What a provocative idea: French Want to Teach to Preach

French Want to Teach to Preach
Julio Godoy - IPS 5/5/04

PARIS, May 6 (IPS) - The French government decision to expel imams suspected of supporting terrorism or preaching violence against women has led to demands for education of clerics.

All an imam needs at present is to lead what is considered a faultless private life, be fluent in Arabic, and have financial backing from an Arab country. But many are asking if these criteria are good enough.

"French Muslims must revise the qualifications of their imams," says Azzedine Gaci, general secretary of the French Council of the Muslim Groups (CFCM after its French name) based in the southern city Lyon.

"New imams should speak French, and have a profound knowledge of French society and history so that they can adapt our religion to this country," Gaci told IPS. "On the other hand, French Islam must be independent, both economically and politically from foreign influences, especially from Saudi Arabia, Iran and Algeria."

But an estimated five million Muslims in France remain divided along lines of influence. "We have not been able to reach an agreement on this question," Dalil Boubakeur, imam of a Paris mosque and CFCM president told media representatives last week.

The dispute has taken an edge following the government decision to expel several imams. Twenty-seven have been expelled since Sep. 11, 2001, three of them in the last month.

Abdelkader Bouziane, imam at a mosque in Venissieux village 400 km south- east of Paris was expelled April 21 following press interviews in which he said the Koran sanctions violence against women who have committed adultery. But he said also that the husbands should obey national laws forbidding violence against women.

"France cannot accept on its territory statements attacking human dignity," interior minister Dominique de Villepin said while ordering his expulsion.

Bouziane was sent to Algeria where he was imprisoned. Following an appeal on his behalf, a judge in Lyons ruled there were "serious doubts about the legality" of the expulsion, and said Bouziane could return to France.

Daniel Schneidermann, commentator with the Liberation daily called the expulsion "an intentional process of diabolizing a Muslim."

De Villepin has made the fight against radical Islam central to his tenure in his month as interior minister.

His latest move is to expel Midhat Guler, leader of the French Islamic Association (FIC after its French name). Guler, a Turkish national living in France since 1976 is believed to be associated with the radical movement Klapanci, banned in Turkey and also in Germany. The CFCM has excluded a handful of mosques Klapanci controls from its membership.

The FIC is "an ultra fundamentalist movement calling for the creation of an Islamic state in Turkey," Haydar Demiryurek, leader of the French Committee of Turkish Muslims says in a statement.

But Guler's lawyers say he has never taken part in political issues. "The French government is launching a witch hunt against Muslims," says his lawyer Adrien Namigohar. "The government has failed to present any evidence against my client."

De Villepin says he will continue with his moves. "The menace is too grave for us to compromise with these individuals," he told a regional CFCM meeting May 1. "That's why I have already proceeded to expel imams who have betrayed the Muslim message of peace."

De Villepin's campaign focuses on the Salafist wing of Islam whose origins lie in Saudi Arabia. According to information gathered by the internal secret service Renseignements Generaux (RG), this wing is divided into the fundamentalist but apolitical Sheikhist faction which represents 95 percent of Salafism in France, and the Jihadist branch which wants holy war.

But Yamin Makri, spokesperson for the French Union of Young Muslims, says such distinctions are meaningless. "Most imams in France urge Muslims to support Palestinian and Iraqi resistance, but that does not make them terrorists," he said in a statement. "The real Jihadists don't go to mosques, they operate secretly."