Si Kaddour Benghabrit | |
|---|---|
| عبد القادر بن غبريط Abdelkader Ben Ghabrit | |
 | |
| Born | (1868-11-01)1 November 1868 Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria |
| Died | 24 June 1954(1954-06-24) (aged 85) Paris, France |
| Relatives | Nouria Benghabrit (great-niece) |
Abdelkader Ben Ghabrit (Arabic:عبد القادر بن غبريط; 1 November 1868 – 24 June 1954),[1] commonly known asSi Kaddour Benghabrit (سي قدور بن غبريط) was an Algerian religious leader, translator and interpreter who worked for theFrench Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was the first rector of theGreat Mosque of Paris.
He participated in theAlgeciras Conference of 1906 and the negotiations leading to theTreaty of Fes of 1912. He headed a French diplomatic mission toMecca in 1916 to facilitate theHajj. He worked to persuadeHussein bin Ali, the Sharif of Mecca to break with theOttoman Empire and join theAllies. In exchange, his caliphate would be recognized by theMaliki Muslims of theFrench colonial Empire.
During theGerman occupation of France in World War II, he hid and saved numerousJews in the basements of theGrand Mosque of Paris. AlongsideAbdelkader Mesli, he joined theresistance and protected numerous victims of persecution, sometimes estimated to have been more than one thousand persons.[2][3][4]
Benghabrit received high recognition by the French government. He was awarded theGrand Cross of the Legion of Honour (1939). After World War II, he received theFrench Resistance Medal with rosette (1947).
Si Kaddour Benghabrit came from a prominentAndalusian family ofTlemcen. After his secondary education at theMadrasa Thaalibia inAlgiers and theUniversity of al-Karaouine ofFez, he started his career inAlgeria, in the field of judiciary.[5] Benghabrit received the typical education of the son of a Muslim notable in the Maghreb at themadrasa, memorizing the Koran and learning classical Arabic (the language of the Koran, which is very different from modernAlgerian Arabic).[6] At the same time, he also received an education that reflected the ideology of France'smission civilisatrice ("civilizing mission") under which France would "civilize" the Algerians by assimilating them into the French language and culture.[6]
Benghabrit was a Francophile who embraced the ideal of France'smission civilisatrice in Algeria, and as such he was deeply loyal to France and its values.[6] The American historian Ethan Katz described Benghabrit as bicultural, a man who was equally comfortable with both aspects of his identity as French and Muslim who "moved seamlessly" between the cultural worlds of France and the Maghreb.[6] As a cosmopolitan, sophisticated man, able to straddle two very different cultural worlds, Benghabrit was able to make himself useful to those who held power, and in turn he came to enjoy power.[6]
In 1892, he became assistant interpreter at theLegation ofFrance toTangier; he served as a liaison between North African officials and theFrench Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[7] He served as chief of theFrench Legation in Tangier in the period 1900-1901.[8] Benghabrit was fluent inMoroccan Arabic (which is closely related toAlgerian Arabic), which gave the French legation an immense advantage over the legations of other European powers who lacked personnel capable of speaking Moroccan Arabic, and furthermore he was always well informed about Moroccan affairs.[9] The French diplomatCharles de Beaupoil, comte de Saint-Aulaire rated Benghabrit as one of the ablest diplomats he had ever worked with.[9]
In 1901, he served on the Franco-Moroccan commission to delineate theAlgeria–Morocco border.[10] He served the French delegation at the 1906Algeciras Conference,[8][10] which formalized French preëminence inMorocco.[11] In Morocco, Benghabrit held a position in the court of Sultan Abd al-Hafid as an unofficial French diplomat.[6]
In 1912, he interpreted the negotiations between SultanAbd al-Hafid of Morocco and the French diplomatEugène Regnault [fr] which culminated in the signing of theTreaty of Fes, which established theFrench Protectorate in Morocco. Resident GeneralHubert Lyautey then rewarded him with a position as head of protocol to the sultan.[10][12]
In November 1914, the Ottoman Empire entered the First World War on the side of Germany. The Ottoman Sultan-Caliph Mehmed V, regarded as the spiritual leader of the entire Sunni Muslim world, issued a declaration ofjihad (holy war) on 4 November 1914 urging all Muslims throughout the world to fight against Russia, Britain and France. France had millions of Muslims in its colonial empire, and there were serious worries in Paris about the loyalty of Muslims under French rule after the declaration ofjihad. Benghabrit used all of his influence to argue that French Muslims should remain loyal to France, which endeared him to the French government.[13] For the most part, French Muslims remained loyal to the republic during World War One and disregarded the Ottoman declaration ofjihad, which improved his standing in Paris. During the war, Benghabrit urged Muslim men to enlist in the French Army and gave speeches before Muslim soldiers to tell them that they were fighting for the right side by fighting for France.[13]
In 1916, France sent him toHijaz as head of the French diplomatic mission toMecca to facilitate theHajj and ensure the well-being of his fellow citizens during their time in theholy places of Islam, and to convinceHussein bin Ali, the Sharif of Mecca to break with theOttoman Empire and join theAllies,[10] assuring him of French support for acaliphate headed by himself.[14][15][16][17] Hussein received him with honor and granted him the right to clean the floor of theKaaba and sit next to him during theFriday prayer in Mecca.[18]
In 1917, Si Kaddour founded in theMahkama of Algiers (civil court orqadi), the Society ofHabous and the Holy Places of Islam, in order to facilitate the pilgrimage to Mecca by Muslims from FrenchNorth Africa. The Society acquired two hotels inMedina andMecca for use by pilgrims.
Throughout his career, Ben Ghabrit supplied France with valuable information about Muslim populations.[10] TheQuai d'Orsay's Africa-Levant division described him as one of its "most trusted Arab informants."[10] In April 1920, he supplied the French premier and foreign ministerAlexandre Millerand with a 23-page report on Muslim attitudes in North Africa and the Levant toward France, arguing for more autonomy in French colonies and support for the Paris Muslim Institute as a vital source of intelligence.[10]
In 1920, theSociety of Habous and Holy Places of Islam established the Algiers prefecture. It intended to apply for authorization to construct an Institute and aMosque inParis, to have a structure to symbolize the eternal friendship of France and Islam, and memorialize the sacrifice of the tens of thousands of Muslim soldiers who died fighting in support of France duringWorld War I, including at theBattle of Verdun. The Great Mosque of Paris was built in the 5th arrondissement, completed in 1926. At the opening of the Great Mosque, Benghabrit in his speeches in both French and Arabic praised the "eternal union" of France and Islam.[13]
The Muslim Institute of theParis Mosque was opened in Paris to aid all Muslims living in or visiting the area. It provided services and spiritual direction but also aided people with direct welfare if needed, as well as supporting new immigrants and acclimating them to the city.[19]
A sophisticated man and frequenter of Parisian salons, Ben Ghabrit was dubbed "the most Parisian Muslim".[20] DuringWorld War II and after thefall of France, Si Kaddour Ben Ghabrit worked to protect his people, both Muslims and Jews, arranging for forged papers for an estimated 100 Jews to certify them as Muslim.[21] He also arranged to have Jewish refugees hidden in the mosque at times of German roundups, and transported by the Resistance out of the country.[21] Also he saved the lives of at least five hundred Jews, including that of the Algerian singerSalim Halali, making the administrative staff grant them certificates of Muslim identity, which allowed them to avoid arrest and deportation.[22][23][24] In addition, during the war in France, many Muslims joined theFrench Resistance movement.
In a documentary entitledMosque of Paris, the forgotten, produced for the showRacines de France 3 in 1991,Derri Berkani reports that it was the Algerian partisans, mainly composed of workers, who had led the Jews to theParis Mosque for protection.[25] The mission of these Algerian partisans was to rescue and protect the British SOE agents and find them shelter. The Partisans subsequently provided assistance to Jewish families, from the families they knew, or at the request of friends, by accommodating them in the mosque, waiting for papers to be provided to get them to theZone libre or cross theMediterranean to theMaghreb.
The figures for the number of Jews saved by staying in the Mosque of Paris during this period differ according to the authors. Annie-Paule Derczansky, president of theAssociation des Bâtisseuses de paix, states that according toAlbert Assouline, as stated in the Berkani film, 1600 people were saved. On the other hand,Alain Boyer, former head of religious affairs in theFrench Ministry of Interior, has stated that the number was closer to 500 people.
For his contributions, Ben Ghabrit was awarded theGrand Cross of the Legion of Honour. He is buried in a reserved area to the North of the Mosque of Paris, according to theMaliki rite.TheBâtisseuses de Paix, an association of Jewish and Muslim women working for inter-community harmony, submitted a petition in 2005 toYad Vashem's Council to recognize that the Mosque of Paris saved many Jews between 1942 and 1944, and that Yad Vashem should thus recognize Si Kaddour Benghabrit as one of theRighteous Among the Nations.[26][27] This request remains unfulfilled, as no survivors have been found; apparently the mosque had worked with false passports.[28]
Si Kaddour Benghabrit's efforts to save Salim Halali and other Jews are depicted in the French drama filmLes hommes libres (Free Men, 2011) film, directed byIsmaël Ferroukhi and released in2011. He is played by French actorMichael Lonsdale.Si Kaddour Benghabrit also inspiredMohamed Fekrane in his short filmTogether, released in 2010. The role of the imam is played by actorHabib Kadi.
Nouria Benghabrit-Remaoun, sociologist and researcher, granddaughter of Si Kaddour Benghabrit's brother, was the Minister of National Education ofAlgeria.
Grand Cross of theLegion of Honour (France){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)25. Hamza Ben Driss Ottmani. « Kaddour Benghabrit : Un Maghrébin hors du commun » (Ed. Marsam)
