A new opinion poll has shed light on the views of France's Muslim population, at a time when the integration of Muslims into mainstream French society has become the focus of a major public debate.
The opinion poll, carried out by the French Institute of Public Opinion (IFOP), showed clear divisions between the opinions of French Muslims and the French population more generally. The poll found that 57 per cent of France's young Muslims under the age of 25 believe that Sharia law, a form of Islamic law, should take precedent over French national laws. 38 per cent of the Muslim population in general felt the same.
66 per cent of Muslims believed that cartoons of the prophet Mohammed should be forbidden from being shown in school and 81 per cent favoured specific hours for women to use public facilities and supported the teaching of Arabic in schools.
As with all polls, the methodology and form of questions used must be taken into account before making any firm conclusions. However, the same question related to Sharia law in 2016 indicated that only 47% of under 25s believed Sharia Law should take precedent over national law, therefore indicating that attitudes of Muslims in France are becoming more hard-line.
The debate over the position of Muslims in French society, where they make up around 9% of the population, became prevalent again when French President Emmanuel Macron made a statement at the start of October claiming that Muslims and other French people were to a large extent living separate parallel lives.
The statement by the president took on a deeper significance after two terror attacks in France committed by Islamic fundamentalists. These involved a Chechen refugee beheading a teacher for showing a cartoon of the prophet Mohammed in class, and an Islamic fundamentalist stabbing 3 people to death outside a church in Nice. A third attack on a Greek orthodox priest was suspected as being a terror attack but was later revealed to be part of a personal squabble.
France has lost around 300 citizens to Islamic extremism over the last decade in a wide range of bloody attacks. While the vast majority of French Muslims do not support terrorism, the fact that so many have a religious inclination that they believe is more important than national laws or customs does lead credence to the position Macron has previously spoken about.
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