A powerful face off was hosted by the Commission on political issues and democracy in the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly in Strasbourg, between Moroccan researcher in sociology Driss Ajbali and French journalist Caroline Fourest, who had previously collaborated with satirical weekly ' Charlie Hebdo'. While Carolyn tried to come up with justifications for the editorial line taken by ' Charlie Hebdo , and the fact that freedom of expression has no limits even when it comes to religions, prophets, the Moroccan researcher took to defend Islam and Muslims in France who found themselves, suddenly, condemned.

French paradox

In his address before the members of the Council of Europe, Driss Ajbali, who is also a member of the CCME, highlighted what he called " the French paradox in dealing with Muslims after the Charlie Hebdo events," On one hand, France is talking about the concept of citizenship, and that all citizens are equal before the State which does not exercise any bias  towards them because of their religion, but on the other hand, after the Charlie Hebdo events, there were increased calls for Muslims to condemn the incident, as if they were a distinct group, not like the rest of the French people” . said Ajbali

He also warned from being misled by an emotional speech, "Because we are faced with a big event which hindered the concepts of freedom of expression and co-existence, the discussion of these concepts should not involve an emotional speech," says the researcher before calling on all members of the European Council to consider the dimensions of "the events of Charlie Hebdo" in lieu of indictment of Islam or Muslims .. "These are not terrorists, but lately, it has been so that most terrorists claim to be Muslims, thus the confusion among European societies."

Ajbali further expressed his surprise at the fact that the whole world came together to condemn what happened in France offset by the absence of this solidarity in the year 2005, which was marked by confrontations in the Parisian suburbs, among the population, the majority of Muslims in France, and the security forces .. reminding that in those events, more than 9,000 cars were burned and fire was set even in kindergartens .. "It was not the same reaction because some people considered that the problem concerned the Muslims alone,"

"European Islams"

After distancing himself from the emotional rhetoric to deal with the "Paris events", the Moroccan researcher went on to dissect the status of Islam in Europe generally, and in France in particular. Ajbali believes that there is no "one Islam" in Europe, but "multiple Islams" .. And he explained this saying: "Islam is not the same Islam in France, Belgium, or Spain ". In contrast, he believes we should talk more about Muslims in Europe rather than a  European Islam, because there are" multiple Islams "taking place in the old continent.

However, common denominators exist amid all of this, as identified by Driss Ajbali in five. The first is that Islam in Europe is "the Islam of the poor, on the grounds that it remained present in European societies because of poor Muslim workers", while the second common denominator is reflected in the "Islam is uncultured" because it isn’t framed with a true theological science, and the third denominator looms between each of Europe’s Islams considering that in a European country, you'll find the Turkish Islam and the Moroccan and Algerian Islams and even the Iranian Islam.

As to the fourth common denominator that brings together all the "Islams of European countries," it waves from the fact that "Islam is still urban", ie it is in the cities and suburbs and is completely absent from the European villages, while the last common denominator is the «Islam of municipalities "that makes each municipality or city practice its own version of Islam.. To put it all in a nutshell, Ajbali believes that Islam in Europe cannot be molded into one frame and that we can’t make a final judgment on it because it’s originally varied and therefore, any judgment made about Islam must remain relative.

Historic opportunity for Islam

As he has spent several decades in Europe, Driss Ajbali stressed that "this is the first time in the history of Islam in which it’s faced with a set of concepts like secularism, freedom and democracy…It’s a historic opportunity for Islam in order to think of all these concepts because the spirit of this religion can be compatible with all of these universal principles ".. Ajbali calls the Muslims of Europe, to think about the future of Islam and its development, adding:" If we do not do this it will leave Islam in the hands of terrorists who want to monopolize religion. "

He also hold European officials responsible for imposing on the Muslims, people who do not represent them, just as they do not represent even the Islamic religion .. He advanced the ideals of Imam Hassan Chalghoumi, President of the Forum leaders of France, known as controversial to the point of making him undesirable in the sphere of Muslim scholars, however, the French government is still determined to assume he’s a representative of the Muslims of France.. "This insistence makes Muslims feel cheated, because they have no one to talk on their behalf openly,".

Numeric Islam

Driss Ajbali stresses the importance to conduct a pedagogical work together with children and young people to learn about the principles of true Islam.. "We have become a numeric Islam, and the Imam is nowadays Google" says Ajbali to express the way most of the young people become acquainted to Islam and its teachings.. He then goes on saying: «European countries must rely on its Muslims, if they don’t integrate successful models of Muslims in Europe, but also make them leaders, they will find themselves forced to fight drug dealers  ... It’s politics based on pedagogical work and follow-up and integration in the community so that mental delusion does not stay fresh in the minds of the Muslim European Youth ".

Absolute freedom.. But

French journalist Caroline Fourest poured her anger on the American and British media, criticizing their decision not to republish Charlie Hebdo’s caricatures, offensive to the Prophet of Islam .. Caroline considered that "This is shameful for the Western media."

She added saying that: "Freedom of expression is absolute and cannot be restricted under any pretext," but she backed away from this saying when talking about the case of French humorist Dieudonné as she approved his judicial trial for mocking Jews and the "Holocaust." "I am with the prosecution in the case of Dieudonné because he made fun of Jews but he denied the Holocaust," as she puts it...

This article was originally published in Hespress in Arabic.