Mohamed-Ali Mostfa
Mohamed-Ali Mostfa is scientific delegate of Pluriel, Associate Professor at the Catholic University of Lyon (UCLy) and habilitated to direct research (HDR) in sociology. He holds a doctorate in English linguistics and cultures and is a member of the Confluence: Sciences and Humanities Research Unit (EA 1598), research fellow at the Centre for the Study of Cultures and Religions (CECR), and co-coordinator of the “Mohammed Arkoun” Islamic Studies program, run in partnership with UCLy, Jean Moulin University Lyon 3, Lumière University Lyon 2 and Sciences Po Lyon.
His research addresses the symbolic construction of the Islamic religious fact in the French public sphere, at the intersection of discourse analysis and the social sciences. Drawing on pragmatic linguistics, performativity theory, critical sociology and narrative analysis, he examines the tensions between normative institutional discourse and experiential narratives from the margins. He also pays close attention to contemporary literary corpora as sites where social imaginaries and narrative resistances are forged.
His work focuses in particular on the discursive production of “Islam of France”, examining categories generated by institutions (such as separatism, radicality, communitarianism) against literary and social counter-narratives. This approach aims to illuminate the dynamics of normalization, stigmatization and subjectivation at work in the interactions between dominant discourse and everyday lived experience.
Resources of this researcher
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article
The grammar of sacred violence: A critical discourse analysis of radical Islamist writings
- Mohamed-Ali Mostfa
This article offers a discursive analysis of two contemporary Islamist texts that present violence not as a deviation from religious normativity, but as its necessary, even redemptive expression. I...
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publication
Dialogue for a More Livable World: Toward an Ethics of Encounter
- Mohamed-Ali Mostfa
How can we live in a climate of mistrust, trapped in identity-based withdrawal, and paralyzed by an uncertain future? On what basis can we open new paths to ease suffering—perhaps even reenchant ou...
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Muslim worship in France: is the State-led reorganization underway?
- Mohamed-Ali Mostfa
In this article published on February 26, 2025, on The Conversation, Ali Mostfa analyzes the evolution of the Forum of Islam in France (Forif), created in 2022 to replace the French Council of Musl...
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article
Redefining Qurʾānic Hermeneutics: Muḥammad ʿĀbid al-Jābrī and Nasr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd’s Humanistic Interpretations
- Mohamed-Ali Mostfa
This article presents the innovative endeavor by Muḥammad ʿĀbid al-Jābrī and Nasr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd in interpreting the Qurʾān through a humanistic lens. Their approach marks a pivotal shift, viewing ...
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Religions put to the test by freedom of expression
- Michel Younès
- Mohamed-Ali Mostfa
- Malek Chaïeb
“In the republican context, freedom of expression involves all the players in society and mobilises a wide range of intellectual resources. What then are the conditions that foster it while r...
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publication
Islam & Otherness. Proceedings of the Pluriel congress in Beirut
- Mohamed-Ali Mostfa
- Michel Younès
- Roula Talhouk
Edited by Michel Younès, Ali Mostfa and Roula Talhouk “In a contemporary context marked by a growing tendency to lock oneself into oppositional logics, reflection on otherness in Islam opens ...
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article
Making religion online: the case of Islam
- Mohamed-Ali Mostfa
Islam in the digital age is becoming an inescapable reality in the lives of believers, thus introducing a new modality in the understanding of Islamic faith. From now on, the sacred text, rituals, ...
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article
From Islamic Reference to Conservative Pragmatism – The Sinuous Paths of the Moroccan JDP Discourse
- Mohamed-Ali Mostfa
“The relationship between the political and religious fields in Morocco is generally based on tactical choices and pragmatic issues, often far from simple ideological orientations. In this co...
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Authority in Islam. What regulation? Proceedings of the symposium.
- Michel Younès
- Mohamed-Ali Mostfa
- Bénédicte Du Chaffaut
“It is often said: “”no clergy in Islam””. In the absence of a hierarchical and universal magisterial authority, what are the instances and figures that serve as regul...
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article
Religious Radicalism. The Challenges of an Ill-Defined Concept in Europe
- Mohamed-Ali Mostfa
Ali Mostfa, professor of linguistics and discourse analysis at the Catholic University of Lyon, analyses the semantic shifts about the notion of religious radicalism, particularly since the Septemb...
Resources related to
Discourse Analysis - Hermeneutics
article
The grammar of sacred violence: A critical discourse analysis of radical Islamist writings
- Mohamed-Ali Mostfa
This article offers a discursive analysis of two contemporary Islamist texts that present violence not as a deviation from religious normativity, but as its necessary, even redemptive expression. I...
videos
From word to virtue: Ibn Ḥazm and the aesthetics of discourse
Paper presented at the 5th international congress of the University Platform for Research on Islam (Pluriel), held in Cordoba from 10 to 14 February 2026 on the theme "Ethics and Aesthetics in Isla...
publication
Sayyid Qutb. Architect of Radical Islamism
- Mounia Ait Kabboura
The thought of Sayyid Qutb (1906–1966) has profoundly shaped a wide range of religio-political movements, from the Muslim Brotherhood to Salafi-jihadists, radicalizing political Islam and inspiring...
videos
The Foundations of Arabic Grammatical Theory
Cairo. In a lecture delivered in Arabic on Saturday, January 25, 2025, at the Dominican Institute for Oriental Studies (IDEO) in Cairo, Professor Ramzi Baalbaki, holder of the Chair of Arabic...
publication
Speaking freely in Islam
- Hamadi Redissi
What is the Islamic doctrine of blasphemy, insult to God, religion and the Prophet? What about the prohibition of figurative representation of Muhammad? Can one openly believe or abjure in Islam? T...
article
The Genre of the Mawlid Narrative in the mid-12th h./18th Century as Exemplified by al-Barzanjī
- Antonio Cuciniello
Among the works of Arabic literature concerning the genre of Mawlid, certainly al-Barzanjī’s Mawlid is a text that has achieved great popularity and spread to large parts of the Islamic world. Inde...
videos
The History of the Quran according to Muslim Sources
- Gabriel Said Reynolds
Professors Shady Nasser from Harvard and Gabriel Reynolds from the University of Notre Dame explore the history of the revelation and compilation of the Quran according to traditional Muslim source...
publication
Revival and Dynamics of Islamic Studies in Europe
- Michel Younès
- Emmanuel Pisani
- Cédric Baylocq
- Zohra Aziadé Zemirli
- Michele Brignone
- Haoues Seniguer
“In a troubled international context where Islam is sometimes defined as an ideological marker of many conflicts, academic research drawing on history, sociology, and political science has mu...