بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Muslims: A Tool in the French Political Game
On September 14th Julien Odoul, a member of the far-right party RN, published a tweet in which he used AI to unveil a Muslim woman and captioned the image “Liberté française” French Liberty. This comes after years of increased Islamophobia in the country, which has only intensified with the approach of the French elections in 2027. Alongside this event there have also been debates about the possibility of banning the ‘voile Islamique’ (the Islamic veil) from public spaces brought forward by the same party in September.
Due to this, brothers and sisters have found themselves fearing for their future in France, with some coming as far as advising others to vote in the upcoming elections despite the awareness of the sin that constitutes voting in the current corrupt system we live under.
The fundamental principal on which the ban of the Hijab has relied on both in France, as in other countries, is that the state is secular and therefore must remain neutral. This is stated in a law from 1905 in which is stated:
“La République ne reconnaît, ne salarie ni ne subventionne aucun culte...” The republic does not recognize, employ, or subsidize any religion or belief…
Due to this law they have been able to ban women from wearing a hijab at work, in school and on school ground. Alongside the ban on the hijab, France has also banished woman from wearing a niqab everywhere, Jilbabs at schools and burkinis at the beach. Every year has brought with it new measures to exclude the Muslim woman from public life in every way possible.
However, in contrast to previous bans, which could fall under the upholding of neutrality, this new proposed ban on the Islamic veil is aimed solely at the Muslim woman and is not supposed to affect women of other religions. This was further made clear during an interview where Sébastian Chenu, another member of the RN party, was asked if a nun would also be asked to unveil if the new ban was putting in effect. To this he responded that the question was clearly a trap and that this is clearly a different situation.
The reality is that France, like all other secular countries base their laws on fundamental freedoms which are provided to each citizen and stem from their idea that religion and the state should remain separate. One of these freedoms is the freedom of religion, which in theory would allow each individual to wear religious garments such as the hijab.
However, if France were to enact this proposed law, it will find itself going against its own constitution. This means that France would have to fundamentally change the principals on which it has built its very fragile system. Removing such a foundational stone would jeopardies all the countries has attempted to construct, as the removal of one freedom would announce that all other freedoms are also removable if they become an obstacle for the desires of the nation and its richest sponsors.
Such an action would cause a frenzy in a country who prides itself on the ability to express their opinion on all aspects of their lives, and will lead to protests from their own citizens, who will view this action not as an attack on their fellow human, but on a threat to their own freedoms and ability to express themselves.
But if the enactment of this law is unlikely, why has it become a point of pride for the far-right party?
The RN is France’s most conservative party, relying on the votes of France’s Islamophobic population to gain elections. An increase of Muslim hatred only strengthens their presence in the French politics. Due to this the party has time and time again blamed Muslims for every single issue in the country, to push blame for their faults, and to increase the hatred for the Muslims. Examples of such issues include blaming the shortage of eggs on Muslims fasting during Ramadan, the increase of crime, the increase of drugs, the mistreatment of animals, the job shortage, the inflation and many more. Such issues are blamed on the Muslims especially in periods of economic and political instability or at the approach of an election.
Muslims have become a tool for their political gain for both the far-right parties, as for the far-left and central parties, who have claimed to be allies to the Muslims to gain their vote only for their policies to also affect our brothers and sisters. Let us not forget that Emmanuel Macron has shown support to the Muslim populations, causing many Muslims to decide to vote for him in order to better their situations. But during his term he has proven why voting in corrupt system is not only haram, but also useless, as their system will never support its anti-thesis. In this regard Allah Azza Wa Jal says:
[وَلَا يَزَالُونَ يُقَـٰتِلُونَكُمْ حَتَّىٰ يَرُدُّوكُمْ عَن دِينِكُمْ إِنِ ٱسْتَطَـٰعُوا۟]
“And they will not stop fighting you until they turn you away from your faith—if they can” [Al-Baqarah: 217].