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In Strasbourg, eastern France, an apartment has been converted into a small mosque for the observation of the holy month of Ramadan. There are more than 4 million Muslims in France and, according to a 2003 estimate by the BBC, around 1,600 mosques and Muslim prayer places in the country -- most of which are less than 300 square feet. Yet Xavier Ternisien, a French journalist and Islamic affairs expert, suggests that mosques are moving away from leased spaces and are instead being built on Muslim-owned property. In January of 2003, French officials called for the revision of a 1905 law to allow the government to subsidize mosques. The recently makeshift nature of many French mosques, Ternisien notes, has contributed to a conception of Islam as an underground religion that produces radicals.
Photo: Thomas Wirth-Pig/ Getty Images
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