Separatisms: "we already have laws, we must implement them", demands Imam Tareq Oubrou

INTERVIEW

The file is flammable and Emmanuel Macron's speech eagerly awaited.

The President of the Republic is due on Friday to present his action plan against "separatism", in particular that of radical Islamism.

All in a context marked by criticism from the left, who denounces a stigmatization for electoral purposes of Muslims, and by the chopper attack carried out in Paris last Friday.

At the microphone of Europe 1, the imam and rector of the Bordeaux mosque Tareq Oubrou also expressed reservations about this action plan.

Fearing a risk of stigmatization of Muslims, he insists on the application of the laws already in place, and criticizes the vagueness of the term "separatism". 

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For the religious leader, "it is normal for the State to ensure the unity of the nation (...) We can only subscribe in this direction, and all citizens, especially those of Muslim faith, must contribute to this unity project ".

And to insist: "Everything that divides our nation must be fought." 

"The legislator must be careful"

"It is in the French tradition to have rational and universal laws", continues the imam, while recalling that "what concerns Islamism today could also concern other communitarianisms".

Also, he believes, "the legislator must be careful when tabling a bill because this bill will concern all of society".

However, he continues, "the principle of universality of a law does not stigmatize a particular community. These are the principles of French law on which the values ​​of the Republic have been built. We cannot betray these values. -the". 

Because the risk of stigmatization of Muslims in France is pointed out by Tareq Oubrou.

"The problem is not in the law, but in the application of the laws, and in the political, intellectual, media speeches, which stigmatize more the Muslims, already vulnerable", explains the guest of Europe 1. 

"The border between community and communitarianism is very thin"

In addition, the rector of the Bordeaux mosque regrets the choice of terms used by the executive.

"The words 'separatism', 'political Islamism', are concepts quite volatile, complex, unstable", he points out, and this while "the reality of the Muslim community is more and more complex".

And to insist: "The border between community and communitarianism is very thin. What is communitarianism, at what moment does it express itself? Is it a crime? handles words that are difficult to define ". 

Tareq Oubrou thus calls for "finding a fair balance between public freedoms and respect for life in common".

"I am not afraid of a debate", he assures us, but "it is necessary to name things well".

And for him, the bill may not be enough to tackle identified ailments.

"We have the impression of fighting a ghost. We treat symptomatically, we treat the pain, but we must tackle the depths, the causes of the Islamist drift," explains the imam.

According to him, it is necessary to deal in depth at the level of "education, pedagogy".

In addition, "we already have an arsenal of law", he notes.

But when we make a law, "we must have the means to apply it". 

"Adapting Muslim canon law"

Friday, Emmanuel Macron should notably announce the obligation to declare the source of foreign funding for mosques.

A good thing ?

"Yes, of course. But it is above all necessary to punish words which call for hatred and division", replies Tareq Oubrou, for whom "walls and money are not fundamentalists. It is words and behavior that they must be sanctioned ".  

The imam thus prefers to insist on the importance of in-depth work on theology.

"Imams must work intellectually on an adapted theology (...) We need deep intellectual work to adapt Muslim canon law to French culture and law".