Was Napoleon a muslim ?

  • 2020-05-01 16:03:37
The name « Napoleon Bonaparte » has been inscribed for ages in books retracing the rise and fall of this major figure in the history of the Western world. The first emperor of the French was notably commander-in-chief of the army of the East. Born in a catholic family, he was baptized in July 1771. Although he is considered to be attached to his religion, the Egyptian campaign raised his interest in Islam. On July 17, 1799, while visiting the province of Aboukir, he even went so far as to proclaim: "Glory to Allah ! God only is God, and Mahomet is his prophet". Political scheming or did he really convert to Islam and became a Muslim ? This pronounced sentence is considered by the Muslim religion as the basic statement of the Islamic faith, in other words, the Shahada. To be a faithful Muslim, one has to proclaim this, which is the first of the five pillars on which the Islamic religion stands. It is not the first time in Napoleon’s history that such a testimony, if not of adhesion, at least respect for Islam, appears in his speech. About a year earlier, as he arrived in Alexandria on July 2, 1798, here’s what he said to the Egyptian people: "People of Egypt, you will be told that I came to destroy your religion; do not believe it. Let your answer be that I come to reestablish your rights and punish your usurpers, and that I have more respect than the Mamelukes for your god, his prophet, and the Koran".   The researcher Thierry Rayer, a descendant of Bonaparte through the relationship between Emperor Napoleon III and the Marquise d'Escayrac de Lauture, née Marie Rayer, specialized in the history of religions, anthropology, art and science. On the basis of verified and proven facts, his foundings reveal that there is reasonable doubt as to the veracity of the versions of Napoleon Bonaparte's story published by Chateaubriand and other historians.   Indeed, in addition to the clues found in the speech of July 17, 1799, during the Egyptian campaign, the writings produced during his exile in Saint-Hélène contain the following statement: "I prefer the religion of Mohamed. It is less ridiculous than ours ». This statement is part of a criticism in which he evokes the three monotheistic religions. He considered that the Jews had been wrong in wanting to keep the message of Moses and confine it to their "race of God's chosen ones". He admired Jesus, but lamented that Christianity had been taken over by "a group of politicians from Rome" to control the people, and that it had distorted the uniqueness of God: "Then finally, at a certain point in history, a man named Muhammed appeared. And this man said the same thing as Moses, Jesus, and all the other prophets: there is only One God. That was the message of Islam. Islam is the true religion. »   This allows us today to declare that the Emperor Napoleon died as a Muslim. The reviewed History fo Bonaparte will be the cornerstone of the book currently in writing by Thierry Rayer. As evidence of this statement, the book will produce texts and documents that bear witness to this unpublished version of the story of the first French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte. The publication of this work will take place in 2021, at the same time as the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of Napoleon's death.

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