PARIS, May 11, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – The French Justice Ministry froze plans to appoint a chief Muslim chaplain for prisons over protests from the French Council of Muslim Faith (CFCM) on sidelining the Muslim body in the selection process.

“France’s plans to appoint a chief Muslim prison chaplain were frozen in an effort to contain the crisis triggered in the CFCM following the resignation of two members of the CFCM's Executive Council,” sources told IslamOnline.net Tuesday, May 10.

Fathia Al-Jabali and Foad Alwai, two members of the CFCM’s Executive Council, have resigned in a demonstration of dissatisfaction with the sidelining of the CFCM, the Muslim umbrella body in France, in the appointment of the Muslim prison chaplain.

The two are representing the Union of French Islamic Organizations (UOIF) in the CFCM.

The sources, who declined to be named, stressed that a new chief Muslim prison chaplain would be selected after electing a new CFCM board next June.

Last week, the CFCM approved an “urgent” request from Justice Minister Dominique Perben to appoint Hassan Al-Alawi Al-Talibi as a chief prison chaplain to combat what he termed as “Islamic extremism.”

Talibi, of a Moroccan origin, is a teacher of mathematics in the northern city of Lille. He is married with seven sons.

Clear Message

UOIF chairman Lhaj Thami Breze confirmed news of freezing the French plans to appoint a Muslim prison chaplain.

“A French Interior Ministry official contacted the UOIF to inform it plans to appoint a Muslim prison chaplain were put on ice.”

He attributed the freezing of the French plans to the CFCM’s protests on sidelining the Muslim body in the selection process of the Muslim chaplain.

“The resignation of the two CFCM’s Executive Council members was a clear message to the French authorities to preserve the CFCF independence.”

French Interior Minister Dominique De Villepin was expected to meet Tuesday with CFCM leader Dalil Boubakeur and CFCM's Executive Council resigned member Foad Alwai to probe means of solving the crisis.

The French Justice Ministry has been keen on appointing a Muslim chaplain for Muslims prisoners in an effort to combat what it terms the “Salafi” religious stream in the French prisons, IOL learnt from sources at the CFCM.

The Muslim prison chaplain will be tasked with helping Muslim inmates practice their religious rituals, providing them with copies of the Noble Qur'an and mediating with the prison administration to solve problems facing them in practicing religious rituals.

Last year, a French study revealed that Muslims make up between 50-70% of prisoners in the French jails.

The move to appoint a Muslim prison chaplain comes only few months after the French Defense Ministry assigned Ayyat Hussein, a Muslim army colonel, to study the possibility of setting up a department for Muslim chaplains to meet the spiritual needs of Muslims serving in the republic’s army.