French Colonial Islam: The Case of the Grand Mosque of Paris

LE BREAKDOWN With Yasser Louati

How the historic institution is a symptom of the ills of French society and the French government’s relation with Muslims. Of all the media, it is to Charlie Hebdo that the rector of the Grand Mosque (of Algiers) of Paris Chems Eddine Hafiz went to call out and blame his friends from the French Council of the Muslim Faith for the failure of his "charter of values" to be signed by French imams. Following his speech on "islamist separatism", Macron demanded that "Muslim leaders" come up with a charter to make sure imams abide by French values. The proposed charter of Imams & National Council of Imams has been a clear assault on: #Laïcité for the government wants to meddle in Muslims' religious and clerical affairs. Freedom of conscience: what kind of Islam they can practice Freedom of expression: what they can talk about. Nevertheless, CFCM member federations agreed to draft one...but the Rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris went behind their back and offered to the Minister of Interior (the same guy who linked halal food with terrorism) a draft that goes above and beyond. The draft proposed by the Rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris would prohibit Imams from speaking of "state racism", "state islamophobia", foreign conflicts (i.e Palestine), even to get involved in community organizing. The Min. of Interior was DELIGHTED by this abdication. But after the Ambassador of Algeria declared: "the Grand Mosque of Paris belongs to Algeria" https://algerie360.com/20201220-la-grande-mosquee-de-paris-est-dabord-algerienne-selon-lambassadeur-dalgerie-en-france/, he had to backtrack. Of course, when he went to whine at Charlie Hebdo he blamed "antisemitic islamists" but not the Algerian chain around his neck. What is quite shocking is the silence of both Emmanuel Macron and his Minister of Interior Gerald Darmanin. That a foreign ambassador makes such declaration should have sparked a diplomatic row. Yet nothig happened. Why such embarassing silence? SUBSCRIBE AND LISTEN TO LE BREAKDOWN on: iTunes, Spotify, Deezer, Google podcast, Stitcher, Radio Public, Breaker, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Podbean and all major podcasting platforms.