Roger Garaudy Support from the Islamic World

Roger Garaudy

Born	(1913-07-17)17 July 1913 Marseille, France
Died	13 June 2012(2012-06-13) (aged 98) Paris, France
Nationality	French
Era	20th / 21st-century philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
Religion	Sunni Islam
Roger Garaudy or Ragaa Garaudy[1] (17 July 1913 – 13 June 2012)[2][3] was a French philosopher. Formerly a prominent communist author, he converted to Islam and wrote many controversial books. Contents [hide] 1 Early life, politics and religion 2 Holocaust denial 3 Support from the Islamic World 4 Later activities 5 Praise for Garaudy after his death 6 References 7 External links Early life, politics and religion[edit] Born to Catholic and atheist parents in Marseille, Garaudy converted at age 14 and became a Protestant. During World War II, Garaudy joined the French Resistance, for which he was imprisoned in Djelfa, Algeria, as a prisoner of war of Vichy France. Following the war, Garaudy joined the French Communist Party. As a political candidate he succeeded in being elected to the National Assembly and eventually rose to the position of deputy speaker, and later senator. He became a leading party theoretician for the party and authored scores of scholarly works. Garaudy remained a Christian and eventually re-converted to Catholicism during his political career. He was befriended by one of France's most prominent clerics of the time, the Abbé Pierre, who in later years supported Garaudy, even regarding the latter's most controversial views. In 1970, Garaudy was expelled from the Communist Party following his outspoken criticism of the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. Garaudy converted to Islam in 1982, later writing that "The Christ of Paul is not the Jesus of the Bible," and also forming other critical scholarly conclusions regarding the Old and New Testaments. As a Muslim he adopted the name "Ragaa"[1] and became a prominent Islamic commentator and supporter of the Palestinian cause. He was married to Salma Taji Farouki. Garaudy wrote more than 50 books, mainly on political philosophy and Marxism. Holocaust denial[edit] Main article: The Founding Myths of Modern Israel In 1996 Garaudy published his most controversial work, Les Mythes fondateurs de la politique israelienne, later translated into English as The Founding Myths of Modern Israel. Because the book contained Holocaust denial, French courts banned any further publication and on 27 February 1998 fined him 240,000 French francs. He was sentenced to a suspended jail sentence of several years. At his hearing, Garaudy stated that his book in no way condoned Nazi methods, and that book was an attack on mythologization and use of the Holocaust by Israeli government as policy, and as he said, as a "justifying dogma" for its actions, mainly in Palestine and toward Palestinians.[4] Support from the Islamic World[edit] Following his trial and conviction in France, Garaudy was hailed in the Muslim world and received substantial financial, political and public support. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, 160 members of the parliament signed a petition in Garaudy's support. Senior Iranian officials invited him to Tehran and received him warmly. Iranian leaders condemned Israel and the West for bringing Garaudy to trial. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei cited Garaudy for his work in exposing the Zionists’ "Nazi-like behavior."[5] Iranian President Mohammad Khatami described Garaudy as "a thinker" and "a believer" who was brought to trial merely for publishing research which was "displeasing to the West.".[6][7] Garaudy has been praised throughout the Islamic World: In June 1999, Jordanian intellectuals named Garaudy "the most important international cultural personality of the 20th century." Former Syrian vice-president Abdul-Halim Khaddam has called Garaudy "the greatest contemporary Western philosopher." Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi stated that Garaudy is "Europe's greater philosopher since Plato and Aristotle."[8] Garaudy was a co-winner of the King Faisal International Prize for Services to Islam in 1986.[9] In February 2006, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah described Garaudy as "a great French philosopher." Nasrallah went on to praise Garaudy for exposing "alleged Jewish Holocaust in Germany" and stated that Garaudy "proved that this Holocaust is a myth." Nasrallah also criticized France for putting Garaudy on trial.[10] Later activities[edit] In later interviews, Garaudy stated that the attacks of 11 September 2001 were organized by the United States government. He also repeated his claim that the Holocaust is a myth, stating that the genocide of Jews by the Nazis during the Second World War was "invented as a myth by Churchill, Eisenhower and De Gaulle" to justify the destruction and occupation of Germany.[8] In December 2006, Garaudy was unable to attend the International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust due to health reasons. He reportedly sent a videotaped message supporting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's view that Israel should cease to exist.[8] Roger Garaudy died in Paris on 13 June 2012, aged 98. Praise for Garaudy after his death[edit] Following his death in June 2012, Garaudy subsequently received praise from a number of sources (as translated by MEMRI): Columnist Adam Yousef wrote in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Jarida that "Garaudy committed no crime. He merely pointed out that the number of Jews who lived in Europe during World War II did not exceed 3.5 million – so where did the [figure of] six million come from, on which Israel bases the myth of the Holocaust? This is a simple scientific question, [a matter of] proof..." The Iranian Fars News Agency called him "the first denier of the Holocaust myth." The Arab Writers Union in Syria, of which Garaudy is an honorary member, wrote that he proved that "truth and evidence-based credibility and scientific accuracy were possible." Tunisian writer Tawfiq Al-Madina claimed in the Syrian daily Al-Thawra that Garaudy had "exposed the false the myths of the Zionists and their false propaganda regarding the Holocaust..." Fares Al-Wabasha, a columnist for the Jordanian daily Al-Dustour, wrote: "Only rarely do we encounter a prominent Western philosopher and thinker like Roger Garaudy, who supports Arab causes and exposes in a rational and scientific manner the shameful claims of the Zionist movement, undermining its   Question: when do the media in the Muslim world pay more respectful attention to the death of a famous French philosopher than the French and other Western media do? Answer: when the “philosopher” in question is Roger Garaudy. In Gulf News, Shakir Noori, a writer in Dubai, described himself as “deeply sorrowed” [sic] by Garaudy’s death on June 13 and noted that “intellectuals in Jordan” called him “the most important cultural figure in the twentieth century.” Others in the Muslim world shared this view: Muammar Gaddafi, who gave Garaudy a “human-rights” prize in 2002, called him “Europe’s greatest philosopher since Plato and Aristotle”; former Syrian vice president Abdul Halim-Khaddam considered him the “greatest contemporary western philosopher”; and the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE) responded to news of his demise by lauding him as a “great thinker” and calling on “Allah, the Almighty, to receive him with His Bountiful Mercy, and to accept him among the righteous.” At Garaudy’s funeral in Paris, he was eulogized as “a man of faith,” “the summit of human values,” and “a great hope for mankind.” On July 2, a memorial service for Garaudy was hosted in Iran by the Institute of Islamic Culture and Thought in association with the Iranian Philosophy Institute, Al-Mustafa International University, and a half-dozen other important-sounding institutions. Just a few days ago, a memorial conference was held in Tunis on the topic “Roger Garaudy: the science of history and the search for truth.” Among the “researchers, historians and human-rights activists” who gave presentations was philosophy professor Mohsen Mili, a “specialist in the thought of Garaudy,” who said that Garaudy “embodied the thought of the twentieth century.” Yacob Mahi, a Moroccan Muslim living in Belgium, wrote that Garaudy had “contributed enormously to the development of Islamic thought…He was a philosopher, a thinker, a master of wisdom. He was one of my spiritual teachers.” Who was this great “spiritual teacher”? The answer can be summed up in two words: Holocaust denier. There’s more to say about him, but his extraordinary reputation in the Muslim world has its roots in one simple fact: that Garaudy was a poisonous anti-Zionist who in 1996 published a book – accessible in English, in its entirety, here – the centerpiece of which was an elaborate, mad argument that the Final Solution was a lie. (The book was published in English under the title The Founding Myths of Modern Israel, though its title on the website linked above, The Founding Myths of Israeli Politics, represents a more literal translation of the original French title.) The book lost Garaudy friends, publishers, and 240,000 francs – the fine he was charged for having violated the French law against Holocaust denial. Garaudy also wrote books “exposing” the “Israeli-Zionist” lobby, which, in his view, secretly pulled the strings of government in both France and the U.S. After 9/11 he argued publicly that the Bush administration had plotted the terrorist attacks.

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