https://www.memri.org/reports/arab-...rances-riots-divine-punishment-its-anti-islam
In response to the riots that erupted in France following the tragic incident of the police shooting and killing of a teenage boy named Nahel in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on June 27, 2023, various Arab commentators, including Muslim clerics, took to social media and websites to express their perspectives. They argued that the rioters’ violent reactions can be seen as a form of divine punishment against France due to its anti-Islam policies and positions, as well as a consequence of its colonial history and foreign interventions.
This report aims to examine and highlight the commentaries presenting these arguments across multiple social media platforms and websites. Rather than seeing it only or solely as a civil rights issue among the French involving police brutality, many saw it as divinely inspired revenge against an old adversary for a multitude of past transgressions, from comments by Brigitte Bardot to the intervention against Qaddafi’s Libya.
Commenting on the recent riots in France, Libyan cleric and YouTuber Zain Kairalah referred, in a video, to a statement made by French President Emmanuel Macron in 2020, in which he described Islam as being in crisis. Kairalah claimed that both France and Macron have faced numerous crises since that statement was made. He invoked Quranic verse 15:95, stating that Allah may have intended to fulfill it by saying, “Indeed, We are sufficient for you against the mockers.” Kairalah emphasized that Allah will eventually take care of those who mock Islam and administer punishment accordingly. Towards the end of his video, Kairalah pointed out the current struggles faced by Macron, stating, “Look at the person who claimed Islam is in crisis; he himself is now experiencing a crisis. He has faced humiliation multiple times, and his country has suffered economic and political crises.”
On July 3, 2023, Syrian YouTuber Abduldaem Al-Kaheel, who identifies himself as a researcher of the scientific miracles of the Quran and Sunnah, echoed a similar argument. In his video, Al-Kaheel accused France of waging war against Allah and oppressing Muslims and stated: “But Allah says: Do not ever think that Allah is unaware of what the wrongdoers do. Quran 14:42 One of the most unjust acts is their deliberate mistreatment of two billion Muslims, now Allah Himself has preoccupied them with their own selves. They have mocked this Prophet, but Allah Almighty says, ‘Indeed, We are sufficient for you against the mockers.’ I was thinking about this verse at that time. What does it mean when Allah says, ‘Indeed, We are sufficient for you against the mockers?’ They are mocking now… Look, my dear brother, Allah has preoccupied them with events, problems, and disturbances.”…
In a video titled “France is burning due to Macron’s racist policies,” Algerian political commentator and former diplomat Mohamed Larbi Zitout claimed that the riots were a result of France’s systematic provocations and hostility towards Islam, and referred to the death of teenager as the “the final straw that broke the camel’s back.”
In the video, which was posted on July 1, 2023, he stressed that French politicians should understand that anyone who challenges Islam by expressing hostility towards it will be defeated. After accusing France of extreme hostility towards Islam and Muslims with a widespread “colonial mentality” among lawmakers, he noted that he realized that many Muslims who live in France have celebrated and rejoiced over the riots because “they believe that the rioters are avenging them, and they believe that the reactions of the rioters is rational against humiliation, oppression and hostility.”…
On July 1, 2023, the online Arabic daily Raialyoum.com published an article by its UK-based Palestinian editor-in-chief Abdel-Bari Atwan that stated that the riots “were not only the result of the police’s assassination of the Algerian teenager Nahel, but rather the result of escalating frustration due to the prevalence of injustice, oppression, the excessive power of security apparatus, and the inhumane living conditions that migrants, especially those of Arab and Islamic origins, endure.” Atwan further described France as “one of the leading centers of racism, hatred, and Islamophobia in the European continent,” adding that “Nahel’s assassination by a police officer served as the catalyst for an underlying and increasingly explosive frustration that has become difficult to control.”
Elaborating on his analysis of the riots in France, Atwan wrote: “The issue is not only about racist policies, marginalization, and the adoption of hatred [and] Islamophobia, but also a regrettable return to the colonial past and its legacy in dealing with the immigrant descendants of colonies in France….
In response to the riots that erupted in France following the tragic incident of the police shooting and killing of a teenage boy named Nahel in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on June 27, 2023, various Arab commentators, including Muslim clerics, took to social media and websites to express their perspectives. They argued that the rioters’ violent reactions can be seen as a form of divine punishment against France due to its anti-Islam policies and positions, as well as a consequence of its colonial history and foreign interventions.
This report aims to examine and highlight the commentaries presenting these arguments across multiple social media platforms and websites. Rather than seeing it only or solely as a civil rights issue among the French involving police brutality, many saw it as divinely inspired revenge against an old adversary for a multitude of past transgressions, from comments by Brigitte Bardot to the intervention against Qaddafi’s Libya.
Commenting on the recent riots in France, Libyan cleric and YouTuber Zain Kairalah referred, in a video, to a statement made by French President Emmanuel Macron in 2020, in which he described Islam as being in crisis. Kairalah claimed that both France and Macron have faced numerous crises since that statement was made. He invoked Quranic verse 15:95, stating that Allah may have intended to fulfill it by saying, “Indeed, We are sufficient for you against the mockers.” Kairalah emphasized that Allah will eventually take care of those who mock Islam and administer punishment accordingly. Towards the end of his video, Kairalah pointed out the current struggles faced by Macron, stating, “Look at the person who claimed Islam is in crisis; he himself is now experiencing a crisis. He has faced humiliation multiple times, and his country has suffered economic and political crises.”
On July 3, 2023, Syrian YouTuber Abduldaem Al-Kaheel, who identifies himself as a researcher of the scientific miracles of the Quran and Sunnah, echoed a similar argument. In his video, Al-Kaheel accused France of waging war against Allah and oppressing Muslims and stated: “But Allah says: Do not ever think that Allah is unaware of what the wrongdoers do. Quran 14:42 One of the most unjust acts is their deliberate mistreatment of two billion Muslims, now Allah Himself has preoccupied them with their own selves. They have mocked this Prophet, but Allah Almighty says, ‘Indeed, We are sufficient for you against the mockers.’ I was thinking about this verse at that time. What does it mean when Allah says, ‘Indeed, We are sufficient for you against the mockers?’ They are mocking now… Look, my dear brother, Allah has preoccupied them with events, problems, and disturbances.”…
In a video titled “France is burning due to Macron’s racist policies,” Algerian political commentator and former diplomat Mohamed Larbi Zitout claimed that the riots were a result of France’s systematic provocations and hostility towards Islam, and referred to the death of teenager as the “the final straw that broke the camel’s back.”
In the video, which was posted on July 1, 2023, he stressed that French politicians should understand that anyone who challenges Islam by expressing hostility towards it will be defeated. After accusing France of extreme hostility towards Islam and Muslims with a widespread “colonial mentality” among lawmakers, he noted that he realized that many Muslims who live in France have celebrated and rejoiced over the riots because “they believe that the rioters are avenging them, and they believe that the reactions of the rioters is rational against humiliation, oppression and hostility.”…
On July 1, 2023, the online Arabic daily Raialyoum.com published an article by its UK-based Palestinian editor-in-chief Abdel-Bari Atwan that stated that the riots “were not only the result of the police’s assassination of the Algerian teenager Nahel, but rather the result of escalating frustration due to the prevalence of injustice, oppression, the excessive power of security apparatus, and the inhumane living conditions that migrants, especially those of Arab and Islamic origins, endure.” Atwan further described France as “one of the leading centers of racism, hatred, and Islamophobia in the European continent,” adding that “Nahel’s assassination by a police officer served as the catalyst for an underlying and increasingly explosive frustration that has become difficult to control.”
Elaborating on his analysis of the riots in France, Atwan wrote: “The issue is not only about racist policies, marginalization, and the adoption of hatred [and] Islamophobia, but also a regrettable return to the colonial past and its legacy in dealing with the immigrant descendants of colonies in France….
