| PARIS: French Muslim leaders expect a fresh start for their official council after elections boycotted by its outgoing leadership raised hopes of taming some internal rivalries that have paralysed its work for the past five years. The election on Sunday, dominated by a Moroccan-backed mosque network that took 43.2% of the vote, was the third since the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) was launched five years ago but the first with no winner picked in advance. Outgoing CFCM head Dalil Boubakeur, rector of the Paris Grand Mosque network, boycotted the poll after the French government did not back his election as it did in 2003 and 2005. Boubakeur said he was protesting against the voting method. “This is a new beginning,” declared CFCM secretary-general Haydar Demiryurek, head of the Turkish mosque network CCMTF. The new leadership would be elected in a second round on June 22. Anouar Kbibech, whose Rally of French Muslims (RMF) took first place in the vote, described the CFCM’s 2008-2011 mandate as its “adulthood” after its infancy and adolescence. “When I say we’re adults now, that means we’re mature and vaccinated. We’ve seen what happened in the first two mandates,” he told journalists late on Sunday after results were announced. Paralysed by internal rivalries, the CFCM has little to show for its first five years. By contrast, regional councils such as one in Lyon have organised Muslim cemeteries and slaughterhouses and conducted a productive dialogue with other religions. The reasons were multiple – power struggles, ideological disputes, French government interference, rivalries between Algeria and Morocco for influence over Muslims in France – and gave the CFCM a poor image among France’s 5mn Muslims. Speaking as if his group had already won the presidency, Kbibech said: “We’re ready to join all forces in the CFCM so in three years, we can tell the Muslim community: this is what we have achieved. We didn’t just navel gaze for three years, we really did something for Muslims.” One priority was building proper mosques to replace dingy “basement mosques” set up decades ago by immigrants, he said. The CFCM should also act as an authority certifying halal meat sales and travel bureaus for the haj pilgrimage to Makkah, services that could generate fees to finance CFCM activities. There are frequent complaints about dubious halal meat and unreliable haj tour programmes. “Some 27,000 French went on haj last year in uncertain conditions,” he said. Kbibech also mentioned imam training, a high priority for the government which wants to ensure these prayer leaders – most of whom are now foreign-born and not French speakers – preach an Islam compatible with French law and society. A post-election statement by the Union of French Islamic Organisations (UOIF), which scored 30.2%, hinted there still could be tough times ahead for the CFCM. The UOIF, which is close to the Muslim Brotherhood, wants a rotating council presidency to avoid playing the perennial second fiddle to Kbibech’s larger RMF group. It called for a reform “to let the main points of view take responsibility and to protect the CFCM from foreign interference”. The “foreign interference” reference was a dig against the strong support the RMF got from Rabat. – Reuters |
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Europe
French Muslim leaders upbeat after council poll
