France no longer accepts imams paid by foreign countries. The measure, which came into force on January 1, seeks to reduce the control of other States over the local Muslim community and promote the training of their own religious preachers in the country. The decision was one of the president's promises Emmanuel Macron in 2020 in his fight against what he considers “Islamist separatism”. But both imams and other representatives of the Muslim cult consider that its effectiveness will be limited and that there is a lack of teaching places.
The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, sent a letter to the affected countries, mainly Algeria, Turkey and Morocco, to remind them that the measure would be applied “effectively from January 1, 2024.” In the letter, dated December 29, he explains that France will no longer accept imams financed by foreign authorities and that those who are already in French territory will have until March 31 to change their status, that is, to ensure that from that date are under a local French contract and not a foreign one.
The new rule, specifies the document spread by local media, does not affect preachers who temporarily arrive in France during Ramadan, the holy month of Islam in which believers fast. The goal is not to prevent foreign imams from preaching in France, but to ensure that none are paid by a foreign state. In other words: limit the influence of third countries on the Muslim worship practiced in France.
The letter sent by Darmanin materializes an announcement made by Macron in October 2020, when he insisted that it was necessary to confront “Islamist separatism.” During a speechthe centrist leader outlined some key points of his initiative, which included building an “enlightened Islam” that “can be at peace with the French secular Republic.”
To do this, he insisted, it will be necessary to free “Islam in France from foreign influences” with the training of local imams to replace the so-called “consular imams.” A law adopted in August of the following year materialized some of the French leader's announcements. The norm responded to a context of almost a decade of jihadist attacks in the country, which left almost 300 dead.
Imams paid for by Algeria, Türkiye and Morocco
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits.
Subscribe
About 270 imams paid for by Algeria, Turkey and Morocco are currently in the country, according to the French Council of Muslim Worship (CFCM, for its acronym in French). They represent less than 10% of all those in office, highlights the organization, which represents a hundred mosques.
Starting April 1, the French authorities will implement a “specific framework” for associations that manage mosques and other religious centers to hire imams themselves. The question of financing, however, remains unclear. “Who will pay for these imams? “Will it be the mosques?” asked Abdallah Zekri, vice president of the CFCM, on the BFMTV network.
In the 1990s, Paris signed bilateral agreements with the states where a large part of its Muslim population originated. The objective was that they could send imams to the country, since the Muslim population had grown and there were not yet enough structures to train these people in charge of leading prayers. French law prohibits censusing the population by religion, but some estimates put the number of Muslims currently in the country of 67 million inhabitants at more than five million. Islam is the second religion of Francebehind Christianity.
In the letter sent at the end of December by the Minister of the Interior, it is specified that an increasing proportion of the imams who work in France must be trained “at least partially” in that country, according to Agence France Presse. The authorities are committed to the rapid development of training that respects “the laws and principles of the Republic”, through universities or other organizations.
“A very small part of the solution”
Muslim religious bodies have been preparing for the change for several years, but the transition has not been easy. “The Muslim cult faces many challenges in this area,” highlights the CFCM in a statement. The council cites the “precarious status” of imams and the “financial inability of many mosques to hire at decent salaries,” making it difficult to attract new candidates.
“The need [de imanes] “It is large and those available are not as many and are less experienced than abroad,” said Ibrahim Alci, the president of the Coordination Committee of Turkish Muslims in France, to France Inter.
Bissirou Camara, one of the 60 members of the French Islam Forum (Forif, created by Macron in 2022 as a new communication channel between the State and the Muslim community), agrees with the lack of preachers. “Even with the 300 magnets [pagados por el Extranjero]”We are far below the number we would need,” he noted. “The risk is that then we will only have self-proclaimed imams,” she stressed.
Another question raised by the measure is whether it will really be effective. For the great imam of Bordeaux, Tareq Oubrou, it only represents a “very small part of the solution.” In a interviewrecalled that “separatism” develops more on social networks than in mosques.
“It is necessary, but not sufficient, because there are still other stages to integrate Islam into the values of the Republic,” defended the imam, known for his defense of a religious practice in accordance with the great French republican principles. In 2020, the then Minister of the Interior, Christophe Castaner, responded to a journalist who asked him how many imams trained abroad were in the target of the authorities: “Quite few today.”
Follow all the international information on Facebook and xor in our weekly newsletter.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
_
#France #begins #apply #veto #imams #paid #foreign #states
