These Are the Reasons Behind the Closure of Beauvais Grand Mosque in France

The Grand Mosque of Beauvais joined the list of mosques that have recently been closed by the French government.

After closing 21 mosques, claiming that they were witnessing manifestations of extremism, Macron’s government closed the Grand Beauvais Mosque for a period of 6 months, under the allegations that the mosque’s sermons “incite hatred,” “violence” and “call for jihad.”

These procedures came in light of the application of the Government’s controversial law entitled “Strengthening the Principles of Respect for the Values of the Republic,” which was first defined as “the fight against separatist Islam.”

In fact, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced the start of the legal process to close a mosque in the northern city of Beauvais, claiming that it was "providing sermons with extremist content."

In an interview with CNews TV on Tuesday 14 December, he added that Bilal Mosque in the city of Beauvais is instructing "extremist content," and attacks Christianity, Judaism and homosexuality.

According to the French local press, the French province of Oise informed the officials of the Bilal Mosque that the mosque will be closed for 6 months.

 

The Imam Criticized Homosexuality

The lawyer of the Bilal Mosque, Samim Polaki, said that the imam of the mosque answered a question asked to him about whether homosexuality is permissible or not in the Islamic religion.

In a statement, he added, the imam of the mosque answered the question accordingly with the directives of the Islamic religion.

He stressed that the decision to close the mosque was "exaggerated." It is noteworthy that Bilal mosque was established in 2014 and is attended by nearly 300 people.

According to the French newspaper LeFigaro: “Agencies have monitored many sermons that incite hatred, violence, and glorification of jihad" by the imam of the mosque, and sermons broadcast on YouTube were monitored, which facilitated investigative work.”

For his part, the imam of the mosque said the historical facts he was referring to, date back to more than 1,400 years. Particularly, to the first two major wars in the history of Islam, and therefore the facts are in a specific time range.

While the association's lawyer justified that perhaps the imam of the mosque did not have the sensitivity to speak in the past tense.

The lawyer concluded by: “If the governor decides to close the place of worship, the association will rely on the administrative court, and appeal the “completely disproportionate” closure decision that comes “to punish the entire Muslim community in a Beauvais.”

 

The Closure Context

Earlier, the French Interior Minister Darmanin announced the closure of 21 mosques, claiming that they were witnessing "manifestations of extremism."

The French government is facing criticism for the controversial "Principles to Promote Respect for the Values ​​of the Republic," which was first defined as "the fight against separatist Islam."

On July 23, the French National Assembly (Parliament) adopted the draft "Principles for Promoting Respect for the Values ​​of the Republic," which faces criticism for targeting Muslims in France and imposing restrictions on all aspects of their lives.

The law provides for oversight of mosques and associations responsible for their management, and for monitoring the financing of Muslim civil organizations.

It also imposes restrictions on the freedom of families to provide education for their children at home, in countries where headscarves are prohibited in pre-university education institutions.

In an interview with Al-Estiklal, the lawyer and expert in international law in France, Ismail Khalafallah reported said: “The closure of mosques in general in France is more due to technical reasons than to the direct targeting of Muslims. Here, it must be emphasized that some mistakes or slips made by imams or members of Islamic societies are monitored to spread Islamophobia, distort the image of Muslims, and to close mosques.”

He added: “I didn’t follow up closely with Beauvais's Imam sermons to judge and to give an accurate answer on this particular issue. But what is certain is that some imams forget or miss to clarify the context and delve into some controversial issues that should be avoided or clarified with knowledge and accuracy, so as not to be exploited against Muslims.”

He concluded: “I mean, for sure Muslims are attacked in many cases, but to be objective, Imams also need to be cautious and wise.”

 

Hidden and Implicit Motives

The American newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, stated that the aim of Macron's law is to "close any Islamic association that he considers as spreading ideas that incite hatred or violence,” and to force Islamic organizations to obtain government permits every five years, and to audit their accounts annually.

The newspaper elucidated: “On July 22, 2021, Macron wanted to prevent any foreign funding for Muslims in France, so he has already closed mosques after restricting their access to funding and forced other mosques to abandon foreign donations in millions of dollars."

French newspaper LeFigaro considered Macron's attack on Muslims as a measure of his presidential election campaign. In light of the voters’ sympathy with all assaults against Islam and Muslims in France, the majority of candidates consider this as one of the easy methods of collecting votes in a society hostile to Muslims.

Unions and Islamic forces that opposed the principles of the "Macron Pact" imposed on Muslims, considered that the ultimate aim of Macron is to restrict Muslims' freedom of belief and to "legitimize" racism and discrimination against them.

 

Macron’s National Council of Imams

Macron called Muslims on November 18, 2020, to draw up a "charter of republican values" to express their commitment to being represented by the French Council of the Muslim Faith. An approach that was considered by Muslim associations and Mosques as Macron's plan to extend his control over mosques.

Macron expressed his intention to defend what he called "secular values" and to fight what he claimed was a "counter (Islamic) society" against France's Muslims including strict control of education, control of mosque donations and financing, and monitoring imams.

The dean of the Paris Mosque, the Algerian lawyer, Shams El-Din Hafeez, rejected Macron’s charter and withdrew from discussions about it, as he objected to the idea of ​​a "National Council of Imams."

Three bodies affiliated with the French Council supported the position of the Paris Mosque and announced on January 21, 2021, their refusal to sign a charter of principles regulating the affairs of France's Muslims, considering that some of its provisions implicitly show Muslims as terrorists.