The rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris asked his imams to now include an invocation for France at the end of their Friday sermons.
The rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, Chems-eddine Hafiz, asked his imams to now include an invocation for France at the end of their Friday sermons. In a letter sent Thursday to the 150 imams affiliated with the Great Mosque, the rector asks them “to introduce at the end of the sermon every Friday invocations in Arabic and French“. He emphasizes attaching “special attention to the execution of this request».
The proposed invocation is “Oh Allah, preserve France, its people and the institutions of the Republic. Make France a prosperous, safe and peaceful country, where the national community, in its diversity, its different religions, its convictions and its beliefs, coexist in security and peace“. This approach is part ofas part of the implementation of the adaptation of Muslim religious discourse in French society initiated by the Grand Mosque of Paris», specifies the rector.
“Prayer for the Republic” in synagogues
The letter recalls that certain imams had begun to introduce an invocation for France after the assassination of Professor Samuel Paty in 2020 and others after October 7, 2023, the date of the bloody attacks by Hamas against Israel. Other cults are already planning a prayer for France “for many years», adds the letter. In the synagogues, thus, a “prayer for the Republic» is pronounced on Saturday mornings and holidays, before or after the reading of the Torah, as well as on the occasion of official ceremonies.
