Leading French Muslim Body to Create 'License to Preach'
France’s leading Muslim body said it would create a permit to preach for imams in a bid to root out extremists, as well as a new religious body to fight back against extremist propaganda.
Anouar Kbibech, president of the French Council for the Muslim Religion (CFCM), said the country’s imams should be given a certificate – “like a driving licence” – that ensured they promoted the “tolerant and open Islam”.
The move came 11 days after the attacks that killed 130 people in Paris, amid increasing fears about homegrown extremists radicalised by rogue preachers.
There were at least four Frenchmen among the gunmen who carried out the attacks, claimed by the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group.
The CFCM said it would hand out the permits by testing theological knowledge and adherence to French principles, and make them sign an “imams’ charter” in which they agreed to “respect the laws of the Republic”.
At this stage it does not appear that the permits will be compulsory – particularly as the CFCM, set up at the instigation of the authorities around a decade ago, does not represent every mosque and prayer hall in France, which is home to around five million Muslims.
Source: The Guardian
