The great mosque of Paris (GMP) is one of the collateral victims of the crisis between Algeria and France. The institution is attacked from all sides, for the only apparent reason to be led by an Algerian, the Rector Chems-Eddine Hafiz.
The Great mosque of Paris never denied his link with Algeria. In his post he publishes regularly, Hafiz wrote that this “double Franco-Algerian belonging (…) is sometimes misunderstood”.
But for some time now, it has been only a bad understanding that it is. The institution is attacked, denigrated and overwhelmed with accusations as serious as they are infused.
After the arrest of Algerian influencers at the start of the year for calls for violence, the media machine of the far right set out to involve the Paris Mosque, accused directly of working to “destabilize France “.
The accusation was uttered in particular on CNews by an Algerian activist and the former French ambassador to Algeria Xavier Driencourt.
In a statement made public on January 6, the institution rejected these accusations and affirmed that this campaign “is no coincidence”, but the result in part of the positions taken by the Paris Mosque, in particular its call to block on the far right in the French legislative elections last summer.
The great mosque of Paris reiterated that it assumes its “strong and historical links with Algeria”, “in perfect agreement with the French State and in all consistency with the virtuous and universal missions of the institution”.
But the campaign has not faded. On the contrary. The attacks are now assumed by characters from the French political class. Its detractors attack it on its funding.
The vice-president of the Les Républicains (right) party, François-Xavier Bellamy, seized the European Commission to end the Halal certification system issued by the Great Mosque of Paris on behalf of Algeria.
Campaign against the Great Mosque of Paris: Moroccans enter the running
In 2023, the Algerian authorities gave the Paris Mosque the exclusivity of the certification of all Halal products imported into Algeria from the EU and around the world.
Last September, Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commerce Commissioner, expressed “concern“of the European Commission in relation to this decision.
A few days ago, the French newspaper L'Opinion returned to this system.
“The press reveals that the great mosque of Paris, linked to Algeria, makes all European companies pay for exporting to this country, for halal certificates that are otherwise nonexistent,” wrote Bellamy on X, arguing that “this system imposes millions of euros per year on farmers and industrialists in our countries, and poses, in the current context, a real security problem ”.
-“There is therefore a security issue, at the sight of the behavior of Algeria against France. Knowing what becomes of this money is essential, “said Bellamy.
A deputy for the national rally, Matthias Renault, has seized the Paris prosecutor's office.
The great mosque of Paris is accused of having set up “a juicy financial system” and of making substantial gains.
“To date, no European company benefiting from the certification of the Great Mosque in Paris has complained of the services performed in time, on time and in quality,” replied the rector Chems-Eddine Hafiz, adding that she has received an exclusive mandate from Algeria and that it “operates in perfect compliance with French, Algerian and European rights, including in matters of competition rights”.
Hafiz denounces an “unprecedented media campaign” against the great mosque of Paris
The Paris Mosque has been in the sights of extremist circles for several years and more particularly since the break -up of the crisis between France and Algeria.
Moroccan lobbyists quickly seized the subject. Many newspapers in the kingdom jumped on an idea launched on X by the far-right polemicist Damien Rieu who wondered “why not entrust the management of the Great Mosque of Paris in Morocco”. The Moroccan media also invented, to better legitimize the idea, a “Moroccan” story at the Great Mosque in Paris.
Faced with this attack storm, Chems-Eddine Hafiz does not let himself be shaken, preferring to respond with transparency. “The double Franco-Algerian belonging, far from calling into question the sovereignty of one or the future of the other, is a precious good,” he wrote, adding that, since 1982, “the Algeria has provided essential financial support to restore this ruined building ”.
“This support, perfectly in line with French laws, is part of a transparent legal framework, respecting the provisions of the 1905 law,” he said.
On Thursday, Chems-Eddine Hafiz reacted by denouncing an “unprecedented media campaign” carried out against the most important Muslim religious institution in France with “extremely virulent, completely false attacks”.
The rector of the Great Mosque of Paris accused “circles hostile to the appeasement of relations between France and Algeria” of being behind this campaign.
On income from Halal certification, he assured that “everything is traced, controlled, declared”, and explained that money is used to finance Muslim worship.
Hafiz also denounced a campaign aimed at Muslims in general, saying that “many French people of Muslim confession come to doubt their place and their future in their own country”, that is to say the France.
Related News :