The Report - French, Republican and Muslim, Insha'Allah?
Download French, Republican and Muslim, Insha'Allah?
Ahmed Merabet was one of three police officers killed in the recent terrorist attacks in France. All were honoured as heroes, but it was Ahmed's story which captured France, and the world's attention. As a Muslim who died responding to an attack on a publication which satirised the prophet Muhammed, many saw him as the perfect embodiment of the values of the French Republic and its hopes for the integration of its substantial Muslim population. As France now struggles to figure out how to combat radicalism and promote integration, politicians have called for France's muslims to "choose the Republic", in essence to be more like Ahmed Merabet. At his memorial service, Helen Grady meets Muslims who have come to pay their respects, and follows their lives in the aftermath of the attacks to find out whether they need to do more to be French, or whether the Republic's strong insistence on secularism leaves little place for French Muslims.
Published on Thursday, 29th January 2015.
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