The Dean of the Paris Mosque Warns France against the Dangers of Discrimination Among Its Citizens

Shams-Eddine Hafiz, Dean of the Grand Mosque of Paris, called on the French authorities to call things by their names. This came as a stern warning against the backdrop of the growing “Islamophobia climate” in France following the assassination of the Tunisian national, Hicham Miraoui, and before him, the Malian national, Aboubacar Cissé.

These two incidents led to severe criticism of the French Interior Minister, Bruno Retailleau, due to the racist and discriminatory political discourse he adopted against immigrants, especially Muslims.

In an article he signed in his name in the French newspaper “La Croix”, Shams-Eddine Hafiz called for what he termed a “wave of brotherhood” among French people of different ethnicities and religious backgrounds. He also warned against “actions whose horror never fades”, referring to the killings of the Muslim community on racial grounds and discrimination on religious grounds.

The Dean of the Paris Mosque wrote: “The assassination of Aboubacar Cissé in a mosque was not an isolated act. Rather, these crimes were the fruit of a culture of suspicion, and a climate of hostility that is created, cultivated, and tolerated. Before the shooting, and before the bullets pierced the body, there are always words. Repeated, vulgar, insinuating phrases. Contempt does not fall from the sky: it is sown in speeches, sprinkled in editorials, and preserved in silence.”

He added: “For years, Muslims in France have lived under baseless suspicion. What was once far-right folklore has become a popular electoral commodity, a media routine, and a clever way to describe a national ‘problem’. We no longer talk about race, but about religion. We no longer say ‘they are not like us’, but we say ‘they do not share our values’. This shift in vocabulary makes bigotry more acceptable, more insidious, and more dangerous.”

The French Interior Minister, Bruno Retailleau, had received scathing criticism from French politicians and media figures following the killing of the Malian national, Aboubacar Cissé, in a French mosque. The perpetrator, a far-right Frenchman, filmed the crime and reveled in the killing in a sadistic scene. The French minister did not visit the crime scene until three days later, which led the victim’s family to refuse to meet him in protest of how he handled this crime.

French politicians also blamed Retailleau for his violent and extremist political discourse against Muslims and immigrants in general, for the cheap goal of achieving narrow political and electoral gains in the upcoming presidential elections two years from now. This was referred to by the Dean of the Paris Mosque in his article as “insinuating and contemptuous phrases”.

In Shams-Eddine Hafiz’s opinion, current French policy has produced “a society that suspects its children, attributes hidden motives to them, suspicious loyalties, and destabilizing practices. By constantly repeating that they pose a problem, some end up believing that they must be eliminated. Literally. Hicham Miraoui’s killer was not defeated by individual madness: he is the armed wing of a climate, an ecosystem of fear.”

The official responsible for the largest body concerned with Muslim affairs in France emphasizes that “as long as hatred of Islam – whatever word we prefer – is not named, confronted, or treated as a social disease, more tragedies will occur. With this denial, the Republic denies itself, and with it, its promise of equality,” noting that “diversity should enrich, not worry. Yet, their loyalty is constantly tested. They have to prove what no other citizen has to prove, that they belong to French society, and that they are not strangers.”

He stresses: “The state must act. It cannot hide its failures by naming a convenient scapegoat. A report on the Muslim Brotherhood, written in complete secrecy, will not alleviate the suffering of the living, or the suffering of families. What we need is not more suspicion, but more appreciation. Not new exclusions, but a wave of brotherhood. Not fear, but courage.”