by Giulio Meotti
Hassan Chalghoumi is an imam in the Drancy mosque and president of the Conference of Imams of France (the alternative to that dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood). Sentenced to death by Islamic fundamentalists, Chalghoumi must wear a bulletproof vest even in the mosque, as told by a documentary on Bfmtv that aired a few weeks ago.To blend into anonymity, his relatives also had to sacrifice his surname, which on Islamist sites circulates everywhere, in Yemen, Iraq and in Tunisia, his native land, where a man threw himself at him to hit him shouting “Chalghoumi traitor”. Le Parisien says that Chalghoumi never sleeps two nights in the same place in France. A bounty was placed on his head by terrorists in the sum of 150,000 euros.When he supported the law banning the burqa in public, Islamists put his mosque under siege. They entered the prayer hall and the imam was “exfiltrated”, as they say in the jargon. Because one of the Islamists exclaimed: “Aiqtalah aiqtala! Kill him! Kill him!”.
His protection is classified “Uclat 2”. The heads of state are “Uclat 1”. The imam travels with six policemen and moves in an armored vehicle. On November 13, 2015, the day of the massacres in Paris (130 dead), the SPLP (protection service personality) identified three armed men in front of his house. In 2020 a new fatwa transmitted by the Islamic State read: “Your goal is this old man, execute him! He is more disgusting than the French unbelievers”.
“It is the price of the freedom of someone who has lost his freedom” Chalghoumi told me. “And who could lose his life. It is the price to pay for those who defend the Islam of the Enlightenment against political Islam. It is a fight against obscurantism, against communitarianism, against the hatred of those who do not believe in respect for non-Muslims. Unfortunately, this also means that the stakes are huge in France and Europe. Today I pay the price for the mistakes of French and European politics of the last 30 years. An imam like me who defends humanist values is obliged to be protected and to pay the consequences for his family and for himself. The consequence is that I have to wear a bulletproof vest to be able to lead prayer in my mosque in Drancy. We are not in Baghdad, but in France. I defend dialogue with the Jewish community and with Eastern Christians. This is not appreciated by many Muslims. I became a target”.
Who are the enemies of France? “They are the supporters of political Islam. They are the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis. They are supported by Erdogan’s Turkey, which is an enemy of humanity, Europe, Eastern Christians, Armenians, Syrians and even Turkey. Political Islam has infiltrated Europe for more than 30 years.
“Then there are those who call themselves ‘Islamic-left’ and have played their game, they are their accomplices, as in the city hall of Strasbourg and in other cities, where they finance mosques. They do it either for electoral purposes or out of naivete”.
What is at stake in this battle? “The question of the struggle against radical Islam and against political Islam is crucial. It has caught on in many neighborhoods. The stability of France and Europe is at stake. Every citizen should fight against this ideology. It is necessary to fight against foreign funding and interference from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and their Islamist ideologies of another era. It is necessary to oppose an Islam of the light to this radical Islam. Republican imams must be trained. Many young people are victims of it. We can hope that Emmanuel Macron’s anti-separatism law is up to the task. In any case, it goes in the right direction and is a first step”.
He doesn’t have any remorse for the price he paid.
The battle was worthy of it. The battle to save France and Europe from darkness.