Aesthetics and Poetics of Apostolic Islam in France Khedimellah, M.

Citation Khedimellah, M. (2002). Aesthetics and Poetics of Apostolic Islam in France. Isim Newsletter, 11(1), 20-21. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1887/16808

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Note: To cite this publication please use the final published version (if applicable). 2 0 Public Sphere I S I M NEWSLETTER 1 1 / 0 2

F r a n c e MOUSSA KHEDIMELLAH

Their long beards often contrast their young faces; they wear traditional Pakistani garb (k h a m i s s) or Aesthetics and more generally white tunics (d j e l l a b a or g a n d o u r a) that flow to their ankles, a skull-cap (t a g u i l l a), and perhaps a pair of Nikes or Reeboks. Rain or shine, they untiringly cross mountains and valleys through- out France and the entire world in small groups of of Apostolic Islam three or five, rarely more, to propagate the message of Allah. For the most part they are French, mainly of Moroccan origin or more broadly of Maghrebi or African origin, and are called Mohamed, Rachid, Surviving by identity tates into which they were born. However, to fortunately space does not allow for elabora- Amadou, or Moustafa, but also Eric, Thomas, Patrick, m i g r a t i o n 3 the question 'what would you do if you be- tion on the subject of analysis between rap or Didier. They are male, but are increasingly accom- To understand the adherence to the Tab- came very rich?', they answer without hesita- and religion in France and the USA, but we panied by young women proudly wearing head- ligh movement, it is necessary to look at the tion: 'I would buy the neighbourhood, the can note that rap has often been the highly scarves and participating in the effort of propagat- self-image that often prevails among youths housing estate, and I would redo everything present crypto-identity of the youth before ing their faith. They are mostly between 18 and 35 that live in rough neighbourhoods, since with sports fields and all'. being dethroned by that of the militant years of age and live essentially in the French sub- they are joining this movement of predica- In short, it is in the hip hop culture that a preacher of the Tabligh. There again the par- u r b s ,1 where the cumulated difficulties of unemploy- tion in increasing numbers notably in the certain number of these youths find their allels between 'the preaching of the rapper ment, exclusion, and racism are predominant. They French suburbs. The social and economic points of reference in this unjust, dangerous, and the rap of the preacher', as philosopher are the new converts or 'reconverts' (voluntary re- misery as well as the segregation and dis- and racist society. It is a response to the of the arts Christian Béthune put it, are turn to the religion of their parents) to Islam, the crimination at the workplace, based on their emptiness that submerges them: 'Rap is the telling. The sources of American rap are knights of conversion and of pietism, according to physical features and their housing situa- last way to escape the emptiness; we all probably found in the same meanders as the the expression of the Moroccan sociologist Mo- tion, are just some examples of the violence know that a good part of the brothers of the preachers and other gospels or forgotten hamed Tozy.2 These new 'flag bearers' of an apostolic inflicted upon them by a consumer society neighbourhood will never make it to univer- s p i r i t u a l s .8 These sources in any case were and ostentatious Islam are all religious militants of that places them at the periphery of every- sity', sighs Method Man, one of the members the media supports for an uncertain identity the Tabligh movement in France. thing: consumerism, citizenship, education, of the Wu Tang Clan.7 In this identity-void of taken on by the youths that we followed and etc. This sentiment of racism is strongly felt the youths of the suburbs, the hip hop cul- little by little direct themselves towards the In France, the J a m aca Tabligh exists officially by these youths, who already have substan- ture plays a role of 're-positivation' of reality: religious as a fundamental authority to man- under the form of a non-profit association tial identity problems. Often in majority from trust exists between the local representa- age their wandering subjectivity. This mo- called Faith and Practice (Foi et Pratique), African, Turkish, or Asian immigrant families, tives who recognize each other and hold ment of passage from the profane (deviant, registered in April 1972 in the Seine-Saint- these youths had incredible difficulties in sit- each other in esteem, contrary to the gener- nihilist, or musical) to the sacred religious Denis prefecture. Since 1960, the first uating themselves symbolically in the host al suspicion in the neighbourhoods. The self- thus marks the end of this identity migration groups of preachers coming from Pakistan country in as much as the persistent ideas of image is made more noble and thus more thanks to the religion of Islam, which be- began to travel throughout France creating a mythical return to their homelands lived acceptable. The appeal of hip hop and no- comes the ultimate goal, and predication ac- adepts amongst the first Maghrebi immi- on. This is true most notably for youths of tably American rap music (with the west cording to Tabligh, the modus operandi. grants, and demanding places of worship, Maghrebi immigration: 'I am neither from coast – Los Angeles – seen as libertine and which aided them in their aims, before here nor there', as a youth from the suburbs the east coast – New York – as more spiritu- Career in the Tabligh pushing their activism further. Since the end north of Marseille told us. The result is misery al), which is, in our opinion, the most impor- The JHETs9 often have known or have of the 1980s, the Tabligh movement has in terms of identity and an absence of stable tant aspect, next to graffiti and dance, gone through the identity migration de- come to include mainly the second, even points of reference4 for these youths, who should be researched in terms of not only scribed above before finally investing fur- the third generation of children of Maghrebi thus develop substitute micro-identities.5 the appeal of America as the El Dorado of ther in predication within the Tabligh. A It is essentially in the hip hop6 culture that freedom, but also and especially the African- number of militants interviewed were they invest themselves, but also in delin- American music and identity references. In adepts of rap music; some were even DJs or quency, so as to access the consumerism effect, the history of African-Americans has MCs in local discotheques or groups. Aban- from which they feel excluded by either de- many similarities with the stories of the sub- doning rap and music in general (listening, viant over-consumerism, engaging in sports urban youths: forced immigration, racism, writing, or playing it) is more or less irre- (namely individual combat sports), and less political or cultural resistance, demanding of versible upon entry into the Tabligh. commonly by studying. These micro-identi- civil rights, and African origins. The prestige Through the process of 'religious profession- ties can coexist and even be in competition. still enjoyed by the Black Panthers, Martin alization', the transformation is carried out However, the strata of these parcelled iden- Luther King, or Malcom X is the flagrant more or less cleanly. We can in effect speak i m a g e tities reveal an overall negative self-repre- proof of this. These confluences between of a 'religious career' within the Faith and sentation. It is often by opposition to a soci- histories perhaps leads to reinvesting the re- Practice association. The militants of the ety of rich people ('suit-and-tie-ers'), that ligious through the figures of African-Ameri- Tabligh are initially recognizable by their their self-perception is constructed ('cap- can culture oscillating between music and sort of 'workers of God' uniform. It is a specif- not available and-trainers'). The society that stigmatized religion: Grand Master Flash, Mc Hammer, ic physical-vestiary aspect: beard, prayer them by signs (often linked to their national Public Enemy (Nation of Islam), Big Daddy beads, s i w a k stick, g a n d o u r a for the men, origins) and by signals (fashion, vernacular Cane, and De La Soul for rap notably on the and headscarf for the women. It is a new way o n l i n e language in the housing estates, regroup- eastern coast; Ahmad Jamal for jazz; Mo- to present oneself physically, spiritually, and ing, way of being) also attributed labels to hamed Ali or Mike Tyson for sports; and Mal- verbally, which is constructed in a society them, taken up as well at times by the media: com X for politics. that, according to them, never accepted and sly-guys, squatters, zoners, wild-child(ren). In France the figures of Islam in rap also recognized them. It is thus interesting to These negative labels are born from physical play a role in what has been called the phe- note that one can follow relatively precisely criteria (facial features), geographic criteria, nomenon of re-Islamization of the suburbs. this 'militant career of preachers' by an origi- or spatial criteria (coming from a violent Here we can cite the rappers who proclaim nal physical indicator: the length of the neighbourhood, deemed 'sensitive' – unem- Islam such as the group Ideal J (Rohff and beard. The length of the latter allows for a ployment, social welfare). Little by little, Kerry James, singers) or the singer Akhen- rather precise traceability of the career in these negative labels are interiorized and aton, a convert to Islam of Italian origin from terms of engagement of the JHET in the Tab- French rapper immigrants. The Tabligh is currently very or- even proclaimed. An inversion of the self- the group IAM, Abdelmalik of the group NAP ligh. The greater the degree of engagement, Kery James, ganized and has developed local, regional, presentation is thus obligatory. The youths (Nouveaux Poètes de la Rue/New Street the more the indicator of beard length (seen a convert to national, and extra-national ties. This fact is present themselves voluntarily in conformi- Poets), Disiz La Peste, Sat (of the group as highly recommended religiously) increas- I s l a m . especially remarkable in its ramifications ty with the deformed image of themselves Fonky Family), or the rap singer Wallen. es, and vice versa. There are four discernible throughout such suburbs as Mantes La Jolie, that society confers them: they present Music often plays the dual role of media in phases of engagement in the Tabligh reli- the Quatre Mille housing estates in themselves as dangerous individuals, or dif- the reconstruction of the self for the youths gious career: first, there is a disorderly and Courneuve, or Neuhof or Mulhouse in Al- ficult to access; they wander around in in these territories in which misery and de- disorganized life, often far from God in ter- sace, but also in large cities such as Mar- groups, speak loudly, and behave violently viance predominate: a role of horizontal rains of exclusion, without resources and seille, Lyon, Lille, etc. In Lorraine, the region among themselves, with provocative ges- media, on the one hand, between the cul- without a future. The subjectivity is often that we know the best, Faith and Practice tures in public transport, or by exhibiting the tures of either side of the Atlantic, but also fragmented and lacking in points of refer- covers a zone of influence from the city of signals that incite mistrust or defiance (pitt- vertical media between young rappers and ence. Second, there is a religious progressiv- Forbach (Moselle), which is its epicentre, bulls, shaved heads). But ambivalence in the the sacred. It is naturally towards a transcen- ity that coincides often with a cohabitation spreading from Nancy to Bar-le-Duc, pass- discourse and the practices of the youths is dence to which the youths often turn after of several identities, at times antagonistic: ing through Verdun and Longwy, reaching striking: they hate the well-off, who are at having had a taste of rap and its multiple im- that of the dealer or the delinquent with yet other regions: Mulhouse in Alsace, Dijon the source of all their problems, yet they brications with religion. Despite its success, apostolic Islam was the most remarkable – in Bourgogne. This transnational Islamic want to appropriate all of the emblems the group NAP, unique in its genre, is the selling drugs to subsist yet frequenting si- network, the largest in the world, counts an (name-brand clothing, fine cars, pretty girls), only one, along with IAM, to ostensibly pro- multaneously, and increasingly, the mosque increasing number of adepts. and they hate their 'ghetto', the housing es- mote a verbalized culture of Islamic rap. Un- and the Tabligh. I S I M NEWSLETTER 1 1 / 0 2 Public Sphere 21 Poetics in France image not available online The third phase comprises an unconditional engagement where the militant is in a peri- od of 'religious forcing'. He speaks only of Allah, of His qualities, of paradise and hell; his investment in the predication of the Tab- ligh is at its maximum. He undertakes mis- sions that lead him at times very far from home, even as far as New Delhi, India (where the Tabligh founder's tomb is located), to Pakistan (Lahore and Peshawar), and even At a bookstall further away to, for example, China, the USA, at the congress or South Africa. The worried and regular op- of the Jeunes position of families to reduce his missionary Musulmans de engagement are to no avail. This period of France (JMF). unconditional engagement in Faith and Practice ends with what Donegani calls 'in- transigentism' of the convert; this initial zeal the Qur'an (2:143). They thus return, after a lamization of subjectivity within the Tabligh is taxed voluntarily by global society as 'fun- phase of physical-vestiary hyper-visibility, to group. Engaging in 'this voluntary grouping damentalism', notably due to the physical- the most common social invisibility by tak- of religious intensity'1 3 allows subjectivity to vestiary aspect of the JHET, the beard caus- ing up studies, jobs – albeit precarious –, as- reconstruct itself around federating ideas ing confusion between them and the tele- sociative activities, sports, or even citizens' such as 'prophetic imitation' or the 'hunting N o t e s vised images of radical Islamists from all four activities. Their engagement in the 'congre- down of evil and exhorting good'. It is thera- 1 . The term 'suburbs' here refers to the French term corners of the world. At this stage there is gation' of the Tabligh can then become cool, py by a rigorous religiosity within an ascetic b a n l i e u e . metamorphosis: the young militant cuts even critical, or non-existent. structure that inspires security in the face of 2 . M. Tozy, Monarchie et islam politique au Maroc himself off from the world. Often he no The Tabligh movement, however, remains temptations of the self, dangers of the sub- (Paris: Presses de Sciences Po, 1999). longer watches television, no longer listens an associative religious movement under urbs in particular and the world in general. 3 . The term 'identity migration' is an English to music, selects his friends, avoids sexual high surveillance by the General Intelligence This structure preserves the torn identity, al- rendering of the French transhumance identitaire, promiscuity with women, goes out little, and agency and the Direction of the Territory lowing it to completely re-socialize and to a concept on which I have published and which I prays a lot. He begins thus, like a hermit, to Surveillance notably since the Khaled Khel- arm itself against the social evils (exclusion, personally defend. fast regularly, to consecrate himself to medi- kal affair1 0 in 1995, at the time of the wave of drugs, delinquency). It seems thus to con- 4 . Cf. Farhad Khosrokhavar, l'Islam des jeunes ( P a r i s : tation, prayer, and study. He uses to his ben- attacks in Paris, but especially since the at- firm that the passage into and engagement Flammarion, 1997). efit the time allotted him often by his status tack perpetrated by two young Frenchmen in Faith and Practice in France is a moment 5 . Cf. Moussa Khedimellah, 'R ô l e de la culture as being on unemployment or as occasional in Marrakech in 1994.1 1 The General Intelli- of transition for the socio-religious identity, islamique dans l'histoire algérienne. Ses effets sur worker, to improve his faith and his practice. gence agency is especially interested in the an intermediary structure of re-socialization, la perception de soi et l'altérité sur les enfants de It is a politics of ascetism and chastity, which most zealous religious preachers, who have which has as its role to reconstruct the self. It migrants en France', Revue Euro-Orient, no. 4 is demanded and applied to and against the gone for four months to Pakistan and India is the experience of an identity migration (February–May 1999). ostentation of consumer society. Concern- with the supposed eventuality of having (hard life, delinquency, hip hop) towards a 6 . Cf. Hugues Bazin, La culture Hip Hop ( P a r i s : ing the religious criteria, non-consumerism joined training camps in Afghanistan. While transcendence that pulls these militant Desclée de Brouwer, 1995). becomes in this sense increasingly a means Jean-Pierre Chevènement attempted to youths out of their negative and monotone 7 . Cf. interview with Method Man (Wu Tang Clan) and an end, a veritable Islamic leitmotiv to launch the bases of a French Islam represen- day-to-day existence, thus bringing them to with Olivier Cachin, l ' A f f i c h e, Special Issue no. 2. accept the unacceptable of the life of exclu- t a t i o n ,1 2 the Tabligh remains under suspi- a moral obligation. According to our analy- 8 . Cf. Denis-Constant Martin, Le Gospel afro- sion that they once knew. The hyper-visibili- cion of instigating, in the secrecy of 'cellar ses, Tabligh allows these missionaries to cre- américain, des spirituals au rap religieux ty is expressed by the body or the discourse mosques', potential Islamists – which re- ate bases and support for the solid subjecti- (Paris/Arles: Cités de La Musique/Actes Sud, during this crucial period of engagement. mains unproven. Concerning the possible vation in 'the spaces of authenticity where 1 9 9 8 ) . Finally, in the fourth phase, the Tabligh 'fundamentalism' within the Tabligh, our ap- unauthenticity is banned'. Locally, the for- 9 . JHET is an abbreviation for Jeunes Hommes militant often passes through a period in proach to the Tabligh field in France did not mer Tabligh militants, due to their symbolic Engagés dans le Tabligh (Young Men Engaged in which he reinvests in society having found allow for finding conclusive evidence in that religious prestige, often become privileged the Tabligh). the capacity to go beyond the cleavages and sense or demonstrating any deviation of in certain municipalities since they know the 1 0 .Article in Le Monde entitled 'Moi, Khaled Kelkal', to inverse the stigmas of which he was the that type, until the present in any case. problems of violence in the area – and this 7 October 1995. object. It is the 'Muslim is beautiful' period. evolution has been confirmed. These young 1 1 .Incriminating two former young militants of Faith He finds the marks and points of reference C o n c l u s i o n Muslims who have reconstructed a new sub- and Practice from Courneuve, Redouane that help him to have full awareness of him- This new diasporic Islamic youth, social- jectivity through the religious, are the new Hammadi and Stephane Aït Iddir, sentenced to self and of others. He reconstructs a sense ized in France, is impassioned with spirituali- emerging actors in the suburbs and in the death in Morocco on 26 January 1995 and who for himself by using a citizen discourse. For ty in a Western universe that lacks sense. In city by demanding a French and Muslim are still waiting for their sentences to be carried example, in the racist neighbour he now this way the JHET believe they offer some- identity. Yet by means of the sacred, these out. only sees an inoffensive creature of God, thing positive to this globalizing society. The youths have chosen to invest in this move- 1 2 .The initiative was pursued under the ministry of stray and ignorant, for whom one must have concern for respecting certain religious ment of predication and seem to have thus M. Vaillant. In this attempt, the Tabligh was compassion, patience, and kindness. Also, taboos and that for ecological aspirations found their lost dignity of an identity that consulted as one of the main Muslim authorities, social failure is seen as a simple ordeal that (such as the quality of air, the sanitary quali- had been erring somewhere between the among which figure the Union of Islamic one has to overcome; poverty is seen as a ty of food, or kindness to animals) also exist two shores of the Mediterranean. To con- Organizations of France, the Paris Mosque, the good that prevents one from being tempted among the militants; in that sense it is an in- clude, we partially rejoin Oliver Roy,1 4 w h o National Federation of French Muslims, and the by over-consumerism. At this moment of teresting convergence of the religious and thinks that these young Muslims are not the Larbi Kechat Mosque. rupture, to prove that they have finally the modern. In addition, the Tablighis re- enemies of modernity – as Western societies 1 3 .J. Séguy, 'Groupements volontaires d'intensité found the median behaviour between reli- main faithful to the principal of being apolit- often judge them to be – but rather its prod- religieuse dans le christianisme et l'islam', gious zealotry and the life devoid of sense in ical, also very modern, advocated very early ucts and, even more so, its effective produc- Archives de Sciences Sociales des Religions, no. 100 the suburbs without money, dignity, and a on by Muhammad Ilyas, the founder. This ers and actors. (October–December 1997): 47–60. future, the appearance owing to the 'impas- characteristic that separates the religious 1 4 .O. Roy, 'Quel a r c h a ï s m e?', A u t r e m e n t ( s p e c i a l sioned faith' often transforms into a 'social from the political may explain the long sur- issue, 'Islam, le grand malentendu', Mutations transparency' in which the preachers no vival of this network, which following the ex- series), no. 95 (1987): 207–13. longer wear the traditional garb and shorten ample of the Internet – on which it is ex- their beards – the proof is that they have tremely present – has also managed to This article is based on part of the author's post- Moussa Khedimellah completed his Ph.D. at the succeeded in finding this difficult compro- weave its web throughout the world. Our in- graduate (D.E.A.) thesis: M. Khedimellah, 'Des EHESS, Paris, on the Tabligh movement in France. mise between their own faith and the laws of terviews also show that Islam is lived by the ténèbres de la foi à la lumière, la J a m aca Tabligh en He is currently affiliated with the CADIS and the the Republic. They voluntarily call this phase youths as a globalizing cultural system, or- Lorraine' (Paris: Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences EPHE-GSRL laboratories, France. 'the middle path', a formula extracted from ganizing the sense of their practices by an Is- Sociales, September 1999). E-mail: [email protected]