The French government on Saturday introduced a new body to reshape Islam in France, part of President Emmanuel Macron’s efforts to rid it of extremism.
The Forum of Islam in France leadership will be made up of clergy and laypeople to help guide the largest Muslim community in western Europe. All of its members will be hand-picked by the government and women will make up at least a quarter of them.
With France bloodied by past Islamic extremist attacks and having hundreds of citizens who went to fight with jihadists in Syria in past years, few disagree that radicalization is a danger.
The Forum of Islam in France leadership will be made up of clergy and laypeople to help guide the largest Muslim community in western Europe. All of its members will be hand-picked by the government and women will make up at least a quarter of them.
With France bloodied by past Islamic extremist attacks and having hundreds of citizens who went to fight with jihadists in Syria in past years, few disagree that radicalization is a danger.
Supporters say it will keep the country and its 5 million Muslims safe and ensure that Muslim practices in France adhere to the country’s cherished value of secularism in public life.
Yet critics, including many Muslims who consider the religion a part of their French identity, say the government’s latest initiative is another step in institutionalized discrimination that holds the whole community responsible for violent attacks of a few and serves as another barrier in their public lives.
Macron’s project includes measures like training imams in France instead of bringing them in from Turkey, Morocco or Algeria — a plan many in the Muslim community approve of. It also breaks the centralized leadership of clerics.
Last year, the French parliament approved a law to strengthen oversight of mosques, schools and sports clubs. The government says it was needed to safeguard France from radical Islamists and to promote respect for secularism and women’s rights. The law has been used to shut down multiple mosques and community groups.
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