Moderating Muslims - French Style

Of 1,200 Muslim imams in France, 75% are not French and one-third don't speak the language. Therefore, according to this report,

Muslim prayer leaders in France are to be offered university training in French law, civics, history and culture from next autumn as part of a bid to build a moderate "French Islam" that respects human rights and the Republican code, the interior minister said yesterday.

The courses, available initially at two university campuses in Paris will be accompanied by intensive French language lessons if necessary. Both current and future imams will be encouraged to enrol [sic], Dominique de Villepin said in a newspaper interview.

The purpose is to promote a moderate, European form of Islam and the government is "strongly" advising Muslim leaders to participate.

Interestingly, while promoting a moderate Muslim population,

[S]pecial police cells would soon be set up in each of France's 22 regions, stepping up surveillance not just of radical prayer leaders and their congregations but of restaurants, bookshops, halal butchers and long-distance telephone centres that may serve as contact points for Muslim radicals seeking new converts.

A pilot cell in Paris had mounted more than 100 surveillance operations, questioned more than 1,000 people and expelled 14 fundamentalists including seven imams, Mr de Villepin said. The number of fundamentalist mosques in the region had now fallen from 32 last year to "around 20."

In summary, the French government is telling the Muslims to go to school and follow the rules of society and, by the way, we are going to immerse you in a program of continuous police surveillance and interrogation.

Sounds like a plan that's sure to prompt complaints from the French Civil Liberties Union.