The charter of principles of the National Council of Imams presented by the French Council of Muslim Worship (CFCM) is not unanimous.
If the CFCM first presented it as adopted in a "
consensual
" way, it was in fact rejected by four component associations of the CFCM, and three of them - the CCMTF, the CIMG France, and "Foi et Pratique" - published a joint statement on Tuesday, January 20 to justify their withdrawal from the project.
Read also: Why is France's Islam torn apart
Among the three associations at the origin of the press release, two are Franco-Turkish and closely linked to Ankara: the Coordination Committee of Turkish Muslims in France (CCMTF) and the Islamic Community of Millî Görüş (CIMG).
The third is an association claiming to be part of the Tabligh, an Islamist movement of Indo-Pakistani origin.
The two pro-Turkish associations have 19 seats in the CFCM, more than the Union des Moquées de France (UMF) which holds the Great Mosque of Paris, near Algeria, or even the Muslims of France (ex- UOIF).
Turkish Islam is therefore over-represented within the Islam of France, since the Turkish community weighs 700,000 people, against nearly 2 million for Algerians for example.
The CCMTF, the voice of Erdogan
The Coordination Committee of Turkish Muslims in France (CCMTF), if it is indeed a French association, is organically linked to the Turkish state.
The association reports to the Diyanet, the religious affairs directorate of the Turkish government.
To read also: "Turkey organizes its hold on the Islam of France"
“
This is the reason why, it is illusory to think that the DITIB
[another name of the CCMTF]
, will accept article 6 of the charter
[article 6 condemns political Islam]
.
The DITIB is by definition a political organization
, ”
Samim Akgönül, director of the Turkish studies department at the University of Strasbourg
, told
Figaro
.
The CCMTF is directly financed by the Turkish State by sending seconded imams, employees of the Turkish State, but also because the association has sold most of its real estate to the Turkish State which therefore ensures the 'interview.
Today, around 250 mosques - out of 2,500 - are managed by the CCMTF.
Read also: The Gray Wolves, Turkish ultranationalists, sow fear in Europe
The CCMTF can logically be considered as a mouthpiece for the Turkish state in France.
"
10% of their speeches are religious
, even suggests Samim Akgönül,
the rest is political
."
Only his political discourse is not that of Salafism or the Muslim brothers, it is part of an identity Islam, nationalist openly loyal to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Mili Görus, dynamic pro-Erdogan association
Like its parent the CCMTF, the Islamic Confederation Mili Görus (CIMG), is an organization very close to the Turkish state.
Only, unlike the DITIB, its links are not institutional, but rather cultural and ideological.
For example: the Sarcelle association of the CIMG commemorated on July 15 on Facebook the failure of the coup against Erdogan.
Created in 1969 by a Turkish politician who became prime minister at the end of the 1990s, Necmettin Erbakan, Mili Görus has from the outset a political and conservative discourse.
He is now very close to the AKP, the party of President Trick Erdogan, who was also the head of his youth section in the 1990s. As such, Mili Görus is not statist - he has may have opposed the Turkish government in the past - but loyal to Erdogan.
"
Like the DITIB, their fear is to see the assimilation of the Turkish generation born in France
", summarizes Samim Akgönül.
CIMG Sarcelles Facebook account Facebook screenshot
Present in France since 1995, Mili Görus has a network of 71 mosques (out of 2,500 in France) and 600 mosques in Europe.
The association is leading major mosque projects, particularly in Sevran, Creil or Grigny (the site is still in the planning stage).
In Strasbourg, Mili Görus is building the Eyyûb-Sultan mosque (name of a Istanbul mosque) which is intended to become the largest mosque in Europe after that of Cordoba.
Due to lack of funds, however, the work was suspended in 2019.
Her dynamism is reflected in the growing place she occupies within the CFCM.
In January 2020, its president, Fatih Sarikir obtained the strategic seat of secretary general of the organization.
"Faith and Practice": the French tabligh
Unlike the other two associations, “Faith and Practice” is not Turkish, and is not associated with any community.
Born in Seine-Saint-Denis in 1972, the movement claims to be Tabligh, an Islamic revivalism movement created in 1927 by an Indian theologian, who seeks above all to bring back Muslims who are too superficially believing in Islam.
As such, the extremely sustained proselytism of the Tabligh is above all turned towards Muslims considered too lukewarm.
Read also: Radical Islam: what is the tabligh movement?
However, the Tabligh movement was specifically condemned by the Charter of the National Council of Imams, which in a footnote to its article 6 specifically condemns the Tabligh as a movement of political Islam.
It is therefore not surprising that “Faith and Practice” refused to initial the charter.
In fact, the Tabligh carries a fundamentalist vision of Islam, which is based on a literal interpretation of the Koran and an imitation of the companions of Mohammed, in particular in the physical appearance (beard, traditional clothes, veil ...).
For researcher Moussa Khedimellah, this desire to differentiate oneself in appearance "
is a new way of staging oneself physically, spiritually and verbally which is being built in a society which, according to them, has never accepted and recognized them
".
In February 2012, Manuel Valls had proceeded to the expulsion of a Tunisian imam of the Faith and Practice association, Mohamed Hammami, for anti-Semitic sermons.
His son is today the director of the association and the imam of one of the association's mosques in the 11th arrondissement of Paris.
Today, this association is losing momentum within the Tabligh movement, in competition with another association, "Tabligh wa da'wa ila llah", and the Tabligh is losing momentum within radical Islam.
According to the 2018 Montaigne Institute report entitled “La Fabrique de l'islamisme”, “
their loss of influence is to the benefit of other religious groups, first the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1990s, then the Salafists. currently
”.