Debate Over Female Imams Intensifies in French Muslim Community

In France, the issue of women imams is resurfacing at a time when the government is striving to organize Islam with the support of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) tasked with creating a National Council of Imams (CNI). This issue divides the Muslim community due to its complexity and political nature. According to some scholars, Muslim doctrine does not formally prohibit women’s imamate.

"A tradition dating back to the 6th and 7th centuries even allows women to lead prayers in Pakistan or India. There is no theological opposition to this," says Ghaleb Bencheick, president of the Foundation of Islam in France. "Apart from leading the collective prayer, they can already fulfill all the functions performed by imams. They will eventually join the National Council of Imams," confirms Mohammed Moussaoui, the president of the CFCM, to L’Opinion.

There is a principle hostility. At the mention of the subject of "mourchidates" (female religious guides) - about ten of whom, for example, practice in France after being trained at the Mohammed VI Institute in Rabat - tensions emerge. The CFCM is criticized for being involved in the labeling of imams and the French state for interfering more or less in the Muslim cult. Yet France refrains from entering into controversies over women priests or rabbis.

Tareq Oubrou, rector of the Bordeaux mosque, points out that in the Maliki (followed in the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa) and Hanafi (majority in Turkey) rites, women’s imamate is not accepted. "I fear that this will only be a cosmetic communication object," he concludes, believing that the Muslim community is not ready.

"We can always delve into the prophetic traditions, we will not find a consensus among the scholars on this issue. The real obstacle to a woman leading the prayer is her body, the visibility she gives it on that occasion. For conservatives, it is a taboo. This risks distracting the men, they say. There is no other reason for this opposition," comments Eva Janadin, a converted teacher, who has been leading a mixed prayer in a Parisian venue for more than a year.