The French Council of the Muslim worship and the Great Mosque of Paris, who had seceded in March, each announced, Sunday, the upcoming creation of their own instance supposed to label the imams.
Le Monde with AFP
The French government wanted a National Council of Imams (CNI) to restructure Islam and fight against radicalization. For the time being, he sees two on the horizon, which illustrates how much the division between the Muslims’ representatives in France remains.
The French Council of the Muslim worship (CFCM) and the Great Mosque of Paris each announced on Sunday, November 14, their willingness to found their own proceedings supposed to label the imams exercising in the territory.
The CNI “will be created at a general meeting on Sunday, November 21, 2021,” said France-Presse (AFP), the Great Mosque of Paris and the three federations that slammed the door of the CFCM Executive Office in March. This one immediately reacted by announcing the creation of a CNI.
In a statement, he called “all the departmental instances of the Muslim worship to meet in convention, on December 12, 2021, for the effective implementation of the National Council of Imams.” He also denounces “the Unilateral initiative “of the four dissenting federations and estimates that” the legitimacy “of the CNI” can only be acquired under the aegis of the CFCM and with the participation of all its federations as well as the involvement of all regional structures and departmental. “
Divisions on the background of a notorious enmity
Public authority interlocutor for the Muslim worship, the CFCM has been immersed in turmoil since the government wanted to adopt a “Charter of Principles for the Islam of France”, claimed by Emmanuel Macron in the wake of his offensive against the “separatism”. The text, which was to serve as angular stone to restructure the second religion of the country, denounces in particular “the instrumentalization” political of Islam, proscribed “the interference” of foreign states and reaffirms the “compatibility” of Islam. With the Republic.
In January, three federations of the CFCM, including both Turks – Le Milli Gorus and the Turkish Muslims of France Coordinating Committee – rejected this charter, which would be likely to “weaken” trust with respect to Muslims. After this refusal, four of the Nine Federations of the CFCM – the Great Mosque of Paris, the rally of the Muslims of France, Muslims of France and the French Federation of Islamic Associations of Africa, Comoros and the West Indies (FFAIACA) – announced, In March, to leave the CFCM Executive Board, to create a new instance to reflect on “the refoundation of the representation of Muslim worship in France”.