A "forum" for the future of Islam in France, the country's second religion

Muslim worshipers pray during Friday prayers outside the Avicenna Islamic Cultural Center in Rennes, western France, April 30, 2021. The center has seen its walls painted with Islamophobic graffiti for the second time since the start of the holy month of ramadan.

AFP - JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

In France, after the failure of the French Council for Muslim Worship (CFCM), the government is launching a new initiative to structure the cult and give the State an interlocutor.

The Forif, the Forum of Islam in France, is being held this Saturday in Paris.

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In a secular state, the exercise is a balancing act.

The stated objective of the government is to ensure a more legitimate and effective representation of Islam.

No more question, therefore, of having a single interlocutor, too far from the field and too busy managing its internal dissensions, as was the case with the CFCM for almost 20 years.

For this, the state has asked its prefects to identify personalities locally involved in the cult.

Imams, theology teachers, presidents of associations, but also entrepreneurs, lawyers, traders... That is a hundred men and women ready to work on the four major themes submitted to them by the authorities, including the he ambition never really expressed is to obtain a structuring of Islam in France to better fight against extremism.

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Working together in the same direction

For several weeks, by videoconference and workshops, these personalities have been looking into the professionalization of imams, the definition of their status and their training;

the organization of chaplaincies, which intervene in particular with radicalized detainees;

the application of the so-called law “ 

” passed this summer, in particular on the transparency required of associations managing mosques;

and finally on the fight against anti-Muslim acts.

Some leads are already emerging.

For the first time, this Saturday, February 5, all the members of the Forum pour l'islam de France will meet in Paris, partly in the presence of the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, to further advance their reflection.  

But how to achieve concrete results?

This is the limit of state intervention.

It can only offer a space for dialogue.

Everything will therefore depend on Forif's willingness to continue working together, in the same direction, once everyone has returned home.

This Forum for Islam in France will be intended to meet annually, in parallel with the “territorial meetings”.

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