News Desk |
Last month, a manifesto was published in French daily signed by some 300 prominent intellectuals and politicians supported by former President Nicholas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Manuel Vall argued to eradicate the verses from Quran that allegedly “incites violence and legitimizes the killings of Jews in particular.”
The petition read, “the verses of the Quran calling for murder and punishment of Jews, Christians, and nonbelievers be struck to obsolescence by religious authorities,” so that “no believer can refer to a sacred text to commit a crime.”
The manifesto calls for verses of the Quran calling for the “murder and punishment of Jews, Christians, and disbelievers” to be removed on the grounds that they are “obsolete.” … The letter said that since 2006, “11 Jews [in France] have been assassinated — and some tortured — by radical Islamists because they were Jewish.”
The intellectual authorities justify the ‘Islam of France’ citing the need to fight extremism and embed the Muslim communities into the culture of France for social cohesion.
The manifesto has declared certain verses from Qurans as anti-Semitic, claiming it is a threat to the thousands of population of Jew settled in France.The manifesto appeared a month after the death of a 67-year old Sarah Halimi. She was beaten to death and thrown out from her window. Her attacker allegedly yelled ‘Allahu Akbar’ while committing the act.
Read more: Trump adamant as UK, Germany, France join hands to save Iran…
Sarah Halimi’s murder was followed by the murder of another Jew, a Holocaust survivor Mireille Knoll, she was stabbed to death in her apartment while her attacker allegedly yelled ‘Allahu Akbar’.The authorities have defined both the act as anti-Semitic, while the intellectuals have referred it a ‘low volume ethnic cleansing’.
They have reached a conclusion in the manifesto that blamed Quranic verses for spreading violence and hate toward non-believers. They believe the removal of such passages from Quran will curb the violence.The manifesto has also denounced the refusal of media and government to recognize it as Muslim’s anti-Semitism.
The manifesto further says the trends have forced the Jewish communities to change their neighborhood, pull their children from school and restrict their movement in public spaces.The manifesto brought an outcry among French Muslims and beyond that severely objected the content of the manifesto.
The manifesto calls for verses of the Quran calling for the “murder and punishment of Jews, Christians, and disbelievers” to be removed on the grounds that they are “obsolete.”
Days later after the manifesto, a counter-petition was signed by 30 Imams affiliated of the organization The Observatory of Islamophobia, affiliated with the Egyptian government. The petition called the manifesto an attempt to homogenize all the Muslims and described it as a ‘hateful racism’, that proves that “France is not a land that welcomes Islam.”
Read more: ‘Barbaric’ attack by US, UK & France will not affect Syrian…
The Observatory denounced “such dangerous calls launched by some from time to time, causing attacks and antagonism against Muslims there, and creating a conflict among the people [of France]”.
The Imam of Grand Mosque Tareq Oubruo has said it the false interpretation of Quran as he referred several verses in Quran that gives special status to Jews and Christians. He said Quran has allowed Jews and Christian to worship independently in peace.
He said historically they were called protected communities. Oubruo said Quran allows for defensive combats against aggressors in a historical context against those who disbelieve in the divinity of God and repel from the concept of Day of Judgement. He further said, the problem is not the scripture but its incorrect interpretation. He said, “delinquents use the religion as a veneer for cheap crimes.”
For several years, Muslims in France are confronting the attempts of introducing a new brand of Islam referred as ‘Islam of France’. The intellectual authorities justify the ‘Islam of France’ citing the need to fight extremism and embed the Muslim communities into the culture of France for social cohesion. The alteration of Quran is the most controversial attempt so far.