“The main motive behind this program is the fact that imams do have little knowledge about French society,” said Mistiri

By Hadi Yahmid, IOL Correspondent

PARIS, December 19 (IslamOnline.net) – Imams in France will study a miscellany of subjects on Islam and the history of secularism in the European country as a part of a government initiative to help train them.

Jean Jacques Rousseau’s 1762 Le Contract Social (the social contract), the ideas of Baron de Montesquieu and Ibn Kathir’s interpretation of the Noble Qur’an are among the mandatory subjects, according to an Interior Ministry document, a copy of which was obtained by IslamOnline.net.

The imams will also study Islamic subjets like the principles of jurisprudence, monotheism and interpretations of the Qur’an by different leading scholars.

“The main motive behind this program is the fact that imams do have little knowledge about French society and misinterpret some religious texts and their application,” Mohammed Mistiri, who along with researcher Pierre Lory helped draw up the eight-page document, told IOL.

“The program was mainly prepared to provide profound and basic information for imams on religious subjects and help them master the French language, given the dire need of translating the meanings of the Noble Qur’an and Hadiths (sayings) of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to non-Arabic speakers,” added Mistiri, the director of the Institute of the Islamic Thought in Paris.

“Imams shall study French sociology to be acquainted with the characteristics of French society as well as the country’s laws,” he said.

The government program falls under two categories: the first one is a two-year study for would-be imams, while the second is a six-month training course for practicing imams.

French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin pressed earlier in the month for teaching Muslim imams the French language and culture.

He said language courses will start as early as January in regions with the highest concentration of Muslims around Paris, Lille, Lyon and Marseille.

De Villepin has agreed with Sorbonne and Aussies universities to teach student imams secular subjects needed to understand the French society while Islamic institutes will provide the religious courses.

The issue of imams training has recently taken central stage in several European countries.

Major Swiss Christian groups put forward a proposal to establish a government-supervised institute to educate imams on the “liberal” lifestyle in western societies, which split Muslim activists in the country down the middle.

German integration minister Marieluise Beck has further released a 20-point strategy  recommending that imams coming to Germany should have a knowledge of the German language and society.