At its summer university, the Great Mosque of Paris is a unifying actor of Islam in France

This is a first for the Grand Mosque of Paris. A month before the celebration of the centenary of the laying of its first stone, on October 19, the Fédération de la Great Mosque of Parisled by its president Chems-Eddine Hafiz, organized a summer university to think about its strategic orientations.

Through this event, the Great Mosque of Paris presents itself as a major player in theIslam of France, even though the Muslim faith is in full restructuring after the failure of the French Council for Muslim Worship (CFCM) and its replacement by the Forum de l’islam de France (Forif) by the Ministry of the Interior in February last.

At the Institute of the Arab World, Friday, September 16, Chems-Eddine Hafiz gave a serious speech to an audience of guests, from the head of the central office of worship to representatives of different religions. The Minister of Religious Affairs of the Algerian government, closely linked to the Grand Mosque of Paris, was present. Invited, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, did not show up.

Live your faith to the full while respecting the principles of society

On a mission to prove that “The Principles of Islam” agree “unambiguously with the principles of society”, Chems-Eddine Hafiz drew up the observation of a ” crisis “ of Islam since the 2015 attacks. ” For (part of public opinion), he observes, Islam and Muslims represent the cause of the fractures in our society. »

Faced with this, Muslims must ” to show that (their) presence in no way entails the decline of France or the loss of its identity”. For this, it is up to them to fight against “the scourge of Islamism”who, according to him, desires “to separate Islam and Muslims from French society”.

The rector has pledged that the Grand Mosque will always be there for “defending the citizenship of Muslims in France” while giving them “the keys to fully living their faith in society and respecting its principles”. She agrees on these points with the “coordination”, an informal grouping of the four Muslim federations which had signed the Charter of Islam of France in January 2021, and left the CFCM in March of that same year.

A “coordination” of federations

Representatives of three of these four federations (Rassemblement des Musulmans de France, close to Morocco, the French Federation of Islamic Associations of Africa, the Comoros and the West Indies, the Great Mosque of Paris and Muslims of France) also reflected on the place of this coordination, which aspires to play a role in the ” representation ” of Islam in France.

Among them, Mohsen Ngazou, president of Muslims of France, whose association, ex-UOIF, close to the Muslim Brotherhood, was recently weakened by the expulsion of one of its former figures, Hassan Iquioussen, decided by the Ministry of inside.

Hailed by participants as an opportunity to reflect, ” to meet “, “getting out of particularities”the event was also an opportunity for the Federation of the Great Mosque of Paris and its 80 delegates to work on subjects such as halal certification, the training of imams and the adaptation of religious discourse in France.

At its summer university, the Great Mosque of Paris is a unifying actor of Islam in France