The links between France and the Muslim world have been forged throughout history, as evidenced by the two centuries of Muslim presence in France, when Muslims from Andalusia crossed the Pyrenees.

These relationships are also marked by alliances, diplomatic relations and anecdotes sometimes forgotten today. For example, Moulay Ismail's marriage proposal to the Princess de Conti, daughter of Louis XIV, and the letter he wrote to King James II, who took refuge in France after the revolution of 1688, to convince him to embrace Islam.

His letter constitutes a true apology for Islam and a response to Christianity, thus demonstrating the theological erudition of the Moroccan sultan and his mastery of Koranic sciences and hadith.