By Zara Rawoof <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early February, Chems-Eddine Hafiz and five other Muslim leaders gathered in the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis. Hafiz, the rector of La Grande Mosqu\u00e9e in Paris, proposed an international meeting between Christians and Muslims to promote interfaith relations. But French Muslims remain wary of such efforts. While promoting the faith, Hafiz has been called out for using the meeting as a publicity stunt. Considering France\u2019s longstanding treatment of Muslims, the goals of Islamic leaders have shifted to managing optics rather than authentically representing Islam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
France\u2019s relationship with its Muslim population has always been contentious, from the government banning religious wear<\/a> to the arrest of a Mosque\u2019s president after expressing his opinions<\/a> on what was happening in Palestine and Israel. The country has been on high guard following a slew of Islamist terrorist attacks<\/a> more than a decade ago. The Collective for Countering Islamophobia in Europe reported that Islamophobic comments increased 43-fold<\/a> in the days after the Israeli attacks on October 7th, 2023. Chems-Eddine Hafiz\u2019s trip to the Vatican was also a tactic to better the image of Muslims in Europe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hafiz\u2019s meeting with the Pope was a highly televised event. An interaction with one of the most respected religious leaders in the world guarantees a boost in traction for La Grande Mosqu\u00e9e. NYU Professor Ren\u00e9e Champion is cautious about the sincerity of an interfaith event like this. Champion notes that La Grande Mosqu\u00e9e will have a leg up within the EU Islamic world if they are the ones to create a Pope-endorsed event in Paris, \u201cOn a European level, it gives prestige to the rector,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Champion also notes the peculiarities of an alliance between Christians and Muslims at this time. In his proposal to Pope Francis, Hafiz comments on the \u201cincreasing stigmatization\u201d of Muslims as well as the \u201cprogress and errors of Europe\u201d that Mediterranean Muslims, amongst others, have faced recently. These euphemisms refer to the ongoing conflict<\/a> in Palestine and Israel, but Hafiz has not pushed for an alliance between Muslims and Jews.The rector has made previous statements<\/a> on his stance against the Jewish and Muslim community putting themselves against each other but drew criticism<\/a> for not participating in the march against anti-semitism last November. \u201cViability means that you try to have efforts like [interfaith event], but also looking at him not demonstrating at the march against antisemitism,\u201d Champion said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hafiz considers his coalition of European Mosques and leaders, AMMALE<\/a>, to be an organization that combats negative stereotypes of Islam. Champion believes it would take more than support from one major religion to truly promote solidarity and integration, calling Hafiz\u2019s efforts \u201cvery symbolic\u201d rather than action inciting change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Imam Khalid Latif<\/a>, chaplain of the Islamic Center of New York University, understands how public relations can affect authentic representations of Islam. \u201cInterfaith on a whole has a lot of capacity of being very tokenizing and superficial,\u201d he says. Latif feels at an interfaith event, participants can be used by those in power by \u201cchecking off a box in a very tokenizing manner.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Chems-Eddine Hafiz leverages social power by trying to connect with the Vatican. In New York City, Imam Latif is steadfast in ensuring that his efforts to better the Muslim community do not become exploitative. His focus is to create a space where anyone exploring Islam can feel comfortable and welcome. While Latif\u2019s Friday prayers at the ICNYU have drawn in celebrities like singers Shawn Mendes and Rex Orange County<\/a>, the imam\u2019s goal is never to gain an optic advantage in his services. \u201cWhen somebody comes and turns to our community, we want to be for them the way we would be for anybody else,\u201d Latif says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Imam Latif is also aware of the \u201ccolonization of the mind and psychological shackling\u201d enforced on the Islamic world. The need to please the non-Western world is deeply rooted in history. \u201cMuslims are now offering something back to societies without having to compromise their identity,\u201d Latif said, \u201cBut because we’re the children of like colonization and slavery, that assimilation comes because of supremacist systems, and you seek validation from the systems that were built to hold you down in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Within a historical context, Hafiz\u2019s search for validation from the West is more understandable. The ICNYU garners traction inadvertently, but La Grande Mosqu\u00e9e has been criticized for how Chems-Eddine Hafiz represents the Muslim community for clout. Following a slew of Islamaphobic remarks made on social media, an 18-year-old woman named Mila was invited to tour<\/a> the mosque by the rector. Hafiz seeks out opportunities to show Islam in a kinder light, even when it leaves him at odds with Muslims from his community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The rector\u2019s meeting with the Pope was a blaring strategic move. Hafiz represents French Muslims in a way that tokenizes the community. Khalid Latif feels that shaking the hands of public figures is not the way to promote Islamic culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWithin our tradition, we have a deep theology. A big part of the universal ethics is love and dignity,\u201d Latif says, \u201cWe want to create spaces where people can feel the presence of God and also a sense of belonging, but that doesn\u2019t have to be watered down.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Zara Rawoof In early February, Chems-Eddine Hafiz and five other Muslim leaders gathered in the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis. Hafiz, the rector of La Grande Mosqu\u00e9e in Paris, proposed an international meeting between Christians and Muslims to promote interfaith relations. But French Muslims remain wary of such efforts. While promoting the faith, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":512,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/dispatches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/dispatches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/dispatches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/dispatches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/dispatches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/dispatches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":514,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/dispatches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions\/514"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/dispatches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/dispatches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/dispatches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/dispatches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}