Political Islam is denounced by Muslim believers. This was witnessed by France Bleu in Tours on Saturday 22 January. About fifty worshippers of the Bouzignac mosque had gathered to denounce an inappropriate use of the place of worship. The reason for this was the links between the association “Libre échange”, which manages the mosque, and the organisation “Participation et spiritualité musulmanes” (PSM), which, according to the demonstrators, is run by the mosque’s head, Hamid El Archi.
“We have noticed some activities related to PSM inside the mosque. There is no way of knowing what proportions this may take later,” one of the protesters told France Bleu. These believers are worried because PSM is identified as a conservative movement that holds radical positions and is also criticised for being under Moroccan tutelage. On Saturday, its opponents even spoke of an “Islamist movement that has political plans to overthrow political regimes in the Arab-Muslim world in order to install Islamist regimes”. These believers therefore organised themselves in the “Collectif pour la démocratie et la transparence” (Collective for Democracy and Transparency).
When asked by the newspaper La Nouvelle République, Hamid El Archi brushed aside the action of a “tiny minority of people who pretend to provide justice but sow discord”. The local newspaper reported that the mosque was the scene of internal fighting between progressive and radical movements. This situation reflects the struggle being waged at the national level against foreign influence in French mosques, an example of which is the decline of the Conseil français du culte musulman (CFCM).