An Iraqi in Paris

Samuel Shimon is an Iraqi author who recently released his debut novel An Iraqi in Paris. He was interviewed for next month's issue of World Literature Today, produced by my alma mater The University of Oklahoma. This quote caught my attention:

SS: It is said that Paris is the city of fashion and beauty, but for me it is the city of compassion par excellence. I do not think I could have lived in any other city the way I lived in Paris.

As I mentioned in my answer to your first question, those who tortured me were security and intelligence men, working for their Arab regimes. As for the Arabs I met in Paris; they were running away from those lousy regimes. Others were immigrants who had, to a certain degree, integrated into French society. Besides the French, who were generous and kind to me for the most part, I had strong ties to the Algerian community of Paris. Here I would like to point out that many Arabs consider the Algerians to be rough and gruff, but that is not true at all.

In my experience, the Algerians are very kind and loving people. They were always very kind to me and always welcomed me into their homes, despite the fact that I am not a Muslim and am always very critical—to the point of being sarcastic—of the traditions of Islam. They were never offended even though I was a regular guest of theirs and was being disrespectful. The Algerians are principled and tend to be straightforward. They also take special pride in and care of their friendships.

Laïcité Inch'Allah

Laïcité Inch'Allah.

Those two words, one in French and one in Arabic, are drenched in meaning well beyond their eight syllables. The first is a word marking the triumph of the secularist side in a long, bitter struggle against the Catholic Church in France. Since the 1905 French law that definitively separated church and state, it has been a principle that political discourse across the spectrum accepts without reservation.

The second word literally means, "If God wills". According to the Koran, Muslims should say it whenever they speak of future events. In Muslim countries, however, it has come to mean "maybe I will do it", "perhaps I will get around to it", or even "fat chance".

Put the two together and you get something along the lines of "Secularism, if God wants it" with a heavy connotation of "Secularism, fat chance". In two words it smashes together two vastly different cultures and worldviews, and raises a host of questions. Can the development of Catholicism in Europe be a model for Islam in Arab countries? Can an idea from France be put into practice in an Arab country it colonized? Should it? In short, the title is genius.

As of late, the Parisian metro walls have been plastered with advertisements for a new film by exactly this title. Directed by Nadia El Fani, it opens today in France. It's about Tunisia, where secularism is on much weaker footing than in France. I haven't seen the film, but I would like to. It had me at "Laïcité Inch'Allah".

Here's the trailer (French).