By: IBRAHIM Jaafar
“The Fabric of Islam,” Under the title "the factory of Islamism", is a 617-page report, which presents a comprehensive plan for reform of Islamic institutions in France following a call from Macron to bring them under the aegis of the state. During a July address to lawmakers at the Palace of Versailles, Macron committed to giving Islam “a framework and rules” by the fall. His goals: discouraging insular Muslim communities and combating what they considers "extremist" strands of the religion.
Successive governments since the 1980s have tried to create a brand of Islam particular to France, with the dual objective of integrating the country’s Muslim minority and fighting the Muslims that do not relate with the aspects of community practices. The country is resorting to top-down policies while neglecting the needs and opinions of the main group of people involved: French Muslim communities. Currently, France hold over 6 million Muslims—8 percent of the population. The goal has been to create an Islam that both conforms to national values, notably secularism, and is immune to the interpretations that have gained a footing in the Muslim world.
In 2015, for example, then-President François Hollande signed a deal with the Moroccan monarchy to send French imams to a training institute in Rabat, which according to Macron’s government, creates space for dangerous ideologies since they will be learning from those that are not directly raised with their culture.
One of Macron’s plans is to break with foreign funding in order to disentangle Muslim organizations in France from other countries. Another proposal centers on training imams. Whereas past governments, like Hollande’s, looked to allies such as Morocco — “an Islam we know,” as Godard put it — Macron has suggested training imams at home. In keeping with secularism, the training would be in cultural values, not religious texts, in order to foster a generation of imams “made in France.”
“Muslims, notably the young, inform themselves of the religion more and more on social media,” warned the report’s author Hakim El Karoui on BFM TV on Monday, adding that Salafist-aligned Saudis play a disproportionate role online.
His report which was unveiled and published by liberal think tank Institute Montaigne, calls for the development of a “French Islam” — an autonomous, France-centric branch of the faith that would respond to French law. El Karoui, an essayist and ex-Rothschild banker, is also the nephew of former Tunisian Prime Minister Hamed Karoui.
According to him, France must acquire "means and networks that are important to spread [un] counter-speech "against salafist statements, directly backing moderate strands of the faith against Islamic holders, who place religious ideology above the tenets of the French Republic.
To fund a French alternative, El Karoui proposed taxing halal foods, which in France generate €5 - 6 billion annually, restricting funnels of religious funding from abroad, regulating Saudi Arabia-approved tour guides for the Hajj pilgrimage, and increasing public school offerings of Arabic, all to reduce the influence of foreign actors on France’s Muslims.
The French state intervening in Muslim affairs will be contradicting the very principle of French secularism, mainly defined by the 1905 law, which imposes a strict separation between the state and religious affairs.
Whether Macron chooses to act on the proposals could have political consequences. Bruno Retailleau, senator for the right-leaning Les Républicains party, issued a statement critical of the report: “Not only will an Islam of France not protect the French from radical Islam, but it risks fragilizing the republican pact.”
Macron action has shown he is following in the footsteps of presidents who have tried, and failed, to establish an “Islam of France.”