Editor’s Note: The following article was originally published by the Observatory of University Ethics on December 15, 2023. The Observatory translated it into English from French. I have edited it, to the best of my ability, to align with Minding the Campus’s style guidelines. It is crossposted here with permission.
Mapping the Muslim Brotherhood galaxy in France—UOIF, satellite associations, allies and supporters—(Version 2.12) was originally published on the Lieux Communs website in February 2020 and has been frequently updated since.
This mapping has two objectives:
- First, it aims to make visible all the personalities, structures, and sectors of activity linked to varying degrees to the Muslim Brotherhood in our territory and to provide precise information on each of them.
In the center are the institutional leaders, the “Muslims of France”—ex-UOIF, in white—and theological leaders, the Theological Council—CTMF in gray. On both sides of the large circle, the structures and personalities are linked to the UOIF, then to the allies—direct or indirect partners—and the supporters—the Brothers, not directly affiliated to the UOIF. The areas of activity are designated in colored sectors: Education and Formation in green, Theology, Worship and Preaching in yellow, and Company in red and blue. When activating the mapping, a simple click on a personality or a structure opens a descriptive window justifying its presence on the mapping, providing details on its profile and its activity.
- Second, it highlights the interweaving of this entire galaxy with the Muslim Association for a French Islam (AMIF), which tends to promote communitarianism and separatism.
Circled in red are the members of this association created in April 2019 in order to have ideological control over the religious practice of Muslim citizens in France and chaired by Hakim El Karoui and Tareq Oubrou.
Some of these members are announced in the press as participants in the FORIF—Forum of Islam in France—created on February 5, 2022 by the Central Office of Worship (BCC) of the Ministry of the Interior, such as H. El Karoui, T. Oubrou, A. Gaci, A. Benali, A. Nabaoui or Y. Hilmi. The commissions of this organization are: “the professionalization and recruitment of imams,” “the organization and operation of chaplaincies,” “the fight against anti-Muslim acts and the security of places of worship,” “the application of the law reinforcing respect for the principles of the Republic,” then probably a fifth on financing, led by H. El Karoui.
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Below is the interactive map, and then the explanatory presentation text.
The Muslim Brotherhood
The Muslim Brotherhood, created in 1928 in Egypt, is one of the two major currents of global Islamism, along with Salafism. The goal of this movement is Islamic hegemony through the infiltration of societies—entryism into political parties, unions and associations, propaganda in universities, etc.—the construction of mosques and the training of young people in religious schools. It is not a centralized organization, but a network of groups and people who share the same goals and references. Its ideology is based on the notion of “middle-ground Islam” and gives itself a pacifist, even peacemaking, image. In the context of Western societies, the Brotherhood’s strategy is based on adaptability, integration and the multiplicity of positions—from the obligation to wear the veil to the non-visibility of religious markers.
However, the Muslim Brotherhood does not exclude the use of violence depending on the context—for example, Hamas in Palestine.
The Union of Islamic Organizations of France (renamed “Muslims of France”)
In France, the Muslim Brotherhood movement is mainly represented by the Union of Islamic Organizations of France (UOIF). In 2017, it decided to rename itself “Muslims of France” (MF) by pure political calculation: we therefore keep the original name. It is also active through other movements, such as the network woven around Tariq Ramadan, or the association Participation and Muslim Spirituality, branch of the Moroccan movement Al Adl wal-Ihssane. The associative network linked to Turkish Islam—Milli Gorüs, DITIB—strongly influenced by the doctrine of the Muslim Brotherhood, does not appear in this map.
The UOIF (MF) was founded in 1983 by Tunisian student activists from the MTI—future Islamist political party Ennahda—some refugees from the Middle East—Syria, Lebanon, Iraq—and local Islamic associations. It established itself in the French Muslim landscape following the veil affair in Creil in 1989. Its notoriety led successive governments to integrate it into the representative bodies of Islam in France.
In 1990, the UOIF (MF) contributed to the founding of a European body: the Federation of European Islamic Organizations (FOIE), which has specialized subsidiaries, such as the European Council for Fatwa and Research (CEFR) or the European Forum of Muslim Youth and Student Organizations (FEMYSO). Several UOIF executives are members of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (UISM), based in Qatar and long headed, like the CEFR, by the leading theologian of the Muslim Brotherhood, Youssef Al-Qaradawi.
In 2015, the UOIF (MF) announced the creation of the Muslim Theological Council of France (CTMF), responsible for giving theological opinions (fatwas) adapted to Muslims living in the French republican context.
The UOIF (MF) today brings together around 250 associations managing places of worship, mosques or prayer rooms, sometimes grouped into local or regional federations.
This Muslim Brotherhood organization has satellite associations specializing in diverse areas: health, consumption, finance, youth, women, education and university, justice, humanitarian, etc. It invests in the socio-political field—inter-religious dialogue, defense of human rights, prevention of radicalization, etc. —by allying itself with civil society structures, or even government or local authorities.
The concept of Islam DE France has been supported by the UOIF since the end of the 1980s.
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Creation of AMIF in 2019
In April 2019, the Muslim Association for Islam in France (AMIF) was created by Hakim El Karoui, a former investment banker and author of several reports on Islam in France. The association is made up of two structures: one under the 1901 law—chaired by Hakim El Karoui—the other under the 1905 law, headed by Tareq Oubrou et Mohamed Bajrafil, particularly involved in Muslim Brotherhood Islam.
The aim of AMIF is to ensure, through a levy on the Islamic economy—halal, pilgrimage, funeral services—independent financing intended for the training of imams, the construction of mosques, prevention of radicalization, and the fight against racism, particularly anti-Muslim racism.
Most of the AMIF executives are members, former members or close associates of the UOIF. Their goal is to obtain, through this bias, control over the representation of Muslim citizens in France. The association plans to create a Theological Council national, ideological and legal authority. This body, declined at the departmental level, would lock the Muslims of France into a status separate from the rest of the Nation.
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Image: “Muslim Brotherhood Flag” by Global Panorama on Flickr
