How is it possible to be muslim in France?

Abstract

Starting from Montesquieu's famous question in the Lettres persanes: 'How can one be Persian?' the author relies on his personal and professional experiences to reflect upon the relationship between France and Islam within the frame of secularism. He analyses three interpretations of secularism that provokes the impossibility of thinking Islam as part of the French national narrative: a 'catho-laicity', a laicity of incompetence and a feminist laicity. The conclusion is about the effects of the last acts of terrorism in France and the new place of researchers and experts in the various fields of religious studies in the public domain.