A survey from the French Institute of Public Opinion (Ifop) has found that at least one in three Muslims living in France believe that the Sharia law should be instituted globally.
In a follow up to its annual survey of Muslim opinion in France, Ifop released another poll of 1,005 Muslims over the age of 15 to specifically examine “the influence of political Islamism” in the country, notably through the Muslim Brotherhood, which the French government has accused of engaging in a decades-long campaign to undermine Western civilization.
According to the survey, 32 per cent of Muslims in France consider Islam to be both a religion and a legal system which should be used to define all aspects of life, Le Figaro reported.
A total of 36 per cent said that they believe Western countries suffer from a moral and spiritual decay which can only be remedied by Islam. Even more, 43 per cent, said that they believed it was legitimate to campaign politically to advance Islamic values in Western nations such as France.
Specifically on the issue of Sharia law, 33 per cent of respondents said that they believe it is intended to apply to the entire world. Of those who were in favour of such conquest, 88 per cent said that they would prefer a gradual adoption through education and preaching. However, nine per cent said that they would condone the use of coercion or force to spread Islamic law across the globe.
In terms of the Muslim Brotherhood, nearly one in four Muslims in France (23 per cent) said that they align with the radical group’s way of thinking.
Support for the Islamist network varied significantly among different age groups, with young Muslims significantly more likely to back the Brotherhood. According to the Ifop poll, 32 per cent of Muslims under 25 years old were supportive of the group, compared to 27 per cent among 25 to 34 year olds, and 11 per cent among 35 to 49 year olds, and 16 per cent among those over 50.
It is unclear if the survey was able to accurately measure the extent of the Muslim Brotherhood’s support in France, however, with Le Figaro noting that the Islamist organisation operates “on a hierarchical organization and a commitment based on secrecy and ‘taqiyya’ (duplicity), making any precise assessment of its perimeter particularly delicate.”
The poll comes in the wake of a major French intelligence report, which found that the Muslim Brotherhood has been engaged in a multigenerational “Western conquest strategy” through infiltrating governmental and social institutions across Europe and by enforcing strict adherence to the Qur’an in Muslim communities in the West.
The report found that the “main emanation” of the Muslim Brotherhood in France was in mosques, with 139 having demonstrated links to the Islamist network. A further 114 Islamic schools and 280 Islamic groups were tied by the intelligence report to the Brotherhood.
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