French Muslim Council Demands Apology for Professor’s False Claim About Ramadan Rituals

The National Observatory for the Fight against Islamophobia was outraged by the remarks of Professor Pascal Astagneau who claimed, on May 11, 2020, that spitting "is linked" to a Muslim religious ritual of Ramadan. It is regrettable that such a grotesque assertion comes from a member of the scientific community whose words are perceived by the majority as a truth, lamented the Observatory, which demands public apologies from the professor for his Islamophobic remarks which have become an obsession for him.

For the observatory, this untruth of the professor is a provocation that discredits its author and reflects his feeling of Islamophobia, writes the CFCM. The professor, through these remarks, disrupts the fasters in their devotion and piety in this month of fervor and communion. A situation that strengthens the Muslim community in its conviction that ill-intentioned forces are working to bring discredit on the Muslim religion.

The remarks were made on the set of the news channel CNEWS, which constitutes a slip. The Audiovisual Council has been seized by Me Aoudia, the lawyer for the president of the Observatory. The purpose of such a referral, the press release states, is to have these unworthy remarks, which have scandalized and hurt the Muslims of France, legally sanctioned.

Furthermore, the observatory demands apologies from the channel to the millions of Muslims offended by the irresponsible remarks of this doctor, the press release signed by Abdallah Zekri, president of the Observatory, specified.