Muslim Council Invites French Muslims To Defend The Interests Of The State

Photo illustration (Levi Clancy / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - French President Emmanuel Macron promised to fight against radical Islamic groups after the beheading of Samuel Paty, a history teacher, on October 16. Paty was beheaded after showing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to her students in a lesson on free speech.

Macron's comments provoked a lot of reaction. Protests took place in Muslim-majority countries over the weekend. People burn images of Macron in Syria and burn French flags in the Libyan capital, Tripoli. Several other Arab countries boycotted French products.

Quoting France24, Tuesday, October 27, Macron countered the boycott and demonstration by saying, "We will not surrender, forever" to Islamic radicals. "We do not accept hate speech and maintain a reasonable debate." The French Foreign Ministry also urged that the boycott calls be stopped.

They said calls for a boycott were baseless. "The call for this boycott is baseless and must be stopped immediately, as well as all attacks on our country, which are being driven by a radical minority," the statement said.

This dispute led the French Muslim Council to speak up. The Muslim Council insists that Muslims in France are not persecuted. The head of the French Muslim Council Mohammed Moussaoui also urged French Muslims to defend the interests of the nation in the face of international protests.

"France is a big country. Muslims are not persecuted. They are free to build their mosques and practice their religion freely," said the council, which acts as an official broker for the state and devout Muslims.

"We know that the supporters of this campaign say they are defending Islam and French Muslims, we urge them to make sense that all the smear campaign against France is counterproductive and creates divisions," he said.

Regarding the Prophet Muhammad cartoon, which many Muslims find offensive, Moussaoui said French law gives people the "right to reject" the cartoon. Macron is said to have also met representatives of the Muslim Council.

The meeting was held behind closed doors and the Elysee Palace did not provide detailed information on what was discussed. Moussaoui told Macron they were against a boycott.

But they also told Macron "French Muslims are worried about discussions that are trying to confuse them with terrorists," Moussaoui said.