Home > France > Controversial Islamic Conference in Paris Draws Criticism from Muslim Leaders
Controversial Islamic Conference in Paris Draws Criticism from Muslim Leaders
Sunday 15 September 2019, by
The former Saudi Minister of Justice, Mohammed Al-Issa, Secretary General of the Islamist League since 2016, and Ghaleb Bencheikh, President of the Islamic Foundation of France, are both co-organizers of an International Conference for Peace and Solidarity, to be held in Paris on Tuesday, September 17. A few days before the event, criticism is pouring in from all sides.
The International Conference for Peace and Solidarity organized by the World Islamic League in Paris on Tuesday, September 17, is not unanimous within the Muslim community.
In a press release, the Observatory for the Fight against Islamophobia, a body linked to the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), is surprised by the organization of such an event. Its President, Abdallah Zekri, Delegate General of the CFCM, denounces an organization that embodies an Islam "not representative of the Muslims of France and which is (not) compatible [...] with the values of the Republic," reports Le Parisien.
The World Islamic League is indeed often considered the diplomatic arm of the Saudi kingdom, financed by its petrodollars, the same source specifies.
Abdallah Zekri also deplores the marginalization of the official representative bodies of the French Muslim faith, and calls, at the same time, on the leaders of the other faiths not to endorse, by their presence, this initiative.
In the wake of this, the interim President of the CFCM, Dalil Boubakeur, Rector of the Paris Mosque, expressed his support for Abdallah Zekri. In a text, he states that the instrumentalization of interfaith dialogue in France by foreign organizations is a serious fact to denounce.
The Chief Rabbi of France, Haïm Korsia, the President of the Protestant Federation of France, François Clavairoly, the Emeritus Archbishop of Lille, Mgr Gérard Defois, the Imam of the Bordeaux Mosque, Tareq Oubrou, and the President of the Assembly of Orthodox Bishops of France, Mgr Emmanuel, are the guests of honor at this event.