A new ban on foreign-appointed imams in France is aimed at combating Islamist separatism, but the policy risks making matters worse by handing future decisions about hiring imams over to local groups affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. The French move is an example of a political decision that sounds superficially positive. Unfortunately, it fails to address the complex, often unofficial processes by which Islamist ideology is currently disseminated. As such, it offers an object lesson in what not to do, worthy of close observation.
