Franco-Algerian agreement for sending imams to Paris
Algerian imams will be sent to France to preach the Islam of “the middle way, conviviality and respect of others,” Mohamed Aissa, Algerian minister for religious and Waqfs affairs, has announced. Aissa was quoted by the Algerian Press Service (APS) as making this announcement on the occasion of an official visit of the French minister for the interior and religions, Bernard Cazaneuve, to Alger. On this occasion the two ministers signed an agreement on the preparatory training for Algerian imams to be sent to France. Mohamed Aissa emphasized that these “imams are called to facilitate the integration and evolution of a tolerant and open Islam.” He said these imams “will finalize their French-language skills as well as their knowledge of French law, French culture, and the secular character of the French Republic” at the Grande Mosquée in Paris.
On his side, Bernard Cazaneuve indicated that he wishes to “avoid having the message of Islam twisted by terrorist sects who have nothing to do with Islam.”(sic) According to Le Figaro’s December 18th issue, the French minister recalled that “it is important that there be imams formed in harmony with the requirements of the Republic, in order to fight the twisting and the devaluing of Islam.
(Sources: kipa-apic.ch – Le Figaro – DICI no. 308, dated January 16, 2015)
Read also :
Algeria: 52 Algerian imams sent to France
France: Catholic Institute of Paris to give secular training to Imams
