It is a sea serpent. The subject of the training of "French-style" imams returned to center stage on Tuesday, during the speech by President Emmanuel Macron on the fight against "separatism", a another way of designating "radicalization". The objective of the Head of State: to cease welcoming "seconded" imams sent by other countries such as Turkey or Algeria, to replace them with imams trained in France and "proficient in the language and the laws of the Republic ".
The problem is that this "republican" formation as such does not exist. No recognized university or educational establishment currently offers training for candidates for the religious function.
Existing links with the university
From a theological point of view, only two institutes today train imams and chaplains in France. First, that of the "Muslims of France", formerly known as the Union of Islamic Organizations of France (UOIF), supposedly close to the Muslim Brotherhood, at Château-Chinon in the Nièvre. Then the Al-Ghazali Institute of the Great Mosque of Paris (GMP), where the training is based on both religious teachings and secular subjects, such as human sciences, law or the history of France.
Even before the Head of State spoke, links were forged between Islam in France and the university system. Last April, the Great Mosque of Paris and the Sorbonne set up a partnership concerning 120 imams throughout the Hexagon. Objective: to complete "knowledge of the French language and a better approach to secularism for the new imams reporting to the Paris Mosque." ".
The representative of the Sorbonne explained that his "multidisciplinary teaching team" is "able to supervise the training of imams called to exercise their ministry everywhere in France while respecting the principles of the Republic". Almost a year later, at the Paris Mosque, we welcome this convention. "It works very well," says a representative of the GMP to the Parisian.
A still insufficient supply
In college, there is also a university degree (DU) "Laïcité", which Bernard Cazeneuve, then Minister of the Interior, had promoted in 2015, in the wake of the bloody attacks by Charlie Hebdo, Bataclan and the Hyper Hide. Twenty establishments provide this education in France.
This is the case at the University of Cergy-Pontoise (Val-d'Oise), where the DU is named "Secularism and principles of the Republic", but also in Lyon, Nantes, Toulouse or Strasbourg. About 400 people are trained there each year: mosque administrators, teachers, priests or pastors, police officers ... Future imams? Perhaps, but no precise statistics on their number in this type of training exist.
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In sum, some avenues already exist for training imams within the framework of the laws of the Republic. But to avoid leaving its mosques "at the mercy of fundamentalists", it will be necessary to increase the number of training centers, advances the general delegate of the French center of the Muslim worship (CFCM), Abdallah Zekri. In France, Islam has in fact some 2,500 places of worship, where around 400 "detached" imams officiate whom Emmanuel Macron intends to dismiss. So many replacements to find.
A financial problem too
At the Grande Mosquée de Paris, we feel in any case “already ready” to follow Emmanuel Macron in his desire to better train imams. “It is this policy that we will pursue, we are told. The courses will be given by people in capacity as well for theology as for the humanities and French courses. "
Only small doubt, within the institution: the date of departure of the Algerian, Moroccan or Turkish imams in the sights of the Head of State. Despite the presidential declarations, it is unlikely that these "detached" leave the territory tomorrow, their visa running for most of them until 2024, we are told at the Grand Mosque. Information confirmed this Wednesday by the Minister of the Interior, Christophe Castaner, who also gives the date of 2024 for the end of this device.
Clearly, this leaves France a maximum of four years to find a financial solution. Because if the seconded imams were paid by their country of origin - "an appreciable economy for mosques", recalls Abdallah Zekri-, the new religious guides will have to be paid with French funds. "If the state wants to have republican French imams, it must put his hand in the pocket," warns the CFCM general delegate. Contacted to respond to this call with the foot, the Ministry of the Interior had not responded to our requests at the time of writing.
