Concerned by the increasing extremism of some religious leaders in the remotest parts of the country, Algeria has decided to create a national syndicate of imams. The idea is for a regulated system of mosques to clamp down on extremism and calls to commit acts of terror.

The type of problem faced was explaned by a young Muslim from the Kabylie region.

A new trend that seeks to impose Islamic rule by violent and revolutionary means is gaining momentum in our mosques. Books that have nothing to do with the tenets of the Muslim religion, which is based on peace and respect for others, are being distributed.

Religious Affairs and Endowments Minister Bouabdallah Ghlamallah recently spoke of his concerns.

All imams, mourchidates [women religious counselors] and other religious leaders [should] be vigilant and protect society from deviant ideas that disrupt religious practices in the country.

The attempt to clamp down on extremist clerics is not to be taken in isolation. The country has suffered numerous waves of terror attacks in recent years. In January some 37 people were killed in a jihadi terror attack on an oil facility in the country – many of them foreign nationals.

Not only are radical Algerian imams causing problems domestically – so too in France. The French government has expelled numerous clerics, among them Algerians, as explained by French Interior Minister Manuel Valls.

I don’t confuse this radical Islam with the Islam of France but there is a religious environment, there are Salafist groupings, who are involved in a political process, whose aim is to monopolise cultural associations, the schooling system… We will expel all these imams, all these foreign preachers who denigrate women, who hold views that run counter to our values and who say there is a need to combat France.

Much of this Algerian radicalism of the mosque could be put down to the governmental policy of the 1980s of allowing thousands of ‘free mosques’ to open and remain outside of governmental control.

“Their imams, unconstrained by ministerial supervision and reliant on the local faithful, were free to indulge in fiery sermons,” according to the International Crisis Group.

Algeria is geographically the largest Arab country – more than 220 times larger than Lebanon, 1,000 times larger than the Comoros Islands, the smallest Arab League member. Much of the country is desert and incredibly difficult to police.

[Photo: James Gordon / The Israel Project / Wiki Commons / Google Earth]