The Great Mosque of Paris “suspends” then renounces its prosecution, the Union of French Mosques would attack it on Monday… The situation is changing from hour to hour.
By Erwan Seznec
© LIONEL BONAVENTURE / AFP
Published on
Rsummary of previous episodes. On December 8, 2022, Michel Onfray’s magazine, Popular Front, publishes a special issue under the title “End of the West? », containing a great interview of the two Michel, Houellebecq and Onfray. The writer releases several shock sentences on Muslims, with an inflection compared to his novel Submission published in 2015. It is no longer a question of seeing the French elect a moderate Muslim, but of “Bataclan upside down”.
Three weeks later, on December 28, the rector of the Great Mosque of Paris, Chems-Eddine Hafiz, announced that he was going to file a complaint for “incitement to hatred” against Michel Houellebecq. Sales of the special issue are vigorously relaunched, a new print is ordered.
The rector does not specifically refer to it in his communiqué, but in the meantime, on December 23, a sexagenarian killed three Kurds in the 10e district of Paris. Many do not exclude that the attack is a set up of the Turkish services, unrelated to Islamophobia. Nevertheless, the perpetrator told investigators that he acted out of hatred for foreigners, which echoes the words of Michel Houellebecq.
Thursday, January 5, appeasement. After having a coffee with Michel Houellebecq, Chems-Eddine Hafiz “suspends” his complaint, which had not yet been filed. As part of a mediation with the chief rabbi of France Haïm Korsia, the two men reached a compromise. Michel Houellebecq will qualify his remarks in a book to be published resuming and completing his conversation with Michel Onfray. As long as the book is not published, the complaint is therefore pending.
The next day, Friday January 6, Chems-Eddine Hafiz took an additional step, in a statement. “After having taken note of the modifications” of the incriminated remarks disseminated by way of press by Michel Houellebecq “and of the regrets which he expressed, the Great Mosque of Paris decided to give up in this state the legal proceedings against him”.
For its part, the Union of French Mosques, chaired by Mohammed Moussaoui (also president of the French Council for Muslim Worship), confirms on Friday 6, by press release, what Point announced the day before: his complaint for incitement to hatred will be filed Monday, January 9 at the court of Nanterre. It will target Michel Houellebecq and Michel Onfray, as well as the publication director of Popular Front, Stephane Simon. Reason, the review is still on newsstands, it is torn off, the harm to Muslims is flagrant.
READ ALSOHouellebecq case: the writer will modify certain controversial passages
Specialists note in the background an old rivalry between the enemy brothers of the Maghreb. The Great Mosque of Paris is close to Algeria, while the Union of French Mosques is close to Morocco. Chems-Eddine Hafiz is Franco-Algerian. Mohammed Moussaoui is Franco-Moroccan. To prosecute or not Michel Houellebecq (or the columnist Jean-Claude Dassier, in the case of the UMF) sends a message to believers, but also to other bodies that intend to represent them, as well as to public authorities.
Note a curious absence, that of the Collective against Islamophobia in Europe (CCIEF, ex-CCIF, dissolved by the Ministry of the Interior). While he has filed a complaint against Jean-Claude Dassier, for the moment, he is not announcing a lawsuit against Michel Houellebecq. He could still do it, because the statute of limitations will expire in two months.