But Chalghoumi has also received death threats for his public positions and in particular his support for a ban on facial veils, including the black niqab, which reveals only the eyes.
There are voices of dissent among the 2, worshippers at his mosque here in Drancy, just northeast of Paris. Twice, bands of young men, wearing knitted skullcaps and many of them bearded, demonstrated angrily at the mosque. At Friday Prayer two weeks ago, they demanded his resignation. A rapprochement with the Jews, why not? Born in Tunisia, Chalghoumi came to France at the end of , at Asked if he was nervous for his safety, he smiled almost shyly. Still, he had two police bodyguards with him during an interview, and they also accompanied him to the mosque.
His latest trouble is due to his position on the full veil, which he regards as a symbol of inequality with no justification in Islam or the Koran. Those who support the full veil in France are ignorant, having absorbed a street Islam of anger and slogans in a time of rising radicalism, he says.
The debate on the veil is a distraction from the real needs of French Muslims, he said, citing problems of poverty, unemployment, poor housing and racial prejudice.
And will it show the good side of Islam? What an image! This is the perception I refuse! His wife, a Frenchwoman of Tunisian origin, herself wears the hijab, he said. But he sees the niqab as a sign of growing radicalism, not just in France, but throughout the Arab world, a trend that began with the Islamic Revolution in Iran.
