France’s closure of Islamic seminary raises concerns about education

BURGUNDY, France (MNTV) – A prominent Islamic seminary in France, the Institut Européen des Sciences Humaines (IESH), has shut down amid rising government scrutiny and accusations linking it to the Muslim Brotherhood. 

The school, based in Burgundy and known for training future imams and Islamic scholars, confirmed it would not reopen this September — a decision that has left students and educators uncertain about the future of Muslim religious education in the country.

The voluntary closure came shortly after France’s Interior Ministry formally notified the institute on June 17 of its intent to dissolve it, citing alleged connections to ‘terrorism’ and illicit foreign funding. 

The government simultaneously froze the institute’s assets, triggering what many inside the school describe as a collapse of operations.

IESH, which educated around 200 students each year in Islamic theology, Quranic studies, and Arabic, was one of the few institutions in France offering domestic religious training for imams. 

“To my knowledge, there is no other institution that both provides this training and adheres to Republican values,” one school insider told The National. 

Most students were French nationals, though some came from Germany, Belgium, and Spain.

The shutdown highlights a broader trend of increasing state pressure on Islamic educational institutions. 

France’s President Emmanuel Macron has pledged since 2020 to rein in what he calls “separatist ideologies” and to strengthen domestic imam training — but progress has been slow, and closures like IESH may deepen the existing void.

The Burgundy campus, often referred to as the “pilot model” for similar centers across Europe, had previously faced a state investigation in December, during which authorities seized IT equipment and searched for evidence of foreign financing.

“They accuse us of promoting terrorism, denigrating women, and applying Sharia law,” said one staff member. “But these accusations are based on books taken out of context. Our purpose is to analyze and challenge such content, not endorse it.”

In its defense, IESH submitted a 40-page letter to the Interior Ministry, outlining its curriculum and efforts to cooperate with authorities, including reporting individuals who might pose risks. Supporters argue the institute has been mischaracterized. 

Academicians, rights groups react

Bernard Godard, a former Interior Ministry official who lectures at IESH, told La Croix: “They are conservative in their morality, but they are not fundamentalists.” 

Another academic, Haoues Seniguer of Sciences Po, told The National that the institution had “conservative Muslims working to practice their faith within a French context.”

At a recent cabinet meeting, President Macron approved new measures targeting groups linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. These include the ability to freeze assets and dissolve endowment funds — steps traditionally reserved for combating terrorism financing. The Interior Ministry has not yet clarified how the new measures will apply to IESH or its affiliates.

Amnesty International has expressed concern over the widening crackdown. “France must ensure that its measures do not unfairly stigmatize religious communities or restrict the rights of students to access education,” the organization said in a statement, warning of the potential chilling effect on freedom of religion and association.

With the institute gone, many worry that France — home to Europe’s largest Muslim minority — is losing one of its last institutional bridges between religious practice and civic integration.