A building in recognition of Muslim soldiers who died for France On October 19, 1922, at 2 p.m., the first stone of the Great Mosque of Paris was solemnly laid, inaugurating the eventful destiny of an institution which remains to this day a subject of curiosity, a reference, a symbol, an issue . The idea of ​​building a Muslim institution in Paris dates back to the mid-19th century. After a long and laborious study, the French government finally decided to take on the project in December 1916, when France had to count so many soldiers of the Muslim faith among its fallen heroes, notably at Verdun, during the terrible “Battle of the Destiny of France”.

This is how the Society of Habous and Holy Places of Islam was created in February 1917 and was approved to carry out the work and management of the future Grand Mosque of Paris. The association, first created to organize the Pilgrimage to Mecca for Muslims from North Africa, still presides over the destiny of the institution. In its session of June 29, 1920, the Chamber of Deputies unanimously voted for the government's bill "with a view to the creation in Paris of a Muslim Institute." The bill followed the report drawn up by Edouard Herriot, deputy mayor of Lyon: If the war sealed the Franco-Muslim brotherhood on the battlefields and if more than 100,000 of our subjects and protégés died in the service of a homeland now common, this homeland must be honored to mark as soon as possible, and by deeds, its recognition and its The first stone was laid at the location of the future Mihrab facing Mecca, in the presence of eminent French personalities and the Muslim world: the Muslim Institute of the Grand Mosque of Paris would forever mark the link between France and Islam, and mark the country's recognition for the hundreds of thousands of Muslims who came to defend it during the Great War (1914-1918).

When the minaret that you are going to build is erected, it will only rise towards the beautiful sky of the Ile de France, one more prayer of which the Catholic towers of Notre-Dame will not be jealous. France intends not to mock anything, to disturb nothing, to erase nothing from the human soul that could have contributed to comforting it, to elevating it, to ennobling it.” Extract from the speech of Marshal Hubert Lyautey during the laying of the first stone. Work could begin: 450 craftsmen and artists performed the feat of building the building in the space of four years. The inauguration of the Grand Mosque of Paris took place on July 15, 1926, in the presence of the President of the Republic Gaston Doumergue. Since then, this pious, philanthropic, cultural, autonomous and politically neutral foundation has been administered by the Société des Habous to bring its humanist and universal message to France and Europe.

Until today, a home and a high place of Islam in France

From 1926, under the direction of Si Kaddour Ben Ghabrit, the Great Mosque of Paris, which would remain for a long time the only mosque in metropolitan France, became the center of the religious life of the country's Muslims. During the German Occupation of Paris (1940-1944), the Great Mosque of Paris, which notably has underground access to the Bièvre watercourse, served as a refuge for resistance fighters, Jewish families and children, including the number still remains, for history, to be precisely determined.

From the 1950s to the 1970s, the Grand Mosque of Paris was at the heart of the renewal of Islamic studies in Europe, by bringing associative and editorial initiatives towards it. Rector Si Hamza Boubakeur (in office from 1957 to 1982) brought to the institution the prestige of a remarkable and noted translation of the Holy Quran, published by Fayard in 1972. From the 1980s, as the Muslim population grew in France, the Great Mosque of Paris had to confront the significant structural shortcomings of worship and set to work to remedy them, first by supporting multiple religious projects. creation of places of worship as well as Muslim