From foreign funding to local indoctrination—how the Brotherhood is reshaping France, one generation at a time.

  

France is in a juncture. A classified document on organized radical Islam reveals attempts by Muslim Brotherhood to destabilize French society in over 50 years. It is not the traditional terrorism; it relies on ideological brainwashing, money circulations, and partisanized institutions to create a defective democracy. In abusing the French freedom, the Brotherhood seeks to destroy French freedom.

The Brotherhood has a vast scope. It dominates a high number of mosques and hundreds of associations working in the areas of education, sport, and charity. They are organized into teams that constitute a kind of ecosystems that decide the religigious life of every Muslim, and will create an alternative society where the set of religious laws operate in the place of civic laws. One can see how well this cultural change is working because young girls are more pressured into dressing conservatively.

The sphere of education is active battlefield. The Brotherhood schools which trained thousands preach adherence to a hard line. This influence is enhanced by the use of online platforms: social media helps preachers to normalize conservative Islamic values among young people who have lost their way. Such digital dawa is a mix of identity politics and religious messages in an echo chamber that bears no subscription to secularism.

Another front is on politics. The report cautions that the Brotherhood activists have infiltrated local offices and reformed policies regarding secularism and gender equality without notice. This soft jihad is based on patience, it is a long-term program, aimed at rebuilding the legal and cultural environment of France.

This machine is run by money. Investigations have linked the institutions, which are affiliated to Brotherhood with foreign financiers with millions floating in and out of accounts without trace. In 2020, France police took down a large financial network linked to extremist financing, revealing the level of this shadow economy.

Others allege that this crack down by the government could alienate the word of Muslims. Nevertheless, the report states that it is not the issue of Islam; the problem lies in political Islamism a calculated attempt to deliver republican ideals with religious doctrine. This is because France is secular and there is no way secularism can be altered. As the municipal elections are approaching, it is a very real threat that Islamist candidates might end up misusing the principles of democracy.

A one of the solutions would be to put the Brotherhood on the list of the terroristic organization as a number of other countries have. France as well requires more regulation of money passing and more regulation of religious organizations, and stronger secular discourse. Brotherhood is engaged in an ideological war; the defense of France must consist in no less of an ideological war.