France bans the coming of new islamic imams

What French President Emmanuel Macron called "Islamic separatism" was one of his main obsessions, especially in the wake of the wave of attacks that shook France, from the massacre at the Charlie Hebdo newsroom to that of the Bataclan hall, in addition of course to the growing formation of urban ghettos whose inhabitants live practically outside the laws and customs of the French Republic, or else terrified by the imposition of a radical Islamist power from which they are unable to escape.  

Since 2020 Macron has set out to tackle a problem that was tearing apart the very foundations of the state by calling into question the values of the republic. Both the president and his Interior Minister at the time, Christophe Castaner, saw the source of the infection in imported imams, currently around 300, mainly from Algeria, Morocco, Turkey and Egypt. These visiting preachers, mostly financed by the governments of their countries of origin or by organisations dependent on them, spent between one and three years in their assigned mosques, during which, in addition to taking charge of the spiritual care of the congregation, they often carried out proselytising work in which they transmitted their own radicalism to disenchanted young people. France was precisely one of the European countries that provided Daesh with the most "fighters" during the period in which the latter tried to establish its universal caliphate by taking advantage of the war in Syria.  

Since 1 January, France has banned the arrival and installation on its territory of new imams over whom it has no control or supervision of their income and, above all, their teaching and indoctrination activities. The Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, has made this known in a letter to the governments of the countries sending these Islamic missionaries.  

At the same time, Paris wants the clerics in charge of French mosques to be trained, at least partially, in France, not only culturally but also in some university speciality, so that they are imbued with the republican values of French, and therefore also European, society. Often seen as separate islands in this society, mosques will have to become part of the French social fabric, and therefore be held accountable for whether their activities could have criminal features or aspects.  

The French government is giving a short transitional period, until 1 April next, for expatriate imams in France to change their status to that of resident imams, accepting all the inherent citizenship obligations. This means that the associations that run the mosques will themselves be responsible for recruiting their preachers, and especially for paying their salaries out of their own funds, which can then obviously be easily traced by the tax authorities.  It is therefore strictly forbidden for these clerics to be paid their stipend by a foreign government or organisation, a factor that led the security agencies to assimilate them to a kind of undercover agent on behalf of their paymasters. 

Excluded from the measure for the time being are the so-called "Ramadan imams", the singers and reciters who come to France during the Muslim holy month, during which they contribute to and enrich the rites and ceremonies of that period.  There are usually between 300 and 400 clerics who come to France each year on this occasion, with a temporary permit to stay.  

The French government also intends to promote a Forum of Islam in France (Forif), with the aim both of involving as many actors as possible in what is already the country's second religion, and of unifying an Islam that in France suffers from a strong and divisive fragmentation. Overcoming this fragmentation is seen as a fundamental step towards the desired general acceptance of republican values by France's 6.77 million Muslims, who represent 10 % of the population.