Who is Smaïn Bendjilali, the essential imam of Marseille whose mosque is threatened with closure?
He is emblematic of a new generation of imams 2.0, combining religious rigor and social discourse, local roots and presence on the Web. For a week, Smaïn Bendjilali, known as “Imam Ismail”is at the heart of the storm. On August 20, the police prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône, Pierre-Édouard Colliex, launched an administrative closure procedure against his Bleuets mosque, located in the 13the district of Marseille, by directly calling it into question.
In a seven-page closure notice sent to the mosque, the prefect accuses the imam of “defending a radical practice of Islam which creates a breeding ground for the commission of violent acts”, to support the idea “of an Islamophobic Western society hostile to the Muslim religion”to advocate “the superiority of Islam over the laws of the Republic”, to display a “ideological proximity to preachers of hate”, and to support Hamas.
A “collective punishment”
Based on article L227-1 of the internal security code, the opinion, that The Cross was able to consult, a long list of excerpts from the imam’s sermons, hadiths (reported words of the prophet of Islam) published on social networks, shares of conferences by other speakers, reading recommendations, the lack of moderation of comments under his posts. He also criticizes him for his support for Mahjoub Mahjoubi, an imam expelled in February, or the invitation of an imam who on his YouTube channel described the October 7 attack as “revolt” by presenting it as a “divine punishment inflicted on the Jews for their pride.”
Faced with the prefecture, the defense has ten days to send its observations, and is preparing to file an interim relief application to contest the closure of the mosque. “Based on Article L 227-1 of the Internal Security Code, the prefecture must prove that there is a risk of a terrorist attack, explains Rafik Chekkat, lawyer for the Bleuets mosque. That there are elements that may displease in the imam’s speech is one thing. But I do not see any risk of violent action in the arguments developed.”believes the lawyer, recalling that to date, no prosecution has ever been brought against the imam for criminal remarks.
In Marseille, Muslim religious figures also deplore a “collective punishment” which penalizes all the faithful of this mosque. “We must differentiate the case of the imam from that of the place of worship, open to all the faithful of a neighborhood,” insists Djamel Zekri, president of the departmental council of the Muslim faith of Bouches-du-Rhône.
Breaking with consular Islam
In fact, in Marseille, the Bleuets mosque, located in the 13the arrondissement, in the heart of the northern districts, is known as a dynamic place of worship, attracting many young people and developing a social aspect, by organizing outreach or orientation fairs. “They have many more young people than we do!” recognizes Azzedine Aïnouche, head of the El-Islah mosque, an important mosque in the city.
The imam of the Bleuets mosque, Smaïn Bendjilali, 43, has gradually made a place for himself in the Marseille Muslim landscape by embodying a local figure, born in Marseille, breaking away from the consular Islam that dominated in previous generations. “Marseille has long been marked by the Islam of its countries of origin,” develops Vincent Geisser, CNRS researcher specializing in Islam in Marseille. “Or Smaïn Bendjilali represents this generation which emerged during the 2010s, of young local religious people, educated in Marseille, in a Salafist movement.” Coming from a family of non-practicing Algerian immigrants, a former DJ with a passion for music and a supporter of Olympique de Marseille, Smaïn Bendjilali gradually returned to religion at the beginning of his adult life. He went to learn Arabic in Egypt where he studied for two years in a Salafist institute.
In Marseille, he first attended the mosque of Imam El Hadi Doudi, a figure of Marseille Salafism who was expelled in 2018. “I am often labeled as one of his disciples.”the person concerned acknowledged The Cross in 2023. But I didn’t buy into his speech.” As proof, he argues that today he himself is criticized by the Salafists. “Their view that ‘we have the truth and the rest are misguided’, I don’t share it”, he maintained, while assuming a certain rigor in his speech. “As an imam, I explain what Islam says, but everyone goes at their own pace and does what they want.” And to take the example of interfaith marriages. “If a young girl comes to me and asks if she can marry a non-Muslim, I tell her: ‘This is what the Koran says: marriage is not valid before God.’ After that, you do what you want with your life.”
Critical positions
Present on several boards, Imam Ismaïl has also found his place in the ecosystem of social media preachers, dominated by figures like Nader Abou Anas or Rachid Eljay, both rigorous in terms of doctrine and skilled in responding to the problems of young people.
Thwarting an image of being closed, the imam has also invested in interfaith. After October 7, he organized a meeting with Rabbi Haïm Bendao to promote peace between communities. In previous years, he had also participated in patrols organized with priests at the Saint-Charles train station.
Not hesitating to tackle political issues head-on, he uses his audience on social networks to comment on the legislative elections, criticize the ban on the abaya in schools or support the imam of Pessac threatened with expulsion. This does not prevent him from maintaining relations with elected officials in Marseille and participating in the territorial conferences of Islam in France, a regular meeting between the prefect and the actors of the Muslim faith. Researcher Vincent Geisser points out that in Marseille, “He is an imam who has weight.”
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Around 30% of Muslims in Marseille
In Marseillethe Muslim population is estimated at 30% of the total.
In 2020, there were around 80 Muslim places of worship there. for a Muslim population estimated at between 200,000 and 250,000 individuals, from different migrations: Algerians, Comorians, Moroccans, West Africans, Middle Easterners and a few hundred French people converted to Islam.
However, “These figures must be handled with great caution, because it is a projection based on the national origins of the inhabitants which does not prejudge their beliefs or their real religious practices”, specifies researcher Vincent Geisser.
