EXCLUSIVE. Michel Houellebecq responds to the accusations

Lhe Great Mosque of Paris is in progress. The first time she brought me to justice, twenty years ago, I was accused of “incitement to racial hatred”. It was silly, everyone knows that Islam is not a race, but a religion with a universal aim, widespread all over the world, and the prosecutor had logically only been able to ask for my release.

This time I am accused of Islamophobia, which is more relevant. Islam is a religion that does not inspire me much consideration, so to a certain extent I plead guilty; provided I add that I am a part-time Islamophobe. In fact, Islam interests me little. I had re-read the Quran in its entirety at the time of writing. Submission ; that was enough for me.