Muslim High School in Lille Faces Potential Closure Amid State Contract Review

If problems are an integral part of daily life, it is too much for the Muslim high school Averroès de Lille. In a letter dated October 18 addressed to the president of the Averroès association, Mohamed Damak, and of which Saphirnews has a copy, the prefect of the Hauts-De-France Region, Georges-François Leclerc, mentions the possibility of terminating the association contract linking the private denominational establishment to the State since 2008. "When the conditions on which the validity of association contracts is subject cease to be met, these contracts may, after the opinion of the conciliation commission [...], be terminated in particular by the representative of the State on his own initiative," indicates the official, without however providing explanations. The management is summoned to a meeting of the conciliation commission for private education which will be held at the end of November at the prefecture, after which the contract could be terminated.

Eric Dufour, the director of the Averroès high school, confirms having received the prefect’s correspondence. "We received the letter the day after the publication of the article in Le Point" with the mention "Exclusive", he says, regretting that the weekly did not bother to interview the school officials before publishing the information. In a press release, they express their surprise at "these leaks to the press that deliberately disrupt the serenity of the school group" "in an international and national context that casts opprobrium on the Muslim community with an inflamed public opinion" and the summons. "We thought we were done after the publication (several months ago, Ed.) of the report of the Regional Chamber of Accounts (CRC), since academic excellence has been recognized for us," says Eric Dufour, who has a small idea of the reasons that are pushing the prefect to consider terminating the association contract.

It is "probably" related to the presence of a book deemed problematic in the program of the (optional) course of Muslim ethics by the CRC, for which "we have largely explained ourselves," estimates the director. He elaborates on the subject: "What was problematic was not the course itself, but the presence in the program of a bibliographic reference, a book of commentaries on the ’Forty Hadiths of Imam an-Nawawi’. What we are being reproached for are very precisely the comments on certain hadiths, for example against mixing and for which I myself was horrified, because they are contrary to our values. We are an example of mixing: men-women mixing, social mixing, mixing of opinions [...] This bibliographic reference has been immediately removed." Eric Dufour is also annoyed by the fact that "what we are being reproached for is never really specified. We constantly rehash the same fantasies about the school group relayed by a certain press," in particular about the alleged link between Averroès and the Muslim Brotherhood.

"I’m willing to be told what it means concretely to be linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, because it doesn’t mean anything... It’s a way to discredit us without proof," he believes. And to deplore: "Every year, we would like to be left alone and work properly, without pressure, without permanent suspicion," but this proves impossible despite "the dozen inspections since 2015 which each time demonstrated our academic excellence, (that) which has propelled thousands of young people into society who are contributing to the Republic."