THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume IX, Issue # 215, November 15, 2007
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
IMAM ASSIMILATION A LA FRANCAISE
By R. John Matthies
THE THREAT OF ISLAMISM IN FRANCE: HOW THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT DEALS WITH RADICAL ISLAMIC CLERICS
RESIDING IN FRANCE & CONSIDERED TO BE A DANGER TO THE STATE -- GOING MUCH FURTHER THAN EXERCISE OF
UNOBSTRUCTED AUTHORITY IN POLICING & EXPELLING RADICAL CLERICS: INITIATING THE PLAN TO ASSIMILATE
& ACCULTURATE FRANCE'S NEXT GENERATION OF IMAMS -- THE WILLINGNESS ON THE PART OF FRANCE TO DEFINE
STANDARDS OF COMPORTMENT FOR MUSLIMS LIVING & WORKING IN FRANCE & TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT FRENCH-STYLE
SECULARISM IS A NECESSARY PRECONDITION FOR THE REFORM OF ISLAM
FULL STORY:
The Netherlands, one reads, has come to accept that magistrates require a generous range of motion to prevent radical
Islamic clerics from "exercising their profession." But empowering judges will clearly not suffice to promote the
"integration" of imams, or to groom a crop of clerics attuned to Western values. So, while lawmakers across the Continent
consider means to douse inflammatory speech and detain troublemakers "constitutionally," it's time again to consider
l'exception française.
France, far from those "Cheese-eating surrender monkeys" depicted in "The Simpsons," has distinguished itself (since the
Paris terror bombings of 1986, especially) as a nation uniquely disposed to trample toes of intolerant faith. For better or for
worse, the practice of religion – since the Revolution and the Law of Separation (1905), especially – has become, for the
State, no less than a matter of public order and public safety. For this reason, the policing of even "non-violent radicals"
and radical clerics has become something of a national pastime.
Consider the case of Salafist cleric Abdelkader Bouziane, deported back to Algeria in April, 2004, for an interview,
published in the local Lyon Mag, in which the Imam defends polygamy and promotes, "in certain cases," the stoning
of adulterous wives. The Ministry of the Interior slapped Bouziane with an order of expulsion within days of his remarks, on
the strength of a prior order (signed by then Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy) that identified Bouziane as a danger to State
and to public safety. This, in turn, allowed the government to ignore established protections for the safeguard of resident
aliens, and to deport the cleric back to Oran.
All was as planned when a Lyons appeals court judged Interior's order "lacking," and ordered the Imam returned to France.
But, in a fit a pique, Sarkozy declared:
"Imam Bouziane [does not represent] French Islam; he
[represents] Islam [as it is practiced] in France, and we
don't want that sort of thing."
Then President Jacques Chirac agreed, and promised:
"If we have to change our law to avoid repeating this
kind of case, which is unacceptable for us, we will
change the law so we can expel people who say such
things."
This they did, and dismissed the appeals court ruling at the level of the State Council, France's highest administrative
authority. And Bouziane was returned to Algeria in October of the same year. "Constitutionally."
The Netherlands (and others) have envied France's unobstructed hand in matters of policing radical clerics; but the
security services warn that, if expulsion prevents Bouziane from "exercising his profession," it cannot prevent similarly
oriented imams – or self-proclaimed prayer leaders – from falling in place. For this reason, the Ministry of Interior
proposes to privilege "assimilation" and acculturation of France's next generation's imams, and has seized on an
unorthodox (so to speak) method.
Seizing on a program suggested by Dominique de Villepin three years ago, the Catholic Institute of Paris (ICP), in
conjunction with the Grand Mosque of Paris, has announced it's "on course" to admit some 30 imams to a
"secularizing" course of study – complementary to the Mosque's own training cycle. (The public Sorbonne and
suburban Paris-VIII, Interior's first pick in the matter, respectfully declined for reasons of "secularism.")
The ICP program, titled "Religions, Secularism, Interculturality," will offer 400 hours of accredited instruction in four
subject areas: one devoted to "general culture," including a history of "republican values"; a second for legislative
matters, which will examine the rights and obligations of religion in France; a third on the subject of "openness," to
explore religion's relation to the human sciences; and a fourth on "intercultural exchange." More exactly, France's
future imams will be asked to ponder French secular tradition, read their Rousseau and Voltaire, and imbibe
tremendous amounts of grammar.
But this strategy, too, will require effort: Opposed to the plan is the Union of Islamic Organizations in France (UOIF),
France's largest Islamic organization (which operate non-accredited centers of its own), and members of the Grand
Mosque itself. There is also the fact this is, as yet, a voluntary course, open only to those qualified for study at the
university level. This would exclude imams like Bouziane, and the hundreds of makeshift or homegrown clerics on the
radar of the security services at present.
But this is the modest debut one should expect in these matters, and signals a willingness on the part of France to
define standards of comportment for the second religion of the land – and to acknowledge, as former mufti of Marseille
Soheib Bensheikh has suggested, that "French-style secularism is a necessary precondition for the reform of Islam."
"Ideally, it would have been a classic university to respond to this request," says Didier Leschi, Religion Chief at
Interior, "but we advance with those willing to advance." And for those who disagree? Ask Bouziane.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
France, the French, & United States Foreign Policy
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
International Politics & World Disorder:
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor R. John Matthies is Assistant Director of Islamist Watch, a project of
the Middle East Forum. He can be reached at matthies@meforum.org
The foregoing article by R. John Matthies was originally published in Family Security Matters, November 13, 2007,
and can be found on the Internet website
maintained by the Middle East Forum, a think tank which seeks to define and
promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam, working for
Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote constitutional
democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly asserting U.S.
interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
November 14, 2007
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