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Rabat – French writer Michel Houellebecq has strikingly admitted to condoning and promoting an anti-Islam discourse, sarcastically pleading guilty to being “a part-time Islamophobe.”
France has a problem with Islam
The writer made his shocking remarks as he barely emerged from a wave of criticism in the aftermath of the anti-Islam views he expressed in a recent conversation with French philosopher Michel Onfray.
In that highly controversial conversation between two intellectuals who have been making a name for themselves by airing “reactionary” or “unorthodox” views and theses in their many books and television appearances, Houellebecq appeared to make the case that France has a problem with “Islamist separatism.”
The comments did unsurprisingly not sit well with the Grand Mosque of Paris. In December 2022, the mosque announced its decision to file a complaint against Houellebecq, accusing him of “stirring discriminatory discourse” and “incitement to hatred.”
In response to the accusations, Houellebecq published on Wednesday an opinion piece on the website of center-right French news outlet Le Point.
Islamophobia is not racism
Dismissively addressing the Grand Mosque’s complaint in his article, the writer recalled that he faced similar accusations 20 years ago on the ground that his discourse amounted to “inciting racial hatred.”
He then went on to poke fun at the very idea of accusing a person of racism because of their views on Islam. The accusation he faced two decades ago “was silly,” he wrote, adding: “Everyone knows that Islam is not a race, but a religion with universal claims
For Houellebecq, being accused of Islamophobia, as he has been of late, “is more relevant.”
Islam, he argued, “is not a religion that I consider that much. So to a certain extent I plead guilty, provided that I am [recognized as] a part-time Islamophobe.”
The row between Houellebecq and the Paris Grand Mosque comes amid mounting concerns over the normalization of anti-Islam and xenophobic rhetoric in much of Europe.
In recent years, concerns over the discernible drift of European discourse towards reactionism and nativism have often been triggered by either Muslim-bashing or migrant-bashing remarks by policymakers.
But there have also been acts of vandalism targeting mosques and other facilities associated with Muslims.
In France, the past two years have seen an alarming proliferation of Islamophobic attacks against mosques and Muslim cemeteries.
In April 2022, unidentified suspects left anti-Islam tags such as “Islam kills” and “Islam out of Europe” on the walls of a mosque in the southern city of Aix-en-Provence .
Many mosques across France have experienced similar incidents over the past two years, particularly during last year’s presidential elections.
