Thousands of faithful deprived of a mosque in Mantes-la-Ville
“ It's a shame for the Muslims in the neighborhood. The old people, the young people who come… I don’t know how they will manage to go and say their prayers », laments Azfi Abdelkarim at the microphone of France3 Paris/Ile-de-France, in front of the desperately closed doors of the Mantes-Sud Mosque, in Yvelines, which he frequents assiduously.
There are nearly 3,000 faithful who have felt the same deep annoyance since a court decision, which fell like an ax, prohibited them from accessing their place of worship, inviting them, more authoritatively than cordially, to go and pray elsewhere. .
As the sign screwed to the front door of their mosque states in full and which they read with dismay, they now have no choice but to “ go to mosques in neighboring towns to perform services there », while “letting justice work in serenity”. It is the only alternative now available to them, without any consideration of their age, their personal constraints, the events and other diverse and varied demands that punctuate their existence, in short, the great upheaval that the closure of a such a haven of peace engenders in the life of every Muslim.
The suspension of religious activities within the mosque is the consequence of a judicial liquidation procedure pronounced against the association of Muslims of Mantes-Sud, specified Aziz El Jaouhari, the very disappointed president of the association, in front of the France3 Paris/Ile-de-France camera. “ There are religious weddings that are organized, there are deaths, there are also various and varied requests from the community… It disrupts daily life,” he underlines, indicating that he has appealed the court decision which so unjustly deprives thousands of faithful of their sacred enclosure.
The Mantes-la Ville mosque will therefore remain closed pending a new hearing, scheduled for September 30. Beyond religious worship, however, certain activities are maintained, such as the preparation of meals distributed during marauding events.
