Le Pen Demands Ban on “Totalitarian” French Muslim Brotherhood

Marine Le Pen’s demand to out­law the Mus­lim Broth­er­hood in France esca­lates the polit­i­cal bat­tle over Islam, posi­tion­ing her far-right Nation­al Ral­ly par­ty as the defend­er of sec­u­lar­ism while ampli­fy­ing anti-Islamist rhetoric ahead of key elec­tions. Her appeal high­lights grow­ing con­cern over ide­o­log­i­cal threats to France’s repub­li­can val­ues and nation­al cohe­sion, chal­leng­ing the gov­ern­ment to take deci­sive action against net­works accused of spread­ing extrem­ism. On 25 March 2025, Moroc­co World News report­ed that Le Pen had pub­licly urged the French Inte­ri­or Min­is­ter to out­law the Mus­lim Broth­er­hood in France.
The arti­cle begins:

Marine Le Pen has called on Inte­ri­or Min­is­ter Bruno Retail­leau to out­law the Mus­lim Broth­er­hood in France, express­ing urgency that her par­ty has been say­ing this for years. The leader of the Nation­al Ral­ly (RN) par­lia­men­tary group addressed the issue on social media after Retail­leau spoke on CNews. “He has detailed infor­ma­tion on the dan­gers of the Mus­lim Broth­er­hood. We have warned about this for years. What is he wait­ing for to ban this total­i­tar­i­an move­ment, which spreads its influ­ence every­where, even with­in the Paris Mosque, a sym­bol of grat­i­tude to Mus­lim sol­diers who fought for France in World War I?” Le Pen wrote on X. Retail­leau talked about sev­er­al issues in his inter­view, includ­ing the attack on a rab­bi in Orleans, anti­semitism, the debate over wear­ing the veil in sports, and what he referred to as “anti-white racism.”

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Key Points:

• Marine Le Pen demand­ed a for­mal ban on the Mus­lim Broth­er­hood, call­ing it a total­i­tar­i­an group threat­en­ing France’s demo­c­ra­t­ic fabric.
• She accused the Broth­er­hood of infil­trat­ing nation­al insti­tu­tions, includ­ing reli­gious sites, and spread­ing extrem­ist ide­ol­o­gy under the guise of religion.
• Inte­ri­or Min­is­ter Bruno Retail­leau agreed on the need for stronger mea­sures, cit­ing Islamism’s link to anti­semitism and ris­ing soci­etal tensions.
• Both lead­ers empha­sized ban­ning reli­gious sym­bols in sports as essen­tial to pro­tect­ing France’s sec­u­lar­ism and social uni­ty from ide­o­log­i­cal divisions.

French Muslim Brotherhood: State Crackdown and Influence in France

In recent years, the French gov­ern­ment has inten­si­fied its scruti­ny of orga­ni­za­tions and insti­tu­tions linked to the Mus­lim Broth­er­hood, most notably by ter­mi­nat­ing state fund­ing for Aver­roes, the country’s largest Mus­lim high school, due to con­cerns over ide­o­log­i­cal influ­ence and doc­u­ment­ed Mus­lim Broth­er­hood ties. This action is part of a broad­er cam­paign tar­get­ing what author­i­ties describe as Islamist sep­a­ratism, prompt­ing affect­ed insti­tu­tions such as Al-Kin­di, France’s only pri­vate Mus­lim high school with a state part­ner­ship, to chal­lenge con­tract ter­mi­na­tion in court, sig­nal­ing a new phase in which French Mus­lim groups increas­ing­ly use legal avenues to resist state measures.

Polit­i­cal ten­sions have also sur­faced in the French Par­lia­ment, where debates erupt­ed over the invi­ta­tion of the Col­lec­tive Against Islam­o­pho­bia in Europe (CCIE), with some law­mak­ers accus­ing the group of advanc­ing a Broth­er­hood-aligned agen­da. Mean­while, Mus­lim Broth­er­hood-affil­i­at­ed net­works are adapt­ing by mobi­liz­ing youth orga­ni­za­tions, engag­ing in anti-racism advo­ca­cy, and seek­ing inter­na­tion­al sup­port, as seen in their efforts to secure fund­ing and expand their influ­ence across Europe. These devel­op­ments illus­trate a dynam­ic inter­play between state crack­downs, legal resis­tance, and evolv­ing Broth­er­hood strate­gies, shap­ing the con­test­ed land­scape of Mus­lim rep­re­sen­ta­tion and influ­ence in France.

Exter­nal References:

1. France’s Islamist Sep­a­ratism Law and Its Critics

2. Mus­lim Broth­er­hood Net­works in Europe

3. Legal Chal­lenges to Reli­gious Edu­ca­tion Poli­cies in France

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