The President has ordained that such a charter must include recognition of the “values of the Republic”, specify that Islam in France is a religion and not a political movement, and put an end to foreign involvement in French mosques.
French President Emmanuel Macron has tasked the French Council of Muslim Worship (CFCM) to draw up a charter of “republican values” which will then be shared with its member organisations and affiliates which must comply to the charter. The President has given two weeks to the Council for the task. The task of drawing a Republican charter comes weeks after France suffered from multiple terror attacks on its soil including the beheading of a teacher Samuel Paty in October.
Ever since France and Europe were hit by Islamic terror attacks, Macron is making efforts to centralise the formation and accreditation of Muslim religious leaders in the country. While his plans have been lauded by the Secularists and the Church leaders in the country, it has been criticised by many Muslim leaders in France and almost all Muslim countries in the world.
The President has ordained that such a charter must include recognition of the “values of the Republic”, specify that Islam in France is a religion and not a political movement, and put an end to foreign involvement in French mosques.
A statement from the President’s office says that the CFCM was presented with a proposal for the creation of a National Council of Imams, which would then create a plan within six months to accredit imams in the country. Under the planned national council, imams would receive a type of accreditation card that could be granted or rescinded based on their adhesion to the charter.
The efforts to ‘nationalise’ Islam gained speed after Macron in October called Islam “a religion in crisis” and vowed to crack down on alleged Muslim “separatism”. He had also indicated that he aims for the estimated 300 imams from countries such as Turkey, Morocco and Algeria currently working in France to leave the country within four years.
Samuel Paty, a the schoolteacher was beheaded in October, by an 18-year-old Muslim refugee of Chechen origin after showing pupils a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad in a lesson on freedom of speech.
On the morning of 29 October 2020, three people were killed in a stabbing attack at Notre-Dame de Nice, a Roman Catholic basilica in Nice, France. The attacker was identified as a Tunisian muslim named Brahim Aouissaoui. The attacker was shot by the police and taken into custody.
The twin terror attacks triggered a debate on political Islam in the country with President Macron taking the lead to take measures to curb separtism and ensure that Muslims adhere to Secularism and Democratic values of France.
Bhagyashree Gupta 
Balaji Subramanian 
Dr. Niranjan B Poojar