How France’s Political Elite Deny the Existence of an Islamophobic Climate

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou's use of the term ‘Islamophobia’ to describe the stabbing of a young Muslim man in a mosque in southern France has sparked a sharp division within the government and the political class.

The assailant, a French national, reportedly stabbed a worshipper at the Grande-Combe mosque, Aboubakar Cisse, a Malian man in his early twenties, dozens of times on the morning of April 25.

Le Parisien newspaper quoted a source close to the investigation as saying that the assailant then filmed the victim with his mobile phone and chanted insults against Islam.

The public prosecutor of Ales, in the Gard region where the attack occurred, stated that “Islamophobia is only one of the motives being investigated, but there are elements in the investigation that point to other motives...perhaps an obsession with death to qualify as a serial killer.”

These developments deepen the political and social debate in France surrounding issues of discrimination and Islamophobia, amid growing calls for accountability and urgent action to stop incitement and hatred.

The French Interior Ministry reported that cases of anti-Muslim violence increased by 72% between January and March 2025 compared to the same period the previous year. However, critics claim that incidents are woefully underreported.

Islamophobic Ignominy

In a remarkable precedent, French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou sparked a heated debate within the political arena when he publicly spoke about the rise in Islamophobia in the country, using a term long avoided by the French political elite.

Bayrou denounced the incident in a post on the X platform: “A worshipper was killed at the Grande-Combe Mosque. The shame of Islamophobia was shown in a video. We stand with the victim's family and with the shocked faithful.”

Bayrou's statements, which sparked political debate over religious freedoms in the country and the term Islamophobia, were explicitly rejected by some of his ministers, who denied the existence of an anti-Muslim climate or questioned the accuracy of the description.

French President Emmanuel Macron, for his part, refrained from using the word to condemn Aboubakar Cisse's killing, saying in a post on X: “Racism and hatred based on religion will never have a place in France,” expressing his support for Muslim citizens.

France's Minister for Overseas Territories, Manuel Valls, also rejected the use of the word Islamophobia.

In statements to RTL radio, he said that the Iranian mullahs invented this term 30 years ago.

In turn, Hard-right Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau asked provincial governors to increase security around mosques across the country.

However, he refused to use the word [Islamophobia] in his discussion of Aboubakar Cisse's killing, and in an interview with BFMTV, he considered the term ideologically charged.

Retailleau linked the term to the Muslim Brotherhood, noting that the Interior Ministry uses the term ‘Islamophobia’.

Green Party leader Marine Tondelier condemned these positions, saying: “Some politicians are unable to utter the word [Islamophobia], perhaps because they have a problem with this religion.”

Government spokesperson Sophie Primas tried to end the controversy, saying: “This position requires a great deal of wisdom and is not worth arguing over vocabulary.”

Political Tension

In a related development, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau came under fire for taking more than 3 days to arrive at the scene or express his solidarity with the Muslim community, in the face of a crime whose motives were so unclear.

He faced a wave of criticism even from within his own party, with the president of the Hauts-de-France region, Xavier Bertrand, expressing his belief that the minister should have gone to the crime scene immediately.

In this regard, the French left, represented by the New Popular Front deputies, accused Retailleau of adopting anti-Muslim positions in the country, emphasizing that he adopts inflammatory rhetoric targeting both Muslims and immigrants, exacerbating social tensions.

On the sidelines of the debate on Islamophobia, deputies from France Unbowed, during a question-and-answer session with the government in the French National Assembly, called for the dismissal of Minister Retailleau, accusing him of inciting this phenomenon in the country.

Hard-left leader of France Unbowed, Jean-Luc Melenchon, also denounced the anti-Islam political climate, which he held responsible for the killing of Aboubakar Cisse.

The NGO SOS Racisme has expressed concern about hate speech targeting the Muslim community in France in recent years.

On her part, Marine Tondelier criticized the widespread Islamophobia, accusing the hard-right Interior Minister of harassing Muslims.

In contrast, Retailleau accused left-wing parties of exploiting the recent mosque murder, involving a Frenchman identified as a far-right member, for political gain.

He appeared at the controversial ‘For the Republic and Against Islamism’ demonstration in Paris last month, where he chanted, ‘Down with the hijab’, in support of a bill aimed at banning female athletes from wearing the hijab in competition.

Racism and Discrimination

Following the murder of the young Muslim man, Aboubakar Cisse, protests erupted denouncing Islamophobia and calling for strong action against religious hatred and Islamophobia.

While right-wing representatives were absent from these rallies, protesters, along with left-wing leaders, accused members of the government and right-wing media of inciting hatred and fueling Islamophobia.

In this regard, Muslim activists considered the barbaric act inside a mosque a direct result of increasingly liberal political and media discourse, which has for months been portraying Muslims as a threat amid an intolerable public apathy.

The French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) expressed its deep shock at what it described as an anti-Muslim terrorist attack.

It called on French Muslims to be extremely vigilant and demanded that authorities launch an urgent national plan to strengthen the protection of mosques.

The Movement Against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples (MRAP) recalled several recent attacks against Muslim places of worship, such as the fire at a mosque in late February and the shooting at the headquarters of a French-Moroccan association in early March.

The movement considered these acts to be part of a climate of hatred fueled by the silence of political leaders, who are not themselves the source of unacceptable stigmatization of a segment of the population.

Last April, deputies from France Unbowed submitted a resolution to the National Assembly to establish a commission of inquiry into Islamophobia in the country.

By establishing this commission, the deputies affirmed their desire to analyze the impact of this discrimination on the daily lives of Muslims, their integration into society, and the general social climate, while offering concrete recommendations to effectively combat this phenomenon.

A number of French left-wing figures also recently called for a major national march against Islamophobia on May 11.

Deep Crisis

The division within the executive branch over the term [Islamophobia] reflects more than just a disagreement over terminology. 

It reveals a deeper crisis in the state's discourse toward its Muslims, and an ongoing tension between the principles of secularism and the demands of social justice and cultural pluralism.

However, over time, the term itself has become part of the heated political debates in France, especially after the terrorist attacks that have rocked the country in recent years.

While those who speak about Islamophobia are accused of promoting religious-political agendas that do not adhere to French secularism, others believe that discussing it could create a negative image of French society itself and reinforce feelings of hostility toward French identity.

Controversial French writer Caroline Fourest published an article in ProChoix magazine in 2001 in which she claimed that the term [Islamophobia] was invented by the Iranian regime to justify radical activities aimed at Islamizing European societies.

It should be noted that the term [Islamophobia] has existed in French since the early 20th century and is adopted by most international institutions, including the UN.

According to Le Monde, the first appearance of the term ‘Islamophobia’ in France was in a 1910 law dissertation.

Amid this controversy surrounding the term [Islamophobia], President Macron met with representatives of Islamic institutions, who denounced the prevailing anti-Islam climate and demanded concrete measures to protect them.

For his part, human rights activist Marwan Mohammed told Al-Estiklal that “the dispute over the term [Islamophobia] among French elites is not so much linguistic as it is purely personal and political.”

He explained that “there are political groups that consider government recognition of Islamophobia to be a cultural concession, amid reports confirming the increase in hostilities against Muslims in the country.”

He pointed out that “French officials do not want to define [Islamophobia] according to the United Nations, which has designated March 15th as an international day to combat this phenomenon. “

He noted that “this constitutes a systematic denial of the demographic and social transformations the country is experiencing, most notably the rise of Islam as a second religion.”

Mr. Mohammed warned that this denial contributes to deepening divisions within French society rather than strengthening national cohesion, stressing that using Islam as a tool for political conflict is a dangerous decline.

France has the largest Muslim population in Europe, with more than 6 million Muslims, constituting approximately 10% of the country's population.

France, which maintains its own model of secularism known as ‘laicite’—which guarantees freedom of conscience and the neutrality of the state and some public spaces—has a tense relationship with Islam.

It is worth noting that Islamic clothing, such as the hijab and long abayas, has sparked endless controversy amid multiple government attempts to ban them.