France and Islam: Correcting historical errors

Hesham El-Naggar

It is not an exaggeration to link France’s recent decisions against Islamic separatism and the French revolution. The revolution dispelled a feudal, fundamentalist and authoritarian darkness from the Europeans, while the recent French approach coincides with a European negligence of the danger posed by the Brotherhood and the Turkish ideological penetration.

During a recent speech in Mulhouse, French President Emmanuel Macron launched a strategy to deter the politicization of Islam by imposing oversight on foreign imams and financing for mosques by foreign countries, as well as fighting foreign influence and those who supporter extremist Islamist organizations, by implementing alternative programs to prevent all forms of Muslim separation from French society.

The commonality between Macron’s revolution against the influence of political Islamism in France and the French Revolution stems from European negligence.

France has at the forefront of tremendous historical events that have had great impact on Europe and mankind, such as the initial contact with the East and Arab civilization, followed by the revolutionary explosion and philosophical enlightenment, and finally the current crisis being suffered by all of Europe related to the politicized version of Islam peddled by the Brotherhood to the Muslims in the West in an attempt to have them separate from their mother societies.

The waves of terrorism that struck Europe in the name of religion have imposed the need retake Islam from the grip of extremist groups. The Turkish-Brotherhood version of Islam makes takfir against the West and incites violence against those of different faiths as part of its Islamization project in Europe. It does this through deliberate organizational work that uses the internet, mosques and Islamic centers to spread sectarian unrest in Europe in order to create a fertile environment for radical Islamism in the West.

The philosophy of the French plan lies in cutting off the causes of Muslim segregation within French neighborhoods, especially those witnessing a growing Brotherhood influence, by liberating schools, mosques and Muslim associations from the grip of foreign influence. This is in conjunction with spreading a form of Islam that supports integration into society and is consistent with French culture, values ​​and loyalties.

Macron devised an optimal plan to break out of this historic predicament, refusing to give more opportunities to those toting projects against European values in the name of religion by setting forth an intellectual cultural vision that adapts neighborhoods plagued with extremist groups’ version of Islam and their isolationist practices to the true Islam that is pure from any political objectives.

Correcting past and present errors

Macron’s revolutionary project corrects two mistakes: one contemporary and the other historical.

The first mistake was the French state turning a blind eye to the activities of the Brotherhood, which exploited the available freedoms in order to pump hatred and takfirism into France, representing an imminent threat to French constitutional and legal values ​​and principles.

The mistake has been fatal since the early 1980s. At that time, French officials did not think that the Brotherhood reflected a preoccupation with spiritual religious supremacy like the majority of Muslims. On the other hand, Brotherhood activists in France at the time, including Rached Ghannouchi and Faisal Mawlawi, were unable to multiply or develop their small, isolated cells until after Qatari financial support started.

This brought about the incorporation of a federation of dozens of associations and mosques into the French Council of the Muslim Faith, which was founded by Nicolas Sarkozy in 2003 when he was the interior minister. The council was formed despite its sponsors adopting projects hostile to French values.

This means that a totalitarian movement is the source that spawned takfirism and terrorism throughout the world, becoming a major participant of the French state regarding Islam and Muslims affairs.

The Turkish regime, which aspires to reestablish a global Ottoman empire, took advantage of the Islamic communities to cover up its sectarian activities that incite hatred and separation of Muslims from their societies in the West. It did this by promoting isolationist approaches broadcast by supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and representatives of Turkish Brotherhood, which runs dozens of mosques and Islamic centers in France.

This led to the Brotherhood and its supporters having the tools to spread division and hatred within France and the West against Western societies, peoples, and regimes. They also possessed the tools to camouflage this activity, enabling them for years to consolidate, maneuver, deceive, and pump in funding.

Today, Brotherhood-affiliated preachers in France and elsewhere dare to publicly call not only for lack of respect for women, but to harm non-Muslims and everyone who left Islam, as well as deepening the hatred of non-Muslims, who are described as infidels. These preachers even tell Muslims not to smile at non-Muslims.

The second mistake has been to neglect the truth of the new Ottomans despite their conduct in dealing with Europe and countries around the world in the same manner as their Ottoman ancestors, who had launched brutal, bloody invasions against European countries.

Surrendering to the supposition that the new Ottomans, led by Erdogan, represent the world’s Muslims, leaving the relationship between Muslims and the West to tamper with groups that embrace a clash of civilizations and seek to satisfy their insatiable appetite for racial domination and superiority, would duplicate the link between Islam and the barbarism of the Ottoman invaders, which would sever the link between Muslims and Europe.

Correcting this error requires understanding the fact that the old and new Ottoman projects in the West are not related to Islam but a nationalist empire whose aim is to achieve material and moral influence under the guise of Islam, which the Turks have polluted the reputation of among Westerners, linking the religion in their minds to treachery, brutality, slaughter of prisoners and captivity of women.

More importantly, restoring the natural contact between the West and the Arab and Islamic worlds is needed, based on Eastern Arabs and the French population coming together in mutual admiration.

France’s first clash with Muslims came in 732 CE, when it blocked expansion of the Arab armies into Europe during the Battle of Tours. Then, in 1798 CE, the French campaign against Egypt occurred.

The French actively searched for and benefited from Arab civilizational achievements, which first began in the eleventh century, while a new page of civilizational history for the Arabs came as a result of the impact left by the French campaign on the scientific and cultural levels.

The West witnessed the Dark Ages from the fifth century until the eleventh century, while the Arabs and Muslims experienced barbarism throughout the period of Ottoman occupation.

Macron’s revolutionary decisions are meant to correct the historical error when the Turks were inserted as guardians of the Muslims, instead returning to the rational philosophical thought that the French introduced to Europe by means of the Arabs, as well as by building on the civilized contact that had put Arabs and Muslims on the path of progress and renaissance after the French campaign.

Conclusion

Historical and current facts make it imperative that the neo-Ottomans and the Brotherhood not be given the opportunity to use religion in favor of devastating projects and plans that incite violence and sow hatred among people worldwide.

To settle the conflict for the benefit of both the West and the East and in the favor of European Muslims, the Brotherhood and Turkey’s tools in the West must be delegitimized, while those partners who respect the constitutions and laws of the countries in which they reside must be empowered. There must be toleration of different religions, along with coexistence with the various social customs, identities and political beliefs that prevail in pluralistic countries. Also, no event should be taken advantage of to achieve the goals of foreign organizations or forces.