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576 Muslim soldiers stand in ranks at Notre Dame de Lorette, France

11-13-2019

 

Notre Dame de Lorette  is the biggest of France’s many war cemeteries, where 576 Muslim soldiers stand in ranks facing Makkah.

The headstones are engraved with Islamic inscriptions. Each one is also inscribed with the words “Mort Pour La France” – died for France.

There were about 2.5 million Muslims who fought for France, the British Empire and Russia which has been largely ignored, especially in comparison with the exhaustive accounts of western troops in poems, diaries and histories.

Luc Ferrier, the Belgian founder and chairman of the Forgotten Heroes 14-19 Foundation is convinced that without Muslim troops and labourers, the Allies would have lost the war and is raising public awareness of their contribution which could help counter anti-Islamic sentiment in Europe “This project is contradicting the myth that Muslims have not played a positive role in Europe or in modern history.”

“This project is contradicting the myth that Muslims have not played a positive role in Europe or in modern history,” he said.

“By adding a wealth of authentic documented evidence portraying Muslims positively, we can counter Islamophobia, as well as the divisive ‘clash of civilisations’ narrative which both the far-right and ‘religious’ extremists rely on to further their narrow aims.”

Mr Ferrier, a 55-year-old former executive in the aeronautical industry who is not Muslim, set up the foundation in 2012 after discovering the diaries of his great-grandfather, a soldier in the First World War.

“I was impressed by the enormous respect he had for his Muslim brothers in arms from all these continents, while he himself was a very devout Christian,” he said.

“They suffered from frostbite and exposure, causing them to lose fingers," said Mr Ferrier. "The trenches did little to provide shelter or warmth from the extreme low temperatures, especially at night, when even clothes and blankets froze solid.”

His foundation approached Britain’s Anglia Tours, which has experience in running guided visits to First World War sites, to help organise bespoke visits to the battlefields and memorial sites where Muslims fought.

Footnotes: Footnotes: Read More: https://www.thenational.ae/world/europe/the-forgotten-muslim-heroes-of-the-first-world-war-1.738030?fbclid=IwAR1Z_UJWnrNTKErZUYgqL4J5T_fMA2UoSdp8rlSYT7FTE0HmPtWk7wJIrn0

Article Source: ALAMEENPOST.COM