President Macron Attends 100th Anniversary of the Grand Mosque of Paris

Paris, MINA – French President Emmanuel Macron visited the Grand Mosque of Paris on Wednesday to attend the 100th anniversary of the mosque.

Macron was greeted by the head of the mosque, Chems-Eddine Hafiz, then reviewed the exhibition on the history of the mosque.

Hafiz was awarded the Legion of Honor badge by Macron, France’s highest civilian honour, the Middle East Monitor reported.

The ceremony was also attended by the Minister of Home Affairs, Gerald Darmanin, and the Minister of the Army, Sebastien Lecornu. Macron also presented a plaque marking France’s “recognition” of the sacrifices made by Muslim soldiers during World War 1.

The Grand Mosque is the oldest mosque in Metropolitan France and one of the largest in the country, built during the interwar years in the 1920s to honor the 70,000 Muslims who died fighting in the war.

On October 22, 1922, Sultan Moulay Youssef of Morocco, together with the then President of France, Gaston Doumergue, laid the first foundation stone of the mosque.

The mosque is notable for being a sanctuary for partisans and Jews, who were given documents identifying them as Muslims during the Nazi occupation of France.

The mosque was built according to traditional Moorish designs and was built by 450 North African craftsmen and is decorated with wood carvings and Zellige mosaics brought from Morocco.

Despite its ties to Morocco, the French government has sought to “erase” Moroccan heritage in favor of linking its development to Algeria in an effort to strengthen Franco-Algerian ties, most recently, during the country’s current energy crisis.

On Monday, Macron called the 1961 Paris Massacre of dozens of peaceful Algerian protesters as “unjustified”, but stopped short of apologizing on the 61st anniversary of the infamous incident. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)