HRWF (26.07.2025) – Observing France from Brussels, it would be easy to dismiss the summer flurry of activity around the Muslim Brotherhood as mere jostling by the political elite for electoral advantage by seeing who can appear the toughest. There may indeed be some politicking going on here, but the threat of Muslim Brotherhood “entryism” is real enough, both in France and beyond.
President Emmanuel Macron wants new laws drafted by the end of the summer to tackle the Muslim Brotherhood. Gabriel Attal wants to ban the veil for under-15s. Marine Le Pen demands the “searching for, denouncing, flushing out, cutting funding, and banning publications” of this “totalitarian ideology”. Certainly there is a turf war over who will best defend French values and the Republic against the threat of the Muslim Brotherhood. And for sure, the French electorate welcomes a tough approach; nearly nine out of ten citoyens are in favour of banning the Muslim Brotherhood, according to a CSA poll for CNews, Europe 1, and the JDD.
However, just because there is political advantage to play for does not mean that the threat is not serious and action justified. The recent French government report identified 139 places of worship affiliated with the Musulmans de France Federation (formerly UOIF), considered the French branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Another 68 that are close to it—in effect, 7% of France’s 2,800 mosques, with an estimated 91,000 worshippers among France’s 7.5 million-strong Muslim population.
Small numbers, perhaps, but numbers are not the point. As the European Centre for Law and Justice reports, “the core concern lies in the Brotherhood’s proselytizing efforts and its growing influence.” Or, as the French government report describes it, Muslim Brotherhood ideology is “a threat that spreads insidiously and progressively” and which undermines national cohesion through a discreet and methodical strategy of entryism. This government report identifies 280 associations linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, and active across many sectors of Muslim daily life in France.
This is particularly evident in education and sports. Twenty-one schools with a total of 4,200 students are identified as connected to the Brotherhood. Questioned about such affiliations, Amar Lasfar, president of Musulmans de France and founder of the Averroès High School in Lille, said in 2017: “We are not part of the Muslim Brotherhood. However, we align with their school of thought.” In 2020, 127 sports associations were identified as having ties to separatist movements—18 Salafist and five Brotherhood-affiliated—representing more than 65,000 members, whose coaches and directors emphasise Arab-Muslim identity and promote religious practices.
Foreign funding is a critical enabler of the Muslim Brotherhood’s activities in France. Foreign money has flowed indirectly into mosques, educational centres, and religious institute – in particular the Institut Européen des Sciences Humaines (IESH). These funds promote an international strategy that includes religious training, lobbying efforts, and the development of parallel financial and educational networks. The transactions may technically be legal, but what about the long-term ideological influence and institution-building? The concern is less about the legality of funding than about its ideological alignment.
Here in Brussels, there is additional insight to be had into the Muslim Brotherhood’s long-term strategy of influence and entryism. The Council of European Muslims (CEM), based in Brussels since 2007, manages the Brotherhood’s influence strategy across European countries and institutions. Another of its key instruments is the Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations (FEMYSO), which is actually registered in the EU’s Transparency Register. In other words, they are operating in plain sight, here at the heart of Europe, but without adequate challenge or scrutiny.
Around Europe, security services are deeply concerned about the Muslim Brotherhood’s influence, as detailed in a report from George Washington University’s Program on Extremism. Belgian authorities are scrutinising several associations over suspected links to the Muslim Brotherhood. A confidential intelligence report dated late April and cited by La Dernière Heure (DH) on Wednesday, July 9, describes the Collective for Inclusion and Against Islamophobia in Belgium (CIIB) as a “pressure group with Brotherhood tendencies”. A 2015 UK report on the Muslim Brotherhood, led by Sir John Jenkins, found that its ideology and tactics contradicted UK values and national interests, and enjoyed an influence in the UK that was disproportionate to its size. The UK government committed to continued monitoring of the Brotherhood’s activities and statements, as well as increased scrutiny of its fundraising efforts in the UK.
As Youssef Ayed wrote for the European Centre for Law and Justice, “this is not about banning Islam, but about resisting the political instrumentalization of the Muslim faith, which poses a direct threat to the foundations of our democracy”. In short, France must tackle this threat, to protect the vast majority of its 7.5 million Muslims, and the ideals of the French Republic itself.
(*) This article was first published in French by the author in Atlantico. Also published by Human Rights Without Frontiers HRWF
