France no longer accepts imams paid from abroad. The measure, which came into force on January 1, aims to reduce other states' control over the local Muslim community and encourage the training of their own religious preachers in the country. The decision was one of President Emmanuel Macron's promises in 2020 in the fight against what he called “Islamist separatism.” But both imams and other representatives of the Muslim cult assume that its effectiveness will be limited and there will be a lack of teaching places.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin sent a letter to the affected countries, primarily Algeria, Turkey and Morocco, reminding them that the measure would apply “effectively from January 1, 2024.” In the letter dated December 29, he explains that France will no longer accept imams financed by foreign authorities and that those already in French territory have until March 31 to change their status, that is, to ensure that they are there from that date under a local French contract and not a foreign one.
The new regulation, according to the document carried by local media, does not affect preachers who arrive in France temporarily during Ramadan, Islam's holy month when believers fast. The aim is not to prevent foreign imams from preaching in France, but to ensure that none are paid by a foreign state. In other words, limit the influence of third countries on Muslim worship practiced in France.
The letter sent by Darmanin fulfills an announcement made by Macron in October 2020, when he insisted on the need to confront “Islamist separatism.” During a speech, the centrist leader outlined some key points of his initiative, including building an “enlightened Islam” and “one that can live in peace with the secular French Republic.”
To achieve this, he stressed, it is necessary to “free Islam in France from foreign influences” by training local imams to replace the so-called “consular imams”. A law passed in August of the following year put into practice some of the French leader's announcements. The norm responded to the context of almost a decade of jihadist attacks in the country, in which almost 300 people died.
Imams are paid by Algeria, Turkey and Morocco
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According to the French Council of the Muslim Cult (CFCM), there are currently around 270 imams in the country paid by Algeria, Turkey and Morocco. They represent less than 10% of all incumbents, emphasizes the organization, which represents a hundred mosques.
From April 1, French authorities will introduce a “specific framework” for associations that manage mosques and other religious centers to hire imams themselves. However, the question of financing remains unclear. “Who will pay these imams? “Will it be the mosques?” asked Abdallah Zekri, vice president of the CFCM, on BFMTV.
In the 1990s, Paris signed bilateral agreements with the states from which a large part of the Muslim population came. The aim was to send imams to the country because the Muslim population had grown and there were not yet enough structures to train these people to lead prayers. French law prohibits counting the population by religion, but estimates currently put the number of Muslims in the country of 67 million at over five million. Islam is the second largest religion in France after Christianity.
The interior minister's letter, dated late December, said that an increasing proportion of imams working in France would need to be “at least partially” trained in that country, according to Agence France Presse. The authorities are committed to the rapid development of education that respects “the laws and principles of the Republic,” through universities or other organizations.
“A very small part of the solution”
Muslim religious communities have been preparing for change for several years, but the transition has not been easy. “The Muslim cult faces many challenges in this area,” the CFCM stressed in a statement. The council cites the “precarious status” of imams and the “financial inability of many mosques to hire at adequate salaries,” making it difficult to attract new candidates.
“The need [de imanes] “It is big and there are not as many and less experienced people available as abroad,” Ibrahim Alci, the president of the Coordination Committee of Turkish Muslims in France, told France Inter.
Bissirou Camara, one of the 60 members of the French Islamic Forum (Forif, founded by Macron in 2022 as a new communication channel between the state and the Muslim community), agrees with the lack of preachers. “Even with the 300 magnets [pagados por el Extranjero]“We are well below the number we would need,” he noted. “The risk is that we will then only have self-appointed imams,” he emphasized.
Another question the measure raises is whether it will actually be effective. For the great Imam of Bordeaux, Tareq Oubrou, it represents only a “very small part of the solution”. In an interview, he recalled that “separatism” develops more in social networks than in mosques.
“It is necessary but not sufficient, because there are other stages to integrate Islam into the values of the Republic,” defended the imam, known for his defense of a religious practice in line with the great French republican principles. In 2020, then Interior Minister Christophe Castaner responded to a journalist's question about how many foreign-trained imams were being targeted by the authorities: “Today there are only a few.”
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