Great Paris Mosque

Paris Mosque 2006

Minaret and courtyard of the Paris mosque

The Great Paris Mosque ( French Grande Mosquée de Paris ), in the Latin Quarter ( 5th arrondissement ) of Paris , was built after the First World War as a token of France's thanks to the Muslims who participated in the colonial auxiliary troops ( Tirailleurs ) against the German Empire had fought (a total of 70,000 Muslims died in the service of the French armies , 28,000 of them in the Battle of Verdun alone ).

The mosque was opened on July 15, 1926 by French President Gaston Doumergue . It is classified as a Monument historique (ISMH).

Building history

The mosque was built in the Mudejar style with a 33 meter high minaret . Financed by the French state - contrary to the prohibition on financing church buildings in the law on the separation of state and churches of 1905 - and built by the Arab world, the mosque was built on the site of the old Hôpital Salpêtrière in the Jardin des Plantes . The foundation stone was laid in 1922. The architecture of the mosque is inspired by the " Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque" in Fez , one of the most important mosques in Morocco , the minaret takes up the forms of the "Great Mosque of Kairouan " in Tunisia .

In World War II

During the German occupation, the rector of the mosque supported the Resistance . In particular, Si Kaddour Benghabrit provided vulnerable Jews with papers identifying them as Muslims, thereby saving the lives of several hundred. Ismaël Ferroukhi filmed this episode in 2011 in Les hommes libres (The Free People).

Current

Ahmad al-Alawi , an Algerian Sufi , founder of an important modern Sufi - Tariqa , the Darqawiyya Alawiyya , a branch of the Shadhiliyya , presided over the first community prayer during the opening of the newly built mosque in the presence of the French President. The mosque community is now run by the Mufti Dalil Boubakeur , who was also the president of the Conseil français du culte musulman until 2008 .