Right-wingers in France use the term "Islamic left" when talking about aspects of the agreement and the alleged political alliance between Islamists and leftists in the country, especially on issues such as the veil and the reception of refugees.

But throughout the history of France, there were politicians and intellectuals who tried to go far in discovering Islam, and moved away from the Islamophobic discourse that was prevalent.

Alain Rousseau, historian and director of the Encyclopedia of French Colonialism, says in a report published by the French website Orientxxi, that during the 1930s, an important expedition arrived on the coasts of Algeria and landed on land driven by the mentality of the Crusades and the desire to eradicate the existing civilization. There for decades, the destruction of what they consider a barbarian existence.

But among these "new masters", not everyone was motivated by the same obsessions.

Among them was the French historian and philosopher Jacques Berthelemy Salg (1760-1830), who in that year wrote a surprising little booklet aimed at refuting prejudices, the content of which came in the form of a dialogue between a young educated woman and a philosopher.

The dialogue revolves around the reality of Islam and the prevailing view of the Turks (who used to be confused with Muslims in general in Europe), and the clarification of the meaning of the word Islam, which in the Arabic language indicates submission to God.

In addition to refuting the distortion of the character of the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, at the hands of Voltaire and many fanatics who described him as a bandit.

Voltaire first saw the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) as a typical religious fanatic, in a play called "Muhammad" which was said to have been symbolic intended to project on another French figure so that he could pass it and avoid church oversight. Nevertheless, Voltaire retreated. On his negative visions about the Prophet of Islam, who considered him in later works an enemy of superstitions, praised him in praise of his religion, which has no talismans or mysteries, and forbids gambling and wine and orders prayer and charity, according to the book "The Faces of Muhammad: Western Perceptions of the Prophet of Islam from the Middle Ages to Today" by the historian And French academic John Tolan.

Lamartine family in the east

Shortly thereafter, between July 1832 and September 1833, the family of the French poet and politician Alphonse de Lamartine traveled to the East, where he visited Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Jerusalem, and met Arab personalities in Lebanon and exchanged with them talk about poetry and literature, and recited his epic poem (Fall Angel) La Chute d'un ange in Lebanon in 1838.

This man, who was one of the politicians who supported the French control of Algeria, wrote during that trip notes in his notebook about Islam, completely different from his previous positions.

Where he praised the morals, tolerance and respect of Muslims.

And he demanded a correction of the view about the Muhammadiyah creed, saying that it did not impose on a person only two things, namely prayer and doing good.

De Lamartine is considered one of the greatest poets of the Romantic School, and he assumed the presidency of the Provisional Government after the Revolution of 1848 in France, and stayed for a period in Turkish Izmir and was greatly influenced by his visit to the East, before becoming a major supporter of the French Revolution that overthrew the aristocratic nobles and their privileges, even though he was one of them.

Alphonse de Lamartine wrote in his book The History of Turkey (1854), "If the greatness of purpose, the smallness of means and the astonishing results are the three criteria of human genius, then who dares to compare any great man in modern history to Muhammad?" And he added, "This man did not mobilize armies, legislations and empires. And peoples and races, but also millions of men in the third of the world that was inhabited at that time. "

De Lamartine emphasized in his book that the Prophet Muhammad did not fight for an imperial glory but rather for a belief founded on the oneness of God, and the foundations of a religious worship without images and a spiritual empire, as he put it.

Victor Hugo

As for the writer Victor Hugo, he wrote many criticisms about Islam and Muslims, and in other places he had completely opposite positions.

Although he was fully supportive of the European conquest, and considered that the task of the white man was to conquer Africa, the fertile land and spread civilization in it, and he also rejoiced when the colonization of Algeria, he wrote in return poignant verses in which he praised the Prophet Muhammad, speaking of his reverence, patience and humility, saying that the Prophet Muhammad was milking his sheep himself, sitting on the ground and stitching his garment.

Through a conversation in which he brought together the Caliph Omar bin Al-Khattab and Saint John the Evangelist, the French poet Victor Hugo put Islam within a global human perspective, and stood in the face of the media campaign that followed the assassination of the French consul and his British deputy in the city of Jeddah in 1858, with his unpopular poem entitled " Cedar is from his collection of "Legend of the Centuries," according to a previous report by Orion 21.

Hubert Lotier and the Mihrab of Paris

The site added that another prominent figure in French history is the prominent Colonel Hubert Leotier, the French general and the first resident general in Morocco after its occupation from 1912 to 1925, whose name was associated with respect for Islam, although his positions were sometimes reflective of political rather than humanitarian motives.

During the ceremonies of the inauguration of the mihrab of the Paris Mosque, on October 19, 1922, Lyotier gave influential words about his view of Islam, saying that France and the Muslims are two great and noble powers, and a union between them should take place without dependence, violence or destruction, but within the confines of the regime. Respect, recognition of legitimate entitlements and the unity of states.

The site added that one of the contemporary figures of this general, who had a great friendship with him, is the Swiss writer and explorer Isabel Eberhart, who converted to Islam and settled in the Maghreb until her death in an accident in 1904. She wrote in one of her books, describing her feelings when Hearing the call to prayer, and enjoying at dawn hearing the phrase "prayer is better than sleep."

During her multiple readings in Europe, she wished to live elsewhere in North Africa, specifically in Algeria, and wrote that she would be born again there, but she had to wait until she had completed her 20 years of age.

She traveled with her mother to Algeria, and there she embraced Islam, dressed as a Bedouin man, and took a figure of her imagination, Si Mahmoud Saadi, and set off on her horse in the Algerian desert that was occupied by the French, and wrote many journalistic and literary stories that talk about The Algerian reality, the suffering of Algerian women and the resistance to the occupation in the name of Si Mahmoud Al-Saadi, has always been an element of concern for the French, as they joined the acts of resistance in the Algerian uprisings.

Jack Burke

The site stated that one of the important positions in the history of France about Islam was issued by the sociologist and researcher on Islam in France Jacques Burke, to whom a journalist asked him in 1993 about the possibility of a "natural integration" of Islam in the French scene.

Jacques Burke responded by talking about a "historical fusion" of Islam, stressing the existence of "a French Islam whose presence is increasing day by day, without people comprehending this situation."

Burke, who died in 1995, was known for his writings and political, literary and intellectual positions that adopted the defense of Arab causes and Arab thought. He also formed many friendships in the Arab world that still owe him loyalty.

In conclusion, the writer commented by saying, "Today, 30 years after what Burke said, many poor concepts about Islam have emerged, and some situations have spread such as anger and condemnation of wearing the veil, and the claim that this piece of cloth will destabilize the values ​​of the Republic, along with the concentration of yellow newspapers. On the problems of the neighborhoods in which Muslims live, and talking about Islamic law laws, with the frequent and innocent glorification of the Judeo-Christian roots of France.

The writer also pointed to the proliferation of advocates of struggle against Islam on French television channels, as the same people who claim to be fighting against the culture of one thought are repeatedly called, and they are in fact spreading myths about the other, and they are causing an increasing division in French society, and they confirm the existence of an exclusivist ideology It can be hidden, which leads to the inevitability of a reaction from Muslims living in France, the writer concludes.