Call for imams in France to include prayer for nation comes at a key time

Islamic leader's order for Friday sermons issued after ban on foreign preachers

- Jonathan Eyal

The leader of one of France's most significant places of Islamic worship has told his imams to include a prayer for the country at the end of their regular Friday sermons.

In a letter sent on Jan 9, Mr Chems-Eddine Hafiz, rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, told the 150 imams who are affiliated with his mosque but serve throughout France "to introduce invocations in Arabic and French at the end of the sermon each Friday".

The proposed invocation reads: "Oh Allah, preserve France, its people and the institutions of the republic. Make France a prosperous, safe and peaceful country, where the national community, in its diversity, its different religions, its convictions and its beliefs, coexists in security and peace."

The request came too late for the Friday sermons on Jan 10, but political observers and community leaders in France are watching closely to see if Mr Hafiz's instruction will be followed in the weeks ahead.

The development comes at a symbolically important time in the relationship between France and its Muslim community, almost a year after the authorities decided to ban the activities of foreign preachers.

The decision was to ensure that all Islamic education and religious practices conform to France's laws and social values.

France is home to an estimated 5.7 million Muslims, representing about 10 per cent of the country's total population.

Most of the Muslims hail from the former French colonies and territories of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. The majority are French citizens by birth and have French as their native language.