The French Muslim lady emphasized the role of the media in the fight against Islamophobia
Emphasizing the role of media outlets and media activists in confronting Islamophobia, Christiane Zahra Guillaume, a Muslim lady and French documentary maker, emphasized, “The tomorrow world is the world of picture and the world of the moments.”
Christine Zahra Guillaume is a French documentary maker who got acquainted with Islam at the age of 32 and became a Muslim.
As a participant of the 7th General Assembly of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly in Islamic Republic of Iran, in an interview, on how she got acquainted with Islam stated, “After 15 years of working as a social worker, I got to know the problems of women in French society, such as divorce, loneliness, beatings from their alcoholic husbands. Although these cases were not widespread, they did exist.”
“After a while, I could not continue my activity due to busy life. But over time, I realized that I had to make a change in my life. I did not know what caused my depression. But the conditions of French society bothered me,” the French lady continued.
“I entered the university and received a doctorate in the fields of linguistics and sociology. During my studies at the university, I met a group of revolutionary Iranian students. They lent books every day in front of the university. I became interested in them and took books, read them, return them, and again take a new book. These books were related to topics such as the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini, Allameh Tabatabai, Martyr Motahari, and the works of these figures, as well as hijab,” she added.
Travel to Iran
“By reading these books, I gradually became acquainted with Islam and became interested in Iran and decided to travel to the country. At that time, due to the Islamic Revolution, there was no good view of Iran in the West. So that everyone warned me about traveling to Iran. But I traveled to Iran and came back and continued my studies. During this time, I got to know Islam and converted to Islam at the age of 32,” Zahra Guillaume said.
About her activities after her visit to Iran, she said, “I worked as the secretary of the Iranian ambassador in Belgium for three years. This job helped me a lot. Because in addition to working as a secretary, I had time to think about the Islamic Revolution, Zionism and international politics. Then I married to an Iranian student, and we went to Iran and lived there for three years. During this time, I worked as a university professor and a reporter in the French section of a monthly magazine called Message of Islam.”
“Unfortunately, after 3 years, I had to return to France due to family issues. Since then, I worked only for IRIB and Sahar TV, and I prepared a daily report in French and sent it to IRIB. After 10 years of activity, I lost my job because IRIB did not have budget and could not afford to pay my salary. Therefore, I had to find another job. Again, I started working as a social worker in the psychiatric department of a hospital,” she continued.
Expulsion for wearing hijab!
“Since I became a Muslim, I have been working wearing a hijab. At that time, I worked in a place where there were many Muslim patients. They knew from my hijab that I am a Muslim. But after a while, the manager learned I am a Muslim and fired me. I was unemployed again,” Zahra Guillaume said.
The works
Among the works of this educated French lady are: Making a film about Ashura, a documentary film about Charles Hossein Zenderoodi, the contemporary Iranian painter, a program about Iranians living in France in cooperation with Jam-e Jam TV, several programs in collaboration with Mr. Mustafa Dalai about Muslims and Muslim women in Europe, a film about the Shiites of France with the cooperation of Mr. Homayunfar, a film about martyr Qassem Soleimani, and a film about Sunnis in Iran.
She has also established an association to introduce Iran in Europe. Holding exhibitions, music classes, Persian and Arabic language classes, and calligraphy classes are among her other activities.
The search for justice and the fight against oppression in Islam attracted me to this religion
Regarding the reason for becoming interested in Islam, she said, “I was a Christian who didn’t go to church much, and I wasn’t interested in politics. But what made me interested in Islam and Shiism was the justice and fight against oppression in the words of Imam Khomeini (r.a.).”
Further, this French documentary maker regarding the religious values in French society stated, “The yellow vests movement shows that the French people are looking to restore Christian and religious values to the country. Because the secular structure of government and feminism have removed religious values from the society. They have a lot of money and are very active in propagation. Therefore, we also have to work a lot.”
The role of the media in the fight against Islamophobia
On the role of the media in confronting Islamophobia in Europe, this member of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly stated, “In my opinion, the media is very important because it is a kind of struggle and resistance. We can do great things and provide a lot of information about Imam Hussain (a.s.), Arbaeen, Imam Ali (a.s.) and AhlulBayt (a.s.) to the French, the people of Europe and the West in general.”
“They don’t know about these issues, or if they do, they don’t want to talk about them. Therefore, we have to work more. We can introduce them to these issues by using paintings and music,” she added.
“Some styles of music like rap, which we are not interested in, have a great influence on the youth. Why don’t we have a style of music that young people like? We need to find arts that attract to young people,” Zahra Guillaume continued.
Education is an important factor in attracting students to religion
“Education is very important,” she emphasized, “In France, education is very influential, and the country’s minister of education tries to allow different groups to introduce their doctrines, so that turn students away from religion. But the French people want to fight against these doctrines, so that their children stay healthy.”
“Therefore, for parents who want to keep their children away from the inappropriate effects of sex education, there is only one solution left, and that is preventing their children to go to school,” she added.
“Since 2014, Farida Belghol, a controversial figure, launched a campaign called “Days of not going to school”, which purpose is to protest the teaching of sex issues in French schools,” the French documentary maker stated.
“This social activist was wrongly accused of many things. But anyway, she sounded the alarm about this,” she mentioned.
Educating and teaching children at home is the only way to protect them from moral harm
“All the theories of teaching sexual issues in schools, which come from America and are rooted in some religious books such as the Talmud, leave only one way for parents and that is not to send their children to school and educate them at home,” she believes.
“Educating children at home requires a lot of effort from parents. Because such an education should be in line with school education system. This is a possibility for parents, although recently the government has limited parents to teach their children at home. Because in the past it was enough for parents to announce that they are teaching their children at home. But now the government has passed a law according to which parents must announce their request for home education to the Ministry of Education and they can do this only if the government approves,” the French Muslim lady continued.
“Therefore, the government tries to preserve its dominance in the education of children at school. Even some ministers of education announced, “your children belong to us!” When school education like vaccinations and sex education, is increasingly linked to international institutions such as the World Health Organization and UNESCO, parents lose more control over the situation. Therefore, the father’s power in the family has decreased and somehow mothers play the role of fathers, who, of course, cannot play it properly. Therefore, the role of fathers and the role of teachers in school has decreased,” she added.
“The ministers of national education of France, who were ministers of upbringing or training in the past, want to dominate the children who will one day become servants of the French government. Children are disobedient to the teachers day by day. French teachers have no power and some of them have raised their hands in surrender. There are currently many job vacancies for teachers in schools of France. Many teachers have resigned. Because they could not manage their classes and were not tolerable for their organization. Teachers are asked to grade students based on the books of a certain authors. Therefore, to deal with such a trend, we need to raise our children more independently, and teach them to deal with such challenges in society,” Zahra Guillaume further stated.
“Muslim journalists, documentaries and even screenwriters have important roles. Because the tomorrow world is the world of picture and the world of the moments,” she emphasized at the end of her speech. /345/
Emphasizing the role of media outlets and media activists in confronting Islamophobia, Christiane Zahra Guillaume, a Muslim lady and French documentary maker, emphasized, “The tomorrow world is the world of picture and the world of the moments.”
Christine Zahra Guillaume is a French documentary maker who got acquainted with Islam at the age of 32 and became a Muslim.
As a participant of the 7th General Assembly of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly in Islamic Republic of Iran, in an interview, on how she got acquainted with Islam stated, “After 15 years of working as a social worker, I got to know the problems of women in French society, such as divorce, loneliness, beatings from their alcoholic husbands. Although these cases were not widespread, they did exist.”
“After a while, I could not continue my activity due to busy life. But over time, I realized that I had to make a change in my life. I did not know what caused my depression. But the conditions of French society bothered me,” the French lady continued.
“I entered the university and received a doctorate in the fields of linguistics and sociology. During my studies at the university, I met a group of revolutionary Iranian students. They lent books every day in front of the university. I became interested in them and took books, read them, return them, and again take a new book. These books were related to topics such as the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini, Allameh Tabatabai, Martyr Motahari, and the works of these figures, as well as hijab,” she added.
Travel to Iran
“By reading these books, I gradually became acquainted with Islam and became interested in Iran and decided to travel to the country. At that time, due to the Islamic Revolution, there was no good view of Iran in the West. So that everyone warned me about traveling to Iran. But I traveled to Iran and came back and continued my studies. During this time, I got to know Islam and converted to Islam at the age of 32,” Zahra Guillaume said.
About her activities after her visit to Iran, she said, “I worked as the secretary of the Iranian ambassador in Belgium for three years. This job helped me a lot. Because in addition to working as a secretary, I had time to think about the Islamic Revolution, Zionism and international politics. Then I married to an Iranian student, and we went to Iran and lived there for three years. During this time, I worked as a university professor and a reporter in the French section of a monthly magazine called Message of Islam.”
“Unfortunately, after 3 years, I had to return to France due to family issues. Since then, I worked only for IRIB and Sahar TV, and I prepared a daily report in French and sent it to IRIB. After 10 years of activity, I lost my job because IRIB did not have budget and could not afford to pay my salary. Therefore, I had to find another job. Again, I started working as a social worker in the psychiatric department of a hospital,” she continued.
Expulsion for wearing hijab!
“Since I became a Muslim, I have been working wearing a hijab. At that time, I worked in a place where there were many Muslim patients. They knew from my hijab that I am a Muslim. But after a while, the manager learned I am a Muslim and fired me. I was unemployed again,” Zahra Guillaume said.
The works
Among the works of this educated French lady are: Making a film about Ashura, a documentary film about Charles Hossein Zenderoodi, the contemporary Iranian painter, a program about Iranians living in France in cooperation with Jam-e Jam TV, several programs in collaboration with Mr. Mustafa Dalai about Muslims and Muslim women in Europe, a film about the Shiites of France with the cooperation of Mr. Homayunfar, a film about martyr Qassem Soleimani, and a film about Sunnis in Iran.
She has also established an association to introduce Iran in Europe. Holding exhibitions, music classes, Persian and Arabic language classes, and calligraphy classes are among her other activities.
The search for justice and the fight against oppression in Islam attracted me to this religion
Regarding the reason for becoming interested in Islam, she said, “I was a Christian who didn’t go to church much, and I wasn’t interested in politics. But what made me interested in Islam and Shiism was the justice and fight against oppression in the words of Imam Khomeini (r.a.).”
Further, this French documentary maker regarding the religious values in French society stated, “The yellow vests movement shows that the French people are looking to restore Christian and religious values to the country. Because the secular structure of government and feminism have removed religious values from the society. They have a lot of money and are very active in propagation. Therefore, we also have to work a lot.”
The role of the media in the fight against Islamophobia
On the role of the media in confronting Islamophobia in Europe, this member of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly stated, “In my opinion, the media is very important because it is a kind of struggle and resistance. We can do great things and provide a lot of information about Imam Hussain (a.s.), Arbaeen, Imam Ali (a.s.) and AhlulBayt (a.s.) to the French, the people of Europe and the West in general.”
“They don’t know about these issues, or if they do, they don’t want to talk about them. Therefore, we have to work more. We can introduce them to these issues by using paintings and music,” she added.
“Some styles of music like rap, which we are not interested in, have a great influence on the youth. Why don’t we have a style of music that young people like? We need to find arts that attract to young people,” Zahra Guillaume continued.
Education is an important factor in attracting students to religion
“Education is very important,” she emphasized, “In France, education is very influential, and the country’s minister of education tries to allow different groups to introduce their doctrines, so that turn students away from religion. But the French people want to fight against these doctrines, so that their children stay healthy.”
“Therefore, for parents who want to keep their children away from the inappropriate effects of sex education, there is only one solution left, and that is preventing their children to go to school,” she added.
“Since 2014, Farida Belghol, a controversial figure, launched a campaign called “Days of not going to school”, which purpose is to protest the teaching of sex issues in French schools,” the French documentary maker stated.
“This social activist was wrongly accused of many things. But anyway, she sounded the alarm about this,” she mentioned.
Educating and teaching children at home is the only way to protect them from moral harm
“All the theories of teaching sexual issues in schools, which come from America and are rooted in some religious books such as the Talmud, leave only one way for parents and that is not to send their children to school and educate them at home,” she believes.
“Educating children at home requires a lot of effort from parents. Because such an education should be in line with school education system. This is a possibility for parents, although recently the government has limited parents to teach their children at home. Because in the past it was enough for parents to announce that they are teaching their children at home. But now the government has passed a law according to which parents must announce their request for home education to the Ministry of Education and they can do this only if the government approves,” the French Muslim lady continued.
“Therefore, the government tries to preserve its dominance in the education of children at school. Even some ministers of education announced, “your children belong to us!” When school education like vaccinations and sex education, is increasingly linked to international institutions such as the World Health Organization and UNESCO, parents lose more control over the situation. Therefore, the father’s power in the family has decreased and somehow mothers play the role of fathers, who, of course, cannot play it properly. Therefore, the role of fathers and the role of teachers in school has decreased,” she added.
“The ministers of national education of France, who were ministers of upbringing or training in the past, want to dominate the children who will one day become servants of the French government. Children are disobedient to the teachers day by day. French teachers have no power and some of them have raised their hands in surrender. There are currently many job vacancies for teachers in schools of France. Many teachers have resigned. Because they could not manage their classes and were not tolerable for their organization. Teachers are asked to grade students based on the books of a certain authors. Therefore, to deal with such a trend, we need to raise our children more independently, and teach them to deal with such challenges in society,” Zahra Guillaume further stated.
“Muslim journalists, documentaries and even screenwriters have important roles. Because the tomorrow world is the world of picture and the world of the moments,” she emphasized at the end of her speech. /345/