France: Teacher quits Muslim school he claimed was riddled with Islamism and anti-Semitism

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The teacher, who describes himself as a “French citizen of Muslim culture” had been at the private school in Lille for only five months but recorded his alleged experiences in French newspaper Libération.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: The Independent
By Lizzie Dearden | February 7, 2015

A French philosophy teacher has resigned from one of the country’s only state-funded Muslim schools, claiming it promoted “Islamism” and was riddled with anti-Semitism.

The head of the Averroès Lycée strongly denied Sofiane Zitouni’s claims and threatened to sue him for defamation.

The teacher, who describes himself as a “French citizen of Muslim culture” had been at the private school in Lille for only five months but recorded his alleged experiences in French newspaper Libération.

A week after the Charlie Hebdo attacks, Mr Zitouni wrote a piece entitled “today, the Prophet is also Charlie”, expanding on the “je suis Charlie” slogan that became a rallying call for the satirical newspaper’s supporters around the world.

He claimed that many Muslims failed to have a sense of humour with their faith, claiming the controversial Charlie Hebdo cover depicting a weeping Mohamed was hated only by those who “still have not understood the essence of his message”.

Mr Zitouni alleged that his article was badly received back at school, with pupils saying his stance was “blasphemy”, that he was grovelling at the feet of the “enemies of Islam” and that the murdered cartoonists “had it coming”.

A colleague warned him that he had made “enemies” with the piece, he claimed, whispering that he should “look behind him” as he walked in the street.

Another teacher from Averroès Lycée wrote an article in response in weekly French newspaper L’Obs. Sofiane Meziani, who is also a member of the French Association of Muslims, wrote that Charlie Hebdo “trivialised racist acts” and that characterising the attacks as a religious issue was reductive.




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