Islam in France - Islamist Movements

Islamist Movements

Islamism (Islamisme in French), Islamiste (when referring to a person of extremist opinions), islamique (for a qualifier, the "hijab" cloth veil, or foulard islamique, or barbe islamique, the traditional Arab beard; this does not have the connotation of extremism, and are merely public displays of faith), mouvement islamique (to refer to a political movement), mouvement intégriste or mouvement extrémiste (to refer to a fundamentalist group), mouvement terroriste (for a terrorist group).

In countries with Muslim majorities, Islamist movements are essentially political. Olivier Roy calls Islamists those which see in Islam a political ideology, in the modern sense of the term. In other words a theory which presumes to entirely understand the social side of a society, in political terms.

Islamists want to influence the laws of the state. When using the term Islamist, Muslims refer almost exclusively to those whose program is to establish an Islamic state. There are many more movements to establish such states than are recognized as Islamist by the West, thus the use is not very uniform.

This is not to say that Islamist groups advocate violent takeover in every political environment, they might simply advocate Sharia Law. Because influence in French politics is possible without resorting to violence, the use of violence in that context is considered counterproductive toward achieving their goal of guiding the political system according to the principles of Islam.

The political aim of Islamists is ultimately the formal establishment of Sharia law, with or without modern adaptations. Fundamentalism and traditionalism, of themselves, do not have this specific political connotation at all. Islamists are deemed such according to their adherence to the political goal of an Islamic state, rather than by features of their religious observance.

Islamists characterize their movement as:

• A recall to tradition, which in Arabic is called "Salaf". This is a doctrine from the end of the 19th century called "la Salafia" (Salafism). It may be found in many Islamist movements, and in particular in Algeria, in one of the GIA groups involved in the Algerian Civil War. (There are several different doctrines in Islamism, and given the variety of the movements, and their varying goals, it is almost always advisable when referring to a specific political movement, to avoid generalizations and refer to it by its name.)
• A return to following the laws outlined in the Qur'an ("Coran" in French). Islamists support a revolutionary and political reading of the Qur'an, they criticize the anti-Islamic times, also known as a return of the ignorance before the Prophet Mohammed. ("jahhiliyya" – Arabic for ignorance).
• Islam as religion and State. This position has been adopted, for example, by the djazarist faction of the G.I.A. This group argues that the State itself should ultimately be Muslim in nature.

Islamists often present themselves as a revival movement, a call to Muslims to renew their adherence to fundamental Islamic religious principles and laws, which initially apply only to Muslims.

According to Pascal Mailhos, chief of the Renseignements Généraux (RG), out of 1700 known places of worship, 75 had been subject to attempts of destabilisation by radical elements, half of them resisting the attempts. 31 radical activists have been expelled from French territory, and a dozen have been monitored by the French police.

Islam in France is subject to strong foreign influences. Statistically, only a third of the imams in France have a good command of the French language, another third an average command, and the last third a poor command. This is because there exists no imam training school in France, the 1905 law of laïcité preventing the state from sponsoring religious establishments; in this case, any mosques or 'imam schools'. A low number of salafist elements can be found in some regions of France. The RG estimates that about 200,000 Muslims regularly practice their religion, and that there are about 5,000 salafists, of whom one quarter are involved in radical Islamism. However, its reports on security issues have often been criticized, for example by Le Monde Diplomatique or Le Canard Enchaîné.

According to the RG head, Pascal Mailhos, radical elements had no influence on the 2005 civil unrest in France.