From January 1, France will no longer accept new “seconded” imams, i.e. those sent by other countries, said French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin in a letter to the affected countries on Friday.
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After April 1, 2024, seconded imams still in the territory will no longer be able to stay there “under this status,” he adds in this letter, seen by AFP.
At the beginning of 2020, Emmanuel Macron announced his desire to end the reception of around 300 imams sent from different countries (Algeria, Turkey, Morocco, etc.) while increasing the number of imams trained in France. “We are working towards the end of the number of imams sent in 2024,” said then-Interior Minister Christophe Castaner.
Gérald Darmanin recalled this three-year “notice” to give mosques and states time to organize, insisting on Friday on the calendar: the decision “will take effect from January 1, 2024”.
In concrete terms, this means that from this date “France will no longer accept new seconded imams”.
Those who are already there will have to change their status: from April 1, a “specific framework” will be created that will allow the associations that manage places of worship to recruit imams themselves who will pay them directly.
The aim is not to prevent foreign imams from preaching in France, but to ensure that none are paid by a foreign state of which they are an official or public servant.
On the other hand, according to this letter, the arrival of the “Ramadan Imams”, those approximately 300 chanters and reciters who travel to France during the blessed month for Muslims, “is not questioned”.
At the same time, it is emphasized that a “growing proportion” of imams in office in the territory must be “at least partially trained in France”.
This requires further development of training and the State wants to ensure that an offer that “respects the laws and principles of the French Republic” is expanded rapidly.
Beyond religious training, it is also about supporting imams' access to university education, such as that launched by the French Institute of Islamology in 2023.
Determined to fight against “Islamist separatism,” President Emmanuel Macron announced in February 2020 a series of measures against “foreign influences” on Islam in France, ranging from sending imams to funding mosques.
In order to better organize Muslim worship, a Forum of Islam in France (Forif) was launched in February 2022, whose local actors are intended to better represent the country's second religion. But this organization is struggling to establish itself in the fragmented landscape of Islam in France.