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Grande Mosquée de Paris
The Paris Mosque, with its minaret on the left
Basic information
Location	Paris, France
Geographic coordinates	48°50′31″N 2°21′18″E / 48.84194°N 2.35500°E / 48.84194; 2.35500
Affiliation	Islam
Website	www.mosqueedeparis.net
Architectural description
Architectural type	Mosque
Architectural style	Moorish style
Specifications
Minaret(s)	1
Minaret height	33 m

The Grande Mosquée de Paris (commonly known as The Paris Mosque or The Great Mosque of Paris in English), is located in the 5th arrondissement and is one of the largest mosques in France. There are prayer rooms, an outdoor garden, a small library, a gift shop, along with a cafe and restaurant. In all the mosque plays an important role in promoting the visibility of Islam and muslims in France. It is the oldest mosque in France metropolitan area.^[1]

History

The construction of the mosque began in 1922 and was completed in 1926^[2]. The mosque was conceived as a token of gratitude, after World War I, to the Muslim tirailleurs from France's colonial empire, of whom some 100,000^{[citation needed]} died fighting against Germany. The mosque was built following the Moorish style,^[3] and its minaret is 33 m high. It was inaugurated by President Gaston Doumergue on 15 July 1926. The Sufi Sheikh Ahmad al-Alawi led the first communal prayer to inaugurate the newly built mosque in the presence of the French president.^[4]

During World War II (when France and Paris were occupied by Nazi Germany), the rector Si Kaddour Benghabrit managed the mosque to serve as a secret refuge for Algerian and European Jews. He ensured that they were provided shelter, safe passage, and fake Muslim birth certificates to protect them from German persecution.^[5]

The mosque was assigned to Algeria in 1957 by the French Foreign Minister. The mosque is currently led by mufti Dalil Boubakeur.

Social Significance

The Grand Mosque of Paris plays an important role in French social society, promoting the visibility Islam and muslims. The rich history of the Grand Mosque serves as an example of the presence and significance of muslims in France throughout history. Furthermore, according to the Arab World's registry of mosques there are only about 121 mosques throughout France, many of which do not exist in permanent constructed spaces. Thus, the existence of the Grand Mosque of Paris carries a lot of meaning.^[6]

Tourism

Today the Grand Mosque of Paris is the largest mosque in France and the third largest in Europe.^[6] It is located in the 5th arrondissment in the Latin Quarter near the Jardin des Plantes and the Institut de Monde Arabe. The mosque a popular tourist destination as well as a place of prayer, offering guided tours in French of the building. There are also large Turkish marble baths that visitors can enjoy throughout the week.^[6]

Controversies

In November 2012, a prayer room was set up in Paris by a member of the group 'Homosexual Muslims of France' Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed. The opening has been condemned by the Grand Mosque of Paris.^[7]

Politics

The Grand Mosque of Paris urged voters to "follow the path of hope" by voting for Emmanuel Macron, instead of Marine Le Pen.^[8]

Gallery

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mosquée de Paris.

• 
  Official website of the mosque (in French)
  


• MSNBC's coverage

This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (October 2010) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the French article. Machine translation like Deepl or Google Translate is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary (using German): Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at [[:de:Exact name of German article]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|fr|Grande Mosquée de Paris}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.