Hawzah News Agency- He cited several assassinations of Muslims and criticised the silence of the French authorities regarding these acts and practices.
Chems-Eddine Hafiz published on the Grand Mosque of Paris’s X account on Wednesday, December 31, 2025: “Some years pass without leaving a trace. And then some are etched into bodies and minds, not by the noise they make, but by what they demand inwardly. The year that is ending has been one of those for Muslims in France. A heavy, trying year, permeated by a diffuse but persistent feeling: that of being put to the test, sometimes without words, sometimes without consideration, often without recognition of what was truly experienced''.
The head of the Grand Mosque of Paris recalled the brutal murder of a young Muslim while he was praying in a French mosque, a crime motivated by racism. He criticised the inexcusable inaction of the former Interior Minister, the right-wing Bruno Retailleau, who failed to visit the victim’s family or the mosque itself. This sparked outrage within the Muslim community, culminating in the victim’s family refusing to meet with Retailleau, who only visited two days after the murder.
Chems-Eddine Hafiz observed that Muslims in France are subjected to this treatment based on religious and racial grounds, citing the incident: “There have been deaths. Deaths that must be named, because no dignity can withstand anonymity. Aboubakar Cissé. A name that has become etched in our hearts like a turning point. A man was murdered because he was Muslim. Around his death, a silence that was too swift, too convenient, as if some lives could be erased more quickly than others. This silence has deeply affected us. It has left a lasting mark, far beyond the grief of his loved ones''.
He also noted the rise of Islamophobia in France, which has reached unprecedented levels, warning: “To name is not to incite. To name is to refuse erasure. To these tragedies has been added a climate. Islamophobia is rarely spectacular, but deeply entrenched. A daily weariness made up of suspicions, stares, and distancing that have become commonplace. A moral exhaustion that many recognise without always being able to articulate it, so normalised has it become''.
The rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris called on the French people: “What has been striking this year is the widely shared need for this reality to cease being denied, minimised, or relegated to the margins of public debate. Not to elicit special sympathy, but so that reality is faced squarely, without distortion or caricature'', in a message directed at right-wing and far-right politicians, as well as the media aligned with them, which fuel such practices and spread a culture of hatred and racism.
According to Chems-Eddine Hafiz, the Muslim community in France has expressed a deep attachment to the (French) Republic and its principles: “It is in this context that the numbers mattered, not as an end in themselves, but as a support. They allowed people to calmly express what many felt in a confused way: a massive attachment to the Republic and its principles, coupled with an equally massive exposure to discrimination and suspicion. This coexistence is unsettling because it contradicts simplistic narratives. It forces us to think differently'', confirming that the muslims are treated as a separate group by some politicians and opinion leaders, as if they were not part of the social fabric of the French state, making this coexistence a worrying fact.
Conversely, many moderate politicians in France attributed the growing phenomenon of anti-immigrant and islamophobia sentiments in the country to the hate speeches of some politicians obsessed with the issue of immigration, most notably former Interior Minister and leader of the right-wing the “Republicans” party, Bruno Retailleau, and Marine Le Pen and her right-hand man, Jordan Bardella, in the far-right “National Rally” party, who made hostility towards immigrants, especially those with an Islamic background, a goal in their narrow political and electoral programs.
Source: echoroukonline
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