing to foil their last coup, in 2016. Recep Erdogan built many mosques, including that of Camlica, in Istanbul, which can hold 63,000 faithful, and it has converted into a mosque the Hagia Sophia, which Mustapha Kemal had made into a museum.
And today, Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the leader of the Sunni world.
Another example: the vain attempt made by the Spaniards, after the Reconquista, in the 17th century, to eradicate Islam from their country: They wanted to force all Muslims in the country to convert to Catholicism.
The horsemen of Allah had set out to conquer the world, soon after the death of the Prophet, in 632, and they had come to settle in Spain, at the beginning of the 8th century, managing to occupy the entire Iberian Peninsula for a period of time. little more than seven centuries.
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The Reconquista of Spain was not completed until 1492, and the Catholic kings, after having recaptured Granada, wanted to restore the unity of their country.
For this they imposed the Catholic religion on Muslims, and this was done by a simple decree promulgated in February 1502. They fiercely resisted, and there were many revolts, including that of the Alpujarras which lasted three years, from 1568 to 1571, the Muslims benefiting from the support of the regency of Algiers which sent them about forty galleys which brought on the spot some 4,000 men.
Philip III noting that it was finally impossible to integrate all these Muslims ordered their expulsion by the decree of September 22, 1609. It is estimated that they were about 400,000 in Spain: this took place, therefore, a little over 100 years later the end of the Reconquista.
This event is known under the name of “
expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain
” (1609-1612): they were sent to North Africa, mainly to Oran and Algiers.
Islam is a powerful marker of the personality of Muslims, and it is illusory to think that they are ready to abandon it
The brief historical reminders that we have just given show how much Islam is a powerful marker of the personality of Muslims, and it is illusory to think that they are ready to abandon it.
The sura of the Koran 9.33 says: "
It is He who sent His message with the right direction and the religion of the truth, so that it triumphs over any other religion whatever repulsion of the associators
".
The resilience of Muslims is extremely strong, especially since they will be supported in their fight by Muslim countries, and especially by Turkey, as has started to happen.
