Muslim World figures urge boycott of French goods

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): A number of top religious, political and academic personalities in the Muslim world called for a boycott of French goods.

In a statement released Friday, they pointed to the recent Islamophobic moves in the European country and urged that products made in France should be boycotted, Arabi21 website reported.

Following its support for the desecration of the Holy Prophet of Islam (PBUH), the Paris government is now launched an attack on mosques, the statement read.

It added that raiding Muslim homes, frightening Muslim children, and interrogating Muslim citizens under the pretext of fighting terrorism just because they refuse to defend insulting of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) are among other anti-Islam measures taken by the government of France.

Head of the International Union of Muslim Scholars Ahmad al-Raysuni, Ethipian scholar Muhammad al-Hassan al-Dodu, Moroccan scholar al-Hassan al-Kattani, Egyptian Islamic theologian Yusuf al-Qaradawi, and Jordanian Muslim figure Ihsan al-Utaibi are among those signing the statement.

It came after French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the government has launched a “massive and unprecedented” wave of measures to combat what it calls religious “extremism”.

He added that 76 mosques are suspected of “separatism”.

Darmanin on Thursday tweeted his interview with RTL radio, writing: “In the coming days, checks will be carried out on these places of worship. If ever these doubts are confirmed, I will ask for their closure.”

He also said 66 undocumented migrants suspected of “radicalization” had been deported.

President Emmanuel Macron’s government has responded to several deadly attacks in recent weeks with a promise to crack down on what Darmanin has said is “the enemy within”.

In October, Macron laid out a plan to tackle what he termed “Islamist separatism”, as he described Islam as a religion in crisis across the world – comments that angered Muslims in France and globally.

France is home to the largest Muslim minority population in Europe, and some fear being collectively punished after a series of attacks in recent months.

On October 20, France ordered the temporary closure of a mosque outside Paris as part of a crackdown on people who are suspected of inciting hatred, after the killing of teacher Samuel Paty, who had shown his class offensive caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

France has also closed two organizations – the Muslim charity BarakaCity and a civil rights group which monitors hate crimes – the Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF); both have refuted the government’s accusations that they harbored “radical” links.

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