INTERVIEW. “There are caricatures of self-proclaimed imams these days.”

Created in 2015-2016 under the leadership of Bernard Cazeneuve, then Minister of the Interior, the Foundation of Islam in France supports “Educational, cultural and social projects”. It thus grants scholarships to train imams and Muslim executives in university diplomas (DU) in civil and civic training approved by the Ministry of the Interior and made compulsory for chaplains since 2017. Aid is also granted to theology students to promote the “French research on Islam”.

Ghaleb Bencheikh, President of the Foundation, evokes the framework of what could be the training of French imams desired by Emmanuel Macron for “Build an Enlightenment Islam in our country. “ An islam “Who can be at peace with the Republic”, declared the President of the Republic, thehe October 2, 2020, in Mureaux (Yvelines), during his speech on the theme of the fight against separatism.

“We will support the initiatives that will be taken by the Fondation pour l’islam de France in the fields of culture, history and science up to 10 million euros. I am thinking in particular of the development of high-level Islamic studies at the university ”, has also announced the head of state.

Why train imans in France?

One of the missions entrusted to imams, essential, is to take care of the distress of the youth. This sympathy for the faithful must embody values ​​that go hand in hand with those of the Republic. Humility, solidarity, openness to others, confessional otherness… If they are steeped in these values, at the end of a generation, we will have smoothed out all our difficulties with the profile of the French imam.

What should these trainings highlight?

We have had enough of these French imams who think that Western society and in particular French society is depraved, permissive, dissolute, disbelieving… He or she – we have three imames today in France – must assume the cultural heritage and the historical heritage French, the one who comes from the ages. He must understand the functioning of institutions, know the law of worship. Understand that secularism is an achievement of modernity and a conquest of the human spirit and that we can no longer, nowadays, govern according to the political desire of God. Only a minority continues to scrutinize the divine will to impose it on others. If they understand this we will have gained a lot.

And what about religious teaching?

We have experienced a terrible regression since with the appearance of Salafism, Wahhabism, radical ideas which, in Islamic contexts, mark the defeat of thought, the leveling of intelligence. The sacred becomes more and more obese and suffocates us. This must be updated and fleshed out with the help of human and social sciences. To put an end to it, we must form good liturges, in French, and who are comfortable. There are caricatures of self-proclaimed imams today.

How to train these imams?

This is the objective of the future Institute of Learned Islamology where imams will come to follow non-denominational courses that will enrich their own theological and religious training. Pending its creation, we grant scholarships so that Muslim religious and associative executives, chaplains, can prepare a university diploma (DU) in civil and civic training.

We financially support young researchers so that they can produce quality work on religion. The objective is to recreate a pool of intellectuals in order to meet future challenges. https://t.co/avj83rZmrH

– Fondation de l’Islam de France #FIF (@FondIslamFR) November 19, 2020

Thanks to these scholarships, the foundation will soon have trained 150 graduates. France has 2,500 mosques. We must continue.

Can France bring about the emergence of an Enlightenment Islam desired by Emmanuel Macron?

Nowhere in the Muslim world is the Imam freed from political power. This will be the case in France and it will become a model to follow in Europe and for Islamic regimes.

– .