Mohammed Moussaoui, new president of the French Council for Muslim Worship (CFCM), said Thursday “accept that Islam is criticized”, after comments made by the high school student Mila, who has been threatened with death since, but that should not lead to “the blacklisting Muslims. “
“Freedom of expression is fundamental. It is a source of enrichment and progress through the dissemination of ideas and opinions that it allows. It is the foundation of our democracy and the bulwark against all forms of alienation “, writes Mr. Moussaoui, in a column published on Marianne’s website.
“We have to accept that Islam is criticized including in its principles and foundations,” he continues, just over two weeks after the start of the Mila case, a high school girl threatened with rape and death after criticizing with virulence Islam in a video posted on social networks. She has still not returned to her establishment.
For Mr. Moussaoui, “some Muslims get lost while thinking of defending the dignity of their religion by threat, violence or insult”.
However, “they only reinforce and develop the caricature of all those who want to reduce Islam to intolerance and violence. These excesses and these intimidations are unjustifiable both vis-à-vis the precepts of the Muslim religion that ‘under the republican law in which our worship is exercised,’ he wrote.
“We must accept all the debates and refuse all violence,” he said again.
However, declares the president of CFCM, “when the freedom to criticize becomes the will to offend and designate our community of vengeful believers, we must use our right to defend our beliefs (…) to the procedures conferred by our rule of law. Insult and insult will never be respectable or acceptable expressions. “
“Too often, the right to criticize our religion serves as a screen to blacklist Muslims. Too often, it serves to justify forms of exclusion or segregation. This is why justice must be seized whenever the the border between free expression and the deliberate will to offend is crossed, “he continues.
“The Islam of France (…) simply requires respect for its beliefs and its believers,” adds Mr. Moussaoui. And to warn: “By making Islam the scapegoat for all the ills of the country, some people are widening a dangerous gap between the citizens,” he said, calling on us not to forget about “brotherhood”.
Shortly after the video was published, Mr. Moussaoui stressed that “nothing can justify death threats against a person”.
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