張國棟
03-09-2008, 12:04 AM
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/20815/modernised-islam
I met Medine in the coastal town of Le Havre, in a scaled-down version of France?s notorious banlieues...
Marketing Islam
Economic competitiveness and artistic success are the hallmarks of the new Muslim elite.
Medine?s office in the ground-floor flat of another tower-block is equipped with computers and stuffed with merchandise, mostly clothes.
Amel Boubekeur, of the School of Social Studies in Paris, has named the movement ?cool Islam?.
She says it combines business and performance to promote Islam, but on French society?s terms.
Making money is now an important mark of success to a generation whose parents were suspicious of wealth.
But their businesses and performances, whether rap, song, theatre, television or comedy, also promote Islamic ethics.
?They are trying to promote an Islamic identity, but also an ethic of solidarity, charity, responsibility for each other,? Ms Boubekeur says.
?They use products in order to make a positive contribution to society.?
Ms Boubekeur says ?cool Islam? is being led by a generation which, unlike their parents, have accepted that they are in France to stay.
But for all their willingness to contribute, to participate, there is friction with an aggressively secular state...
I met Medine in the coastal town of Le Havre, in a scaled-down version of France?s notorious banlieues...
Marketing Islam
Economic competitiveness and artistic success are the hallmarks of the new Muslim elite.
Medine?s office in the ground-floor flat of another tower-block is equipped with computers and stuffed with merchandise, mostly clothes.
Amel Boubekeur, of the School of Social Studies in Paris, has named the movement ?cool Islam?.
She says it combines business and performance to promote Islam, but on French society?s terms.
Making money is now an important mark of success to a generation whose parents were suspicious of wealth.
But their businesses and performances, whether rap, song, theatre, television or comedy, also promote Islamic ethics.
?They are trying to promote an Islamic identity, but also an ethic of solidarity, charity, responsibility for each other,? Ms Boubekeur says.
?They use products in order to make a positive contribution to society.?
Ms Boubekeur says ?cool Islam? is being led by a generation which, unlike their parents, have accepted that they are in France to stay.
But for all their willingness to contribute, to participate, there is friction with an aggressively secular state...