DDHK News - I heard the call to prayer heard from a loudspeaker perched on the hood of the car. A moment later hundreds of Muslims prostrated themselves, touching their foreheads to the ground, forming a sea of ridges on the road.
The scene is common not in downtown Cairo, Egypt, but on a busy market street in northern Paris, a few steps from the Sacre Coeur basilica. For the locals, that's old news: some prayed on the street, rainy or not, for decades.
Friday prayers on the street market ended as soon as they started, with hundreds of worshipers packing up their mats and returning to work. The reasons for them praying on the street include the mosque room being too small to accommodate the congregation.
"It's simple (why do they pray on the street) that the mosque room is not enough for them," said Hakim El Karoui, head of the Islamic Cultural Institute. "No wonder the congregation spilled onto the street."
For Marine Le Pen, the far-right anti-Islam politician who took over from his father this weekend as leader of the far-right National Front party, it is proof that Muslims are "taking over" France and becoming an occupying force. He said that last month.
His comments caused a stir when he asked the Muslims praying on the street to return home. He viewed Islam as "threatening the secular values of the state" amid growing concerns about the displacement of Muslims in French society in recent years.
More than two-thirds of French and German people think the integration of Muslims into their societies has failed, according to IFOP in a survey published on January 5.
In France, Islam is the second largest religion after Catholicism. As many as 42 percent of French citizens see Islam and Muslims as a threat to the country's national identity.
"This has become an important political issue," said Frederic Dabi, IFOP's head of research. "Congregation praying on the streets and a growing perception of the influence of Islam are seen as setting aside French secular values."
The issue of praying on the street was used by the National Front to boost popularity ahead of the presidential election. A poll published by TNS Sofres this week showed support for the National Front grew by 12 percent over the past year. (Mel / Reuters / Yahoo News!). *
