In a recent Friday sermon in Montpellier, France, Imam Mohamed Khattabi countered criticism of Muslims who do not know the words of "La Marseillaise," and asked: "We are supposed to prefer man-made words over words conveyed by God?!" He further said: "[The Quran] is our anthem, our identity. It has been said that the Quran is our constitution." the sermon was delivered on January 1, 2016 and posted on the Internet. For excerpts from other sermons by Khattabi, see MEMRI TV clips 5236 and 5164.

Following are excerpts:

Mohammad Khattabi: I am sometimes surprised at the attacks of the radical right against the Muslims, who say that the Muslims do not know the words of the anthem, La Marseillaise. That's political. They criticize people, saying that they re French people who haven't learnt La Marseillaise. That is their right, because they are French citizens who are proud of their La Marseillaise. So they ask: How come you haven't learnt La Marseillaise?

You all know the uproar that arose regarding a certain soccer player, and La Marseillaise. The president and the minister intervened, and everyone was talking about it. Why? Because La Marseillaise is a symbol in France, and it gives you your French identity. There is nothing wrong with this.

The Muslims would like to recite the first verse of the Quran. The National Front, the extremist right, is zealous about La Marseillaise, so don't I have the right to be zealous about the Quran? La Marseillaise was composed by a mere mortal, whereas the Quran was composed by God… sorry, conveyed – not composed – by God. My Quran, my book, the word of my Lord – I sing its praises, I am proud of it, and I pray with it. So you complain that we have not learned to recite La Marseillaise, when you would like to alter the Quran?!

What kind of abomination is this? We are supposed to prefer man-made words over words conveyed by God?! These are matters that pertain to one's identity. There is not a single nation that takes its identity lightly. I brought La Marseillaise as an example, but it holds true for all countries. There is not a single country with a national symbol, anthem, and oath that would let anybody come and erase its national anthem. So how can we Muslims possibly accept it if someone comes to erase the Book of Allah? It is our anthem, our identity. It has been said that the Quran is our constitution.

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I am talking about 2005 – ten years ago. There was not a single one of those dwarfs, those guys, who speak about Islam that way. It's true that there was divisiveness among the Muslims and the mosques, but the French media had nobody who would say, in the name of Islam, that there is violence in Islam, or that Islam is this, that, or the other. Today, there are five people, who I will not name… In the Muslim community, there are five tiny dwarfs, who, in the name of the self-proclaimed Imam, make declarations to the camera, and it is a catastrophe. All the TV studios and the media are at their service. They just come and attack Islam.

Let me give you an example. One of them said: "The Quran contains violent verses." He has not read the Bible or the Torah. He would drop down in shock! Islam does not speak of violence. The Christians and the Jews themselves say that there are numerous verses on killing and violence in the gospels and the Torah, and only a few in the Quran. I think that somebody calculated that there are nine times as many. In other words, if the Quran has two verses that mention war, you will find 18 mentions in the gospels and the Torah. There are nine times as many, but he has the nerve to speak.

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