The French Ministry of the Interior dismissed the imam of a mosque in the central Loire province, claiming that he recited Quranic verses and a hadith during the Eid al-Adha sermon, which it considered "contrary to the values of the Republic", a day after Parliament adopted a law to promote those values.
The decision to dismiss Madi Ahmada, the imam of Saint Chammond Grand Mosque, came at the request of the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmannan, on the pretext that he had recited in his sermon a prophetic hadith and verses from Surat Al-Ahzab addressing the women of the Noble Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace.
The French Interior Minister requested the removal of the imam of the mosque after Isabelle Serbli, a member of the municipal council from the Republican Party, shared a video of the sermon online.
Darmanin asked the Loire governor's office to dismiss the imam and ensure that his residence permit is not renewed, as he finds such statements unacceptable and "against gender equality".
Speaking to Le Progres, Imam Ahmada said that some of the phrases and verses in the sermon were taken and used out of context.
"Our girls don't have to stay at home, they become doctors or engineers," he added.
In a message on social media, the mosque administration announced the removal of the imam.
The Loire authorities said they are working to not renew the imam's residency.
Also, at the request of the Minister of the Interior, another imam, Mehdi, was fired after he criticized the way some Muslim women dress in a sermon he gave on 4 June at Genevilliers, a mosque in Hauts-de-Seine.
Au calme, à #saintchamond :
"Vous, femmes musulmanes, tâchez d'obéir au doigt de vos maris, restez dans vos foyers et ne vous exhibez pas de la manière des femmes avant l'islam."
Très épanouissant.#EidAlAdha pic.twitter.com/6MHUuxrrnV
— Isabelle SURPLY (@IsabelleSurply) July 20, 2021
The Minister of Interior also asked the regional authorities to intervene and suspend the mosque's activities if a similar sermon was repeated, using the new tools allowed by the "Promoting Respect for the Principles of the Republic" law, which rights groups say discriminates against Muslims.
The imam was dismissed, last week, after a meeting of the authorities of the Hauts de Seine province.
Yesterday, the French Interior Minister announced on Twitter that, at his request, the two imams who gave "unacceptable" sermons in the Hauts-de-Seine and the Loire were dismissed.
"We will relentlessly confront those who oppose the rules and values of the Republic," he said.
On Friday, France's National Assembly (Parliament) finally adopted the controversial bill "Promoting respect for the principles of the values of the republic", which was defined for the first time as "combating separatist Islam".
The law prepared by the government of President Emmanuel Macron faces criticism such as that it targets Muslims in the country, almost imposes restrictions on all aspects of their lives, and seeks to show some things that rarely happen as a chronic problem.
It also provides for the supervision of mosques and the associations responsible for their management, and the control of the financing of Muslim civil organizations, and imposes restrictions on the freedom of families to educate their children at home, as well as the prohibition of wearing the veil in pre-university education institutions.