The date is set. The month of Ramadan will begin on Saturday April 2 in France, the French Council for Muslim Worship announced on Tuesday. In a press release signed by its executive office, the CFCM calls “the Muslims of France to seize the opportunity of this blessed month (…) to raise prayers for peace in the world, the protection and prosperity of our country and our fellow citizens”.
“Saturday April 2 would be the first day of the month of Ramadan”, say for their part the Grand Mosque of Paris and three federations of mosques united in “Coordination”, in a separate press release. The Coordination will however specify its announcements on April 1, the date on which its theological commission will decide definitively according to various calculations. And she invites “the Muslims of France” to “invoke (the) Creator so that this devastating war which is taking place in the middle of Europe ceases immediately”.
Alms at the end of Ramadan valued at 7 euros
During Ramadan, one of the pillars of Islam, believers are asked to abstain from drinking, eating, smoking and having sexual relations, from dawn – as soon as one can “distinguish a white thread from a black thread” says the Koran – until sunset.
Muslims are invited to pay alms for the poor, the zakât el-Fitr. It was “evaluated this year at seven euros per person”, according to the CFCM. Ramadan will end with Eid al-Fitr, the “festival of breaking the fast”, which will take place on May 2.
France has between five and six million practicing and non-practicing Muslims, according to several studies on the subject (Pew Research Center, Institut Montaigne, Insee, Ined), which makes Islam the country’s second religion. And makes the French Muslim community the first Muslim community in Europe.
Historical interlocutor of the public authorities since 2003, the CFCM has been blocked for several months by deep internal disputes. The federations of the Coordination left its executive office in the spring of 2021. In December, the government decided to no longer consider it as an interlocutor and preferred a “Forum de l’islam de France” (Forif), composed of actors on the ground, which met for the first time on 6 February.