The Forum for Islam in France (Forif) is holding its first meeting in Paris this Saturday, February 5, in the presence of Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.
This is a great consultation between the government and various representatives of the Muslim faith. This forum aims to turn the page on the French Council for Muslim Worship (CFCM), created in 2003 and currently in crisis.
In detail, a hundred people will participate in this meeting. They are mostly leaders of associations, imams and personalities involved locally in the Muslim faith.
Several themes will be addressed during the day, following the different research of four working groups. Gérald Darmanin will speak at 4 p.m. to give more details on the objectives given to this meeting.
Four main topics
According to a report consulted by Agence France-Presse (AFP), one of the groups is responsible for reflecting on the status of the imam and a “definition” of the profession. Half of the imams would not have an identified training, according to their first conclusions. Another studies the organization of chaplaincies. He wants to create a “new cultural authority to support chaplaincies” military, penitentiary, hospital, hitherto provided by the CFCM.
A third group works on the application of the law against separatism passed this summer, and more particularly on the transparency required of associations managing mosques. Finally, the last group wishes to set up a structure dedicated to securing Muslim places of worship. On the other hand, nothing was mentioned concerning the financing of the cult, yet the sinews of war.
The members of Forif, which should be held once a year from today, are actors in the field chosen by the authorities. They were based on the lists emanating from the prefectures following the “territorial bases of Islam in France” which occurred in 2018, 2019 and 2021.
Among them are the former president of the CFCM Abouar Kbibech, the rector of the Mosque of Paris Chems-eddine Hafiz, the rector of the Mosque of Lyon Kamel Kabtane, and the essayist Hakim El Karoui. Women imames Eva Janadin and Anne-Sophie Monsinay, who defend the imamate of women and sermons before mixed assemblies, were not invited, Eva Janadin told AFP.