Salafism Goes Global by Adraoui Mohamed-Ali;

Author:Adraoui, Mohamed-Ali;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Incorporated
Published: 2020-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Protection against an Islamophobic Society: Media Discourse about Islam

Analysis of the media discourse about Islam conducted by academics, journalists, intellectuals, and others, including in the context of the post–September 11 world, reveals another facet of Salafi immunological socialization. Perceived as a flagrant illustration of the structural hatred that Western society nourishes toward this religion, the arguments of persons authorized to talk about Islam is subjected to an ontological interpretation. The pronouncements by the majority of observers on the subject of the Islamic way demonstrate the need to flee a French and, more generally, a Western collective that is nothing less than a contemporary manifestation of the ongoing mythical conflict between the defenders of the Truth and its detractors since the earliest days of humanity. The historical progression that authorized a greater freedom of expression concerning Islam and Muslims in the wake of the September 11 attacks was experienced as Islamophobia,6 convincing the contemporary pious to cut off all relations with France.

An interesting example of this fear inspired by the discourse on Islam was provided to us by Mekki, in Montreuil-sur-Seine. He was born in 1982 to a family of Algerian immigrants with a traditional relationship to Islam. His speech is laced with the distrust of all that revolves around “the Muslim problem” in France today. Mekki works in the Pompidou Center as an official in the library, which leaves him lots of time “for reading and keeping [himself] current on what is being said about Islam.” His perspective is representative of the pious individual whose final departure for “the land of Islam” is on his horizon in the medium term and who cultivates a negative view of the intellectual production linked to this subject since the banalization of the debates on Islam in the media after September 11:

Author:And so, for you, what problems would you say confront you in France?

Mekki:Bah, already, here we have a state that has a big problem with Muslims already.

Author:Oh, really? What exactly do you mean?

Mekki:Bah, I mean the media campaigns, the attacks, all of it. Someone who practices his religion, someone who practices his religion, you get the impression that they think he’s somebody violent, who is going to lapse into violence. If they don’t want Muslims, let them say so! I have the impression that the state won’t accept al-Haqq [the Truth].

Author:The people and the state are the same thing, in your view?

Mekki:Regardless, I think they view Muslims in the same way. . . . For example, I had a professor when I was at the Rene Cassin high school in the 16th. He was a professor in computer science. He came right out and told me that for him Islam was the problem, that there was a problem with it. He didn’t hold back in telling me what he thought. I told him I didn’t agree with him, but he just laughed about it.

Author:And when you talk about media campaigns, to be precise, what are you referring to? Are you thinking about particular

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