“Instead of making new laws, let’s apply the existing legislative arsenal! The formula turns like a catchphrase among the French imams, for many skeptical, even worried, vis-a-vis the bill “consolidating the republican principles” against separatism. A text that not everyone has read in detail, however, and which they like to say “is not the primary concern” of their followers, who are more concerned these days with health and economic issues.
If Bouna Diakhabi, imam in Épinay-sur-Seine (Seine-Saint-Denis), believes that “in a secular country, we must adapt” and that a law is therefore necessary, Yassine Farhi, imam in Échirolles (Isère ), for its part, fears increased surveillance and “negative effects on living together”. “In any case, the two October attacks were committed by individuals who did not even go to mosques! ”
The announcement, Thursday, December 3, of reinforced control over 76 mosques was often misunderstood by its ministers of religion, as was the dissolution, the day before, of the Collective for the fight against Islamophobia, an association of which several measure the popularity in the field. Finally, some declarations by the head of state do not get through, such as “Islam is living in a crisis today, all over the world” (at Les Mureaux, October 2).
A contested national council
Separation between cults and the state requires, another project is currently at work, in parallel with the bill: that of the training and certification of imams in France. Pressed by the Elysee, the French Council of Muslim Worship (CFCM) announced on November 18 the creation of a National Council of Imams (CNI). It should be made up of the presidents (who are not imams) of the nine federations that make up the CFCM as well as one imam per federation.
However, out of around 2,500 places of Muslim worship in France, less than a third is attached to the federations that make up the CFCM. The so-called “independent” imams, in the majority, are numerous these days expressing their hostility towards the future CNI, implemented by a CFCM whose legitimacy and representativeness they question.
Several media personalities have taken the lead in the discontent: Mohamed Bajrafil (who has just announced that he has ceased to be an imam), the grand imam of Lyon Kamel Kabtane, and that of Bordeaux Tareq Oubrou, author of a recent article in the world. “The overwhelming majority of imams identify with this forum, including those linked to the CFCM,” he said. They are the first to suffer from subordination to federations and foreign countries. ”
“Interference” from abroad
“The CFCM should rather be called CECM, Foreign Council of Muslim Worship,” adds Abdelali Mamoun, imam in Val-de-Marne, recalling that its federations have close ties with Algeria, Morocco and Turkey. “The organization of worship was already under consular interference, and it will now be the turn of theological questions! With the CNI, the French state ratifies the total interference of foreign countries on the Islam of France. ”
The discontent also concerns the “republican charter” that the imams certified by the CNI will have to approve, seen as a form of “paternalism” and proof of “suspicion” towards them. This text should be made public in the coming days.
