ABSTRACT
Many imams attempt to promote the visibility of Islam in the public space, both in France and in other European countries, and this issue has become the subject of heated debates. Imams participate in the search for recognition based on their ability to embody an ‘acceptable Islam’: one that is supposedly acceptable for all actors in the public debate. To reverse the discourse that describes Islam as a religion that is foreign and maybe even incompatible with the principles of western democracies, imams in France aspire to the acculturation of Muslim identity or identities, while at the same time stimulating the Muslim faithful to integrate into French society.
