(5 Feb 2022) The French government on Saturday forged ahead with efforts to reshape Islam in France and rid it of extremism, introducing a new body made up of clergy and laymen - and women - to help lead the largest Muslim community in western Europe.
The new body, called the Forum of Islam in France, was introduced Saturday by the French Interior Ministry.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin spoke at the forum's inaugural meeting at The Economic, Social and Environmental Council in Paris.
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 free of foreign influence, 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.
Some also also see the efforts as a political ploy to lure right-wing voters to President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party ahead of April's presidential election
It replaces the French Council of Muslim Faith, a group set up in 2003 by former President Nicolas Sarkozy, then interior minister. The Council served as an interlocutor between the government and religious leaders.
Islam is the second religion in France, with no single leader and multiple strains represented.
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.
Muslims are divided over the project.
Some believers visiting the Grand Mosque of Paris for Friday prayers cautiously welcomed the idea, while others worry it's going too far in trying to control their faith, or say that the government has singled out Islamic institutions but would not dare suggest such changes to Christian ones.
Hamoud ben Bouzid, a 51-year-old Parisian, was optimistic about Macron’s plan and his effort to include different voices from the Muslim community to show to the wider society its diversity.
“I would like Muslims to be heard as citizens in this country, not as Muslims. As full citizens," ben Bouzid said.
Muslims in France have long complained of discrimination in daily life, from being singled out by police for ID checks to discrimination in job searches.
Whenever extremist violence hits, by foreign-born attackers or by French-born youth, France's own Muslims come under suspicion and pressure to denounce violence.
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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