Al-Azhar Condemns Macron’s Speech on Islam as ’Racist’ and ’False’

The grievances of the Al-Azhar Islamic Research Center based in Cairo on the speech of Emmanuel Macron were published in a statement released on Saturday evening. The center "strongly rejects the statements of French President Emmanuel Macron" which it describes as "false accusations against Islam." According to the institution, such racist statements serve only to stir up the anger of the 2 billion Muslims in the world.

For it, Emmanuel Macron makes "an erroneous confusion between the reality of the values called for by religions, such as the rapprochement between human beings, and the exploitation by certain extremists of the texts of these religions to achieve their harmful objectives."

The Center calls for "stopping attacks on religions" which only serve to pave the way to consolidate hatred and intolerance. It must be said that this long-awaited but repeatedly postponed speech finally takes place in a particular context. Last week, a cleaver attack took place in Paris, while the trial of the attack on the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo is ongoing.

The draft law against separatisms is to be presented on December 9, before being debated in Parliament in 2021.