Foreign Islamic preachers will be obliged to take an officially recognised diploma before being allowed to work in France, under measures being considered by the French government.
The new rules, if adopted, would affect more than 70% of imams and Muslim community leaders in France and are aimed at combating the spread of Islamist extremism and the radicalisation of young people.
The report comes as France investigates two men, Michaël Dos Santos and Maxime Hauchard, believed to be involved in the beheadings of 18 Syrian soldiers and the US aid worker Peter Kassig in Syria.
An unpublished report, obtained by the Guardian, suggests officials should introduce measures to control who influences France’s Muslim population of about 5.5 million people. Formal and “universal” training for Muslim religious leaders, it says, will discourage extremism, lead to greater integration and put imams on a level with clergy from other main religions.
However, Marco Ventura, a professor of law and religion at the University of Leuven in Belgium, who has seen the report, said it raised the controversial question of government meddling in religion. “This would be state intervention that reached to the heart of the Muslim community and affected its internal organisation,” he said.
“In many ways, though, it represents a return to 19th-century ideas of involving the state in religious training with the aim of modernisation. In those days, the targets were Jews and Christians. The document itself makes the point that there are precedents for what is being suggested.”
French officials estimate there are 1,800 imams working in the country, only 25-30% of whom hold French nationality. Of the 1,800, only 800 at most are paid part- or full-time. Almost all of those receiving a salary are from Turkey, Algeria and Morocco and have been trained in their countries.
The report, by Prof Francis Messner, an Islamic studies expert and director of research at France’s National Centre for Scientific Research, suggests the introduction of more degree courses at higher education colleges. The course syllabus should include secular civic studies, humanities, science and other religions, it says. Diplomas in Islamic theology from private colleges would be officially recognised only if they included these subjects.
Messner said existing theological instruction for priests, pastors and rabbis had set a precedent. This teaching is intended to “avoid the creation of counter-societies preaching the supremacy of divine law over human law … [and] encourage the education of a tolerant, enlightened clergy … [that is] tolerant of other religious traditions or other forms of thought”.
The report recognises the difficulty of imposing training on Islamic preachers and giving them an official status because of the lack of a structured clergy in Islam, and the “multitude of associations or federations that are sometimes under the control of foreign states”.
“The absence of a status defined by the religion itself, has produced the multiplying of self-proclaimed religious leaders.”
The report adds: The report recognises that since 2008, France has created a “well-structured civic- and civil-training network for religious leaders, particularly Muslim religious leaders”, but says there must be more universities offering religious diplomas as well as centres of excellence in Islamic humanities and social sciences.
“The obtaining of a visa for foreign religious leaders wanting to work in France could be made conditional on their agreeing to study for a university diploma and, consequently, proving their good command of French,” the report suggests. “The recruitment of chaplains in the army, hospitals and prison establishments, who are public agents paid by the authorities, should be reserved for those candidates holding an university degree in civil and civic studies.”
Ventura said the report would trigger a debate on whether a neutral state should go so far. “But it is not clear whether the Muslims themselves will be opposed to these proposals. In Morocco and Turkey, for example, they are used to the idea of the state intervening actively in the affairs of the mosque.
“The proposals could also have implications for Christians – churches who bring in priests and vicars from abroad would presumably be subject to the same rules.”
In a letter commissioning the report last year, French interior and education ministers wrote: “It is not intended in any way to enter into the theological content of the programmes which, in our republic, is exclusively the responsibility of the religious authorities.”
The report comes as France investigates two Frenchmen believed to be involved in the horrific beheadings of 18 Syrian soldiers and the US aid worker Peter Kassig. Maxime Hauchard, 22,from Normandy, and Michaël Dos Santos, 22, from Champigny-sur-Marne, were named by the French interior ministry after being identified in the Islamic State (Isis) propaganda video of the murders released on Sunday. Intelligence officers, however, believe the two jihadis were radicalised through the internet.
An Isis film released this week – part of an intensifying propaganda to recruit foreign fighters – showed three French nationals burning their passports and calling on Muslims in France to join the group in Syria and Iraq or carry out attacks at home.
The interior ministry released figures this week stating that 1,132 French citizens were implicated in Isis, either as would-be fighters or suppliers of false papers. There are believed to be about 376 French Isis fighters, while dozens more are believed to be on their way or to have returned.
The interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said 138 suspected Islamists in France were under investigation or in prison and had been neutralised.