Macron affirms secularist France to end political Islam

Nehal Ahmed

France has been suffering for more than six years waves of terrorist attacks, which resulted in a number of deaths and injuries. The 2019 Global Terrorism Index reported an increase in the frequency of terrorist attacks and victims in Europe, especially in France, where 77 people were killed by the end of 2019.

The threat of terrorism is currently no longer confined to operations carried out by non-French, but the situation worsened to become a threat from the inside, especially among the hard-liners living in marginalized regions, after separatist intellectual tendencies had grown within their circles.

President Emmanuel Macron has launched a campaign against political Islam and what he calls Islamist “separatism” in some French cities, seeking to restore order in sometimes violent and impoverished suburbs and to elicit support from rightwing voters ahead of local elections in March.

As he spoke to residents in the Bourtzwiller district of Mulhouse in eastern France on the first of a series of planned walkabouts, he said it was “unacceptable” for anyone to disobey the laws of the French republic in the name of a religion or a foreign power.

Macron announced measures to tighten controls on foreign financing of mosques, to end the nomination by Algeria, Morocco and Turkey of 300 imams a year for France, and withdraw from this year permission for foreign governments to control language courses for 80,000 pupils learning Arabic, Turkish and other languages from their countries of origin.

The imams, he said, were often linked to Salafism or the Muslim Brothers and “preach against the republic”. Mr Macron added, “We will train imams in France so they learn the language and the laws of the republic.”

The first part of the plan responds to a “strategy of obstruction” in the face of the rise of Islamism. The French government will create departmental cells to combat Islamism. It will also strengthen the control of sports organizations, especially martial arts gyms, shooting ranges, and paintball clubs.

The document also suggests a modification of inheritance laws because “discriminatory practices have been found inspired by Muslim law.”

The second axis of the policy aims to “promote a strategy of alternative offers and coordinated support measures for the districts most affected by the Islamist grip.”

To do so, the plan suggests renewing the educational system and offering “reliable extracurricular support.” The new curricula would help develop critical thinking of adolescents and train them in secularism and gender equality.

The third axis, entitled “setting the rules for municipal elections,” aims to strengthen the control of legitimacy of acts of communities and combat separatist attempts.

Finally, the fourth axis tackles the participation of foreign countries in the management of religious establishments.

Over the past years, France has witnessed deep dialogues focused on organizing and managing Islamic affairs in France, and these dialogues came as a complement to the discussions of former French presidents, especially with the increasing size of the French Islamic community.

Also, some have linked the increase in terrorist attacks in France to Muslims, which led to a state of clash between the French society and Muslim expatriates, which reinforced conflict between the living patterns of those outside France and French secularism.

There are between 5.5 million and 6.2 million Muslims in France, or roughly 8 percent of the total population – making the group the largest Muslim minority in Europe.

However, the trend towards the organization of Islam in France will raise several problems, perhaps the most prominent of which is the escalation of the dispute between the French on the one hand and Muslim expatriates on the other hand, especially in light of the collision of criteria, ideology and ideas of both sides.

As previously mentioned, the contexts of the French dialogue are based on the concepts of sovereignty and secularism and the affirmation of these two concepts, which is inconsistent with the ideas and beliefs of extremists.

Although France takes the lead in re-elaborating some religious concepts and beliefs with the participation of other European countries, the main problem is that they exclude pivotal concepts and terms, which led to a lack of congruence in the visions of the solutions provided.

Some Muslims in European countries, especially France, felt like minorities and could not fit in, which was one of the main motives why many citizens have chose to turn against these countries.

Worse still, a number of European Muslims, especially in France, got involved and joined terrorist organizations that instructed them into carrying out terror operations against their countries,

This prompted finding a mechanism to deal with this dilemma to merge these individuals once more into their societies as European citizens.

What makes things even worse is that Qatar and Turkey have long history with secret funds provided to some religious institutions for certain schemes and agendas.

Qatar and Turkey became renowned of their support to suspicious groups, therefore, their activities will be strictly monitored in the coming period in light of the complications imposed by the French authorities on the size of funds.