Via Global Voices:
Followers of Moroccan blogger Ahmed, who writes on Alash? [Ar] (Why?), know he is fond of the art of satire. Earlier this month he published a post about a supposed announcement by the French President Nicolas Sarkozy [Ar] of a series of measures to “encourage” French Muslims to follow a French version of this year's Ramadan.
The blogger writes quoting his imaginary Sarkozy:(more)
اخواني المواطنين، المسلم الفرنسي هو فرنسي قبل أن يكون مسلما وعليه فإن قهوة الصباح مع الهلالية (كرواصون) تقليد فرنسي عريق لا يجب التخلي عليه. لذا وانطلاقا من فتاوى الأزهر حول فقه الأقليات فانه يجوز للمسلم الفرنسي الصائم ان يبدأ صباحه بقهوة مع هلالية كغيره من أبناء الشعب الفرنسي على الساعة الثامنة قبل انطلاق العمل.
"Fellow citizens,
The French Muslim is French before being a Muslim. Therefore, the old French tradition of early morning breakfast with coffee and croissant should not be abandoned [during the month of Ramadan]. And based on fatwas (religious edicts) from Al-Azhar University and their jurisprudence concerning [Muslim] minorities, it is permissible for fasting French Muslims to start the day with the morning coffee and croissant like all other French people do, at 8 A.M. before leaving for work."
(...)
What started as a joke is now being peddled around Middle Eastern blogs and online forums. Seeing his article being presented as a factual account, with no reference to the source, the blogger updated his original post writing a disclaimer and warning that “this article is a satirical account of an event that did not happen. The objective was to discuss the relationship between Sarkozy […] and the Muslim minority in France.”
