Why was the order rescinded? French authorities were likely afraid of charges of “Islamophobia.” The denial and willful ignorance regarding the nature and magnitude of the jihad threat, and the demonization and marginalization of those who call attention to that threat — it all has consequences.
“Questions about an imam of the Gonesse mosque, frequented by Mickaël Harpon,” translated from “Questions sur un imam de la mosquée de Gonesse, fréquentée par Mickaël Harpon,” by Louise Couvelaire, Le Monde, October 10, 2019:
Hassan El-Houari is an overwhelmed imam. By the suspicions hanging over him and the Muslim community of Gonesse (Val-d’Oise); by accusations of radicalization of which his colleague Ahmed Hilali is the target. Since Mickaël Harpon killed four officials in the Paris Police Prefecture on Thursday, October 3, the responsibility of the mosque of the Fauconnière and its imams has been discussed. And especially that of Ahmed Hilali, 35 years old.
Moroccan, the man is accused of preaching a Salafist Islam, which could have influenced the officer of the Intelligence Directorate of the Prefecture of Police (DRPP). In 2015, he was the subject of an order of obligation to leave French territory (OQTF), which was then rescinded. The fact that he has not been deported fueled, since Tuesday, a controversy.
It is Ahmed Hilali who has officiated the five daily prayers, from Sunday to Thursday since April 1, 2017. Prayers regularly attended by Mickaël Harpon, sometimes twice in one day, in the morning and in the evening. “I saw him, but he was very quiet, I never spoke to him, I did not know anything about him, I did not know his name or his profession,” says Ahmed Hilali.
Contrary to the information circulated, Mr. Hilali, married with two children, was never the principal imam of the mosque. He never preached, neither on Fridays nor on other days. At least, not at Gonesse. He is just leading the prayers. “It is I who preach every Friday since 2015, it is I who fix the content of the speech at the mosque, and I do not know either the Muslim Brothers nor the Salafists,” says Hassan El Houari, 46, also from Morocco but naturalized French in 2005. “I cannot be naive at this point! I would have realized it, if he was an integrist.”
Known to intelligence servicesOn the other hand, Ahmed Hilali gave the sermons at a mosque in Sarcelles for three years. A collaboration that went wrong. He was fired. Reason? “He arrives with the appearance of an angel and then little by little, he turns everyone against each other,” says one of the faithful of Sarcelles. “He sows disorder, divides, blows on embers – speaking of the Jews in particular – and fills the mosque with bad people. He is a mixture of thug and radicalized. The community has even sent an emissary to his home village in Morocco to investigate him.” “He is anything but an imam! He has no training or legitimacy,” says the mosquegoer.