Si Kaddour Benghabrit

Abdelkader Ben Ghabrit (Arabic: عبد القادر بن غبريط; 1 November 1868 – 24 June 1954), commonly known as Si Kaddour Benghabrit (سي قدور بن غبريط) was an Algerian religious leader, translator and interpreter who worked for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was the first rector of the Great Mosque of Paris.

He participated in the Algeciras Conference of 1906 and the negotiations leading to the Treaty of Fes of 1912. He headed a French diplomatic mission to Mecca in 1916 to facilitate the Hajj. He worked to persuade Hussein bin Ali, the Sharif of Mecca to break with the Ottoman Empire and join the Allies. In exchange, his caliphate would be recognized by the Maliki Muslims of the French colonial Empire.

During the Occupation of France in World War II, he hid and saved numerous Jews in the basements of the Grand Mosque of Paris. Alongside Abdelkader Mesli, he joined the resistance and protected numerous victims of persecution, sometimes estimated to have been more than one thousand persons.

Benghabrit received high recognition by the French government. He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour (1939). After World War II, he received the French Resistance Medal with rosette (1947).