Islam: Macron obtains from CFCM the creation of a council of imams

Emmanuel Macron received Wednesday evening the leaders of the French Council of Muslim Worship who, at his request, presented the outline of a national council of imams which will be responsible for labeling imams in France, said the Elysee.

The Head of State also asked them to draft within a fortnight, in conjunction with the Ministry of the Interior, a "charter of republican values" on which the CFCM and the nine federations that will commit it. make up.

He gave them an appointment in a fortnight to come and present this charter to him, said the Elysee, confirming the information from

.

This charter, asked the president, will have to affirm the recognition of the values ​​of the Republic, specify that Islam in France is a religion and not a political movement, and stipulate the end of the interference or the affiliation to States. foreigners. 

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Since his speech against separatism and radical Islam in early October, and even more since the assassination of Samuel Paty and the Nice attack, the Head of State has increased his pressure on the governing bodies of Islam by France to fight against foreign influence, radicalization and political Islam.

Its objective is to put an end, within four years, to the presence in France of the 300 foreign imams "seconded" by Turkey, Morocco and Algeria.

This is the 4th time since the start of the school year that he has received at the Elysee the leaders of the CFCM, whom he has seen approximately every two weeks, according to the presidency.

"Get out of these ambiguities"

On Wednesday, alongside the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin, he received the president of the CFCM Mohammed Moussaoui and Chems-Eddine Hafiz, rector of the Mosque of Paris, but also the representatives of the nine federations that make up the CFCM, except one, absent for personal reasons.

The president told them to know that several of these federations have ambiguous positions on these subjects and that it is necessary "to get out of these ambiguities. 

Among these nine federations, representative of a large part of the Muslim cult, three do not have "a republican vision", like the Milli Görüs, of Turkish obedience, and the Muslims of France, ex-UOIF, notes the Elysee .

"If some do not sign this charter, we will draw the consequences", warned the president, who "took note of their proposals".

The council of imams, presented as a kind of council of the order on the model of that of lawyers, will not only be able to label imams and give them an official card - currently no label is necessary and it is possible to self-proclaim imam - but also withdraw their approval in case of breach of the charter and a code of ethics that it will have to develop.

The president gave the CFCM six months to implement a training framework for imams.

Depending on their role - imams leading prayer, imams preachers and imams as lecturers - they will be asked for different levels of knowledge of French and diplomas, up to university training.

The Council will have to bring the current imams into this model.

"Historic moment"

The federations represented "recalled their attachment to France and considered that it was the historic moment" to achieve this goal, according to the Elysee.

"My trust obliges you", Emmanuel Macron told them, who again pleaded for "Enlightenment Islam".

"It is immense pressure that we will exert on them (the Muslim authorities), we have no right to fail," Emmanuel Macron insisted, presenting on October 2 the outline of the future law against separatism, inseparable from the thorny challenge of training "French-style" imams.

The bill is due to be presented to the Council of Ministers on December 9.

The Head of State then gave the CFCM six months to end up with a labeling body for imams, a project launched many times under the previous five-year terms without ever having been successful for nearly forty years.

Membership of the CFCM in this new organization of Muslim worship in France would mark a victory for Emmanuel Macron, target of sometimes violent criticism of Muslims in several countries for his remarks on an Islam "in crisis" and his speech against radical Islam.

 In addition to calls for a boycott of French products, the French president, who rejects any accusation of being anti-Muslim and defends a neutral secularism vis-à-vis all cults, has even personally become the target of jihadist threats.