Over 500 French Muslim community leaders and activists have signed a letter denouncing a government charter that state-approved French Muslim leaders have signed.
The signatories include 100 imams, 50 teachers in Islamic sciences, 50 presidents of associations and 300 students in Islamic sciences.
The letter takes aim at a charter signed by the the state-approved French Council for Muslim Worship which denounces accusations of racism against France, pledges to recognise “equality between men and women,” and to combat “political Islam.”
The letter states: “These steps were carried out without any consultation with imams or the Muslim community, on whom certain people want to once again impose a way of organising themselves, even though many initiatives on the ground already exist with promising results. A simple consultation of the interested parties would have made it possible to identify the real needs and expectations of Muslims, far removed from the instrumentalisation and political escalation that we are witnessing.”
A few weeks ago the French Council for Muslim Worship, which is approved by the state to represent Islam in France, formally approved a “charter of principles” for Islam in France.
The text, demanded by President Emmanuel Macron in November as part of his offensive against “separatism,” also affirms the compatibility of Islam with secularism.
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