Renowned imam calls on Muslims to engage with France

Prominent Islamic scholar Muhammed Abu Zaid urges Muslims in France to cooperate with the government. But he told DW that the authorities should also foster dialogue with the Muslim community. France's latest steps in combating Islamist extremism at home have been closely monitored in Arab countries. The brutal killing of French teacher Samuel Paty, who had shown his pupils cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in class, prompted French President Emmanuel Macron to defend the use of the cartoons and France's secularism, which in turn triggered anti-French protests in many Muslim countries. Macron's statements that he saw "Islam as a religion in crisis" fanned the flames...