Muslim Groups in France Criticize National Imam Council Dispute

These Muslim organizations expressed "their deep unease towards the national representatives of Islam in France who continue to publicly display their differences without the restraint and high sense of responsibility that should be theirs." They had, at the end of November, expressed their opposition to the project of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) which, according to them, is built "in haste and without the necessary consultation of the people concerned by this decision".

According to the leaders of the CMR and the CTIR, the vast majority of imams in France are unanimous in saying that they have never been consulted or informed on a question as important as the implementation of a charter project conditioning the exercise of their ministry. They also made it known that "the imams regret that we continue to talk about them and to express ourselves, in their place without them being associated either directly or indirectly with these projects, however necessary for a free and independent organization of Islam in France."

"This is why," these Muslim organizations insist, "it is urgent that this issue be entrusted to those who are concerned by this project, far from the obviously partisan interests. According to them, "any credible organization of Islam in France can only proceed from the base".