Bel Hadj El Maafi

Bel Hadj El Maafi (in Arabic: بيل حاج ال معفي), sometimes called Bel Hadj Ben Maafi (October 25, 1900-February 22, 1999), is a French-Algerian imam and mufti born in the oasis of Lichana, near Biskra. He practiced in the city of Lyon from 1923 until his death.

As a privileged intermediary between the French authorities and Algerians in Lyon, he engaged in the Resistance and saved numerous Jews during World War II.

Before and during the Algerian War, El Maafi chose to collaborate with the French authorities and remained opposed to Algerian independence. His ties with the French authorities made him a target, and as part of the Café Wars, he was targeted in an attack by the National Liberation Front (FLN) from which he survived.

Despite the different political currents during the Algerian War, Bel Hadj El Maafi remained highly appreciated by the Muslim community in Lyon until his death. This was mainly due to his longevity and his visits to prisoners, the sick, and Muslim soldiers. However, he left a mixed impression among some former FLN militants.

Youth and Interwar Period

Bel Hadj El Maafi was born on October 25, 1900, in the oasis of Lichana,[1] ten kilometers from the city of Biskra, in French Algeria.[2][3][4] He came from a family of imams, his father Maafi was also an imam,[1] and his brother, who shared the same name, was a military chaplain who was Mort pour la France on April 28, 1918,[5] in Verona, Italy, during World War I at the age of 21.[3] His mother's name was Salam Khadouje.[1]

After studying the Quran, he moved to metropolitan France in 1923.[6] He was sent to Lyon by the Rahmaniyya Sufi brotherhood to which he belonged, and which was the largest brotherhood in Algeria at that time.[7] Upon his arrival, his knowledge of the French language was very poor, but he gradually learned.[3] In 1923, he became a military chaplain for a regiment of tirailleurs.[6]

In 1933, with the assistance of Lyon's mayor, Édouard Herriot, and the prefect of Rhône, Achille Villey-Desmeserets, he requested the opening of the first Muslim place of worship in Lyon.[8] However, this request was denied by the Minister of Interior, Camille Chautemps, who stated :[8][9]

"These so-called mokkadems seek, under the cover of religious proselytism, purely temporal advantages, notably gifts of money extorted from their Muslim coreligionists."

From the 1930s onwards, El Maafi collaborated with the French authorities. He became the assistant secretary of the Committee for the Protection of North African Workers and also served as an auxiliary for the North African Services of the Rhône Prefecture. One of his tasks was to monitor the Algerian community and identify individuals involved in the independence movement.[2][8] In this capacity, he assisted Julien Azario, a civil servant in the prefecture who was a French resistance member and recognized as Righteous Among the Nations, in his surveillance work.[10]

In addition to these connections, during the interwar period, El Maafi served as a military chaplain. He also visited Muslim inmates on death row from 1931 onwards,[6] including Abdelkader Rakida, who was sentenced to death for shooting two police officers during his arrest.[11] El Maafi was actively involved in providing spiritual support to the sick, often visiting hospitals.[4]

French Resistance

During the occupation of France, El Maafi joined the resistance and appeared to have various roles. Firstly, he provided information to the French internal resistance about Muslim resistance fighters to prevent infiltrators and collaborators from penetrating the resistance. In this capacity, he is believed to have recruited Djaafar Khemdoudi to join the resistance, as expressed in a letter to the military governor of Lyon in 1946.[6][12]

Furthermore, although he never openly discussed it, he is said to have saved numerous Sephardic Moroccan Jews,[13] particularly the community in the town of Saint-Fons, according to a report from the Renseignement généraux in 1950. The report stated that :[6]

"he often took advantage of his role as an interpreter for the North African Brigade to obtain false identity cards for Moroccan Jews, especially those from the commune of Saint-Fons."

This rescue of Jews in Saint-Fons is likely to be related to the actions of Djaafar Khemdoudi in the same town, where he saved Jewish children.[14]

El Maafi also established networks with the religious resistance against Nazism, clandestinely burying the dead from the resistance and bombings alongside Brother Benoît, a fellow resistance member, with whom he maintained a friendly relationship after the war. They both participated in demonstrations organized by former resistance fighters.[6][12]

After the War

Resistance as an unifying force

As the Second World War came to an end, El Maafi continued to participate in meetings of former resistance fighters and demonstrate alongside them.[6] He represented Algerian resistance fighters and prisoners from Montluc prison during official ceremonies and actively spoke out about the Holocaust starting from 1945 to 1950. El Maafi represented an idea of national unity around the resistance, and that was the message he sought to convey in his speeches.[6] He sought to establish closer ties with the Jewish communities in metropolitan France, many of whom came from North Africa and lived in the same areas as Muslims.[6]

The Break of the Algerian War

Bel Hadj El Maafi was caught off guard by the Algerian War. He was fully integrated into the society of former resistance fighters but found himself in a complicated situation facing growing Algerian nationalism and anti-colonialism among his fellow Algerians and coreligionists. He chose to maintain an anti-independence stance, and the Renseignements généraux testified that :[6]

"During the events in Algeria, Bel Hadj El Maafi consistently expressed pro-French sentiments."

Due to his connections with France and the Rhône prefecture, he became a target of an assassination attempt, which he survived on April 23, 1957, in the midst of the Café War. The perpetrator of the attack, Amar Akbache, refused to see him before being executed, considering him a collaborator with the colonial power.[6]

Later years and death

Bel Hadj El Maafi continued to participate in commemorations of the Second World War and the Holocaust, as well as overseeing his mosque, which he had acquired in the meantime.[3]

On June 11, 1978, he was appointed Officer of the Ordre national du mérite in recognition of his services as a hospital chaplain by the Mayor of Lyon, Louis Pradel. He was later awarded the rank of Knight of the Légion d'Honneur in 1984 and Commander of the Ordre national du mérite in 1989.[6]

He met Pope Paul VI in Lyon in 1986.[2]

He passed away on February 22, 1999, at the age of 99. He was highly esteemed by the Muslim community for his numerous visits to the families of the sick, prisoners, and Muslim soldiers.[2] However, his memory was mixed among some former FLN militants.[6]

See also

References
  1. N., E. E.; Lafitte, Jacques; Taylor, Stephen (1954). "Who's Who in France: Paris". Books Abroad. 28 (4): 452. doi:10.2307/40093595.
  2. "L'imam Ben Maafi". Le Monde.fr (in French). 1999-02-26. Retrieved 2023-05-04.
  3. Jouanneau, Solenne,. (2018). Les Imams en France. ISBN 978-2-7489-1160-2. OCLC 1153447129. Retrieved 2023-05-04.
  4. "Ordre national du mérite / Bel Hadj El Maafi". www.legifrance.gouv.fr. Retrieved 2023-05-04.
  5. "Faire une recherche - Mémoire des hommes". www.memoiredeshommes.sga.defense.gouv.fr. Retrieved 2023-05-04.
  6. André, Marc (2022). Une prison pour mémoire Montluc, de 1944 à nos jours. Lyon: ENS Éditions. ISBN 979-10-362-0575-0. OCLC 1363109813.
  7. Horizons Maghrébins - Le droit à la mémoire. PERSEE Program. Retrieved 2023-05-04.
  8. MacMaster, Neil (1997). Colonial migrants and racism : Algerians in France, 1900-62. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-333-64466-2. OCLC 35174905. Retrieved 2023-05-04.
  9. Massard-Guilbaud, Geneviève (1995). Des Algériens à Lyon : de la Grande Guerre au Front populaire. Paris: CIEMI. ISBN 2-7384-3256-5. OCLC 33197336.
  10. "Dosssiers". Comité Français pour Yad Vashem (in French). Retrieved 2023-05-04.
  11. "Palmarès des exécutions de 1871 à 1977". laveuveguillotine.pagesperso-orange.fr. Retrieved 2023-05-04.
  12. Rue89Lyon (2021-09-20). "" Désolé, Eric Zemmour, mais on compte de nombreux 'Mohamed' dans la Résistance "". Rue89Lyon (in French). Retrieved 2023-05-04.
  13. Cloarec, Par Times of Israel Staff et Glenn. "Abdelkader Mesli, l'imam parisien qui a sauvé des Juifs pendant la Shoah". fr.timesofisrael.com (in French). Retrieved 2023-05-04.
  14. "Vaulx-en-Velin. Djaafar Khemdoudi, héros de la Résistance française". www.leprogres.fr (in French). Retrieved 2023-05-06.
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