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 Version: Not Applicable (or Unknown) License: Leiden University Non-exclusive license Downloaded https://hdl.handle.net/1887/16808 from: 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 Ð Los Angeles Ð seen as libertine and which aided them in their aims, before here nor there', as a youth from the suburbs the east coast Ð New York Ð 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.