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Rabat – The Paris police prefecture rejected a Muslim’s man application to join the police academy because of a prayer mark on his forehead, French news outlet MediaPart reported last week.
Karim, the 24-year-old Muslim man whose application was rejected, spoke out about the situation last Friday, and the news subsequently made headlines.
Aljazeera reported last week that Karim, whose childhood dream was to become a police officer, had passed all the tests to join French police.
The applicant had only one final step left, a morality investigation, to receive the prefecture’s approval and enter the police academy.
However, Karim’s dream did not unfold as he had envisioned it. During an interview with a police officer in March 2021, the Muslim man was questioned about the mark on his forehead.
A prayer mark is usually described as a sign of devotion and piety. Repeated and prolonged sujud — when the forehead touches the ground during prayer — causes skin change.
Karim said he explained during the interview that the marks were due to prayers, and that he emphasized that not all Muslims have the mark as some have more sensitive skins.
Seven months later, Karim received an email from the prefecture, emphasizing that his application had been rejected.
“During your interview, concerns were raised about the essential duty of neutrality for a police officer. Consequently, since the above-mentioned facts are incompatible with the requested duties, your application has not received approval from the police prefect,” Turkish news outlet AA quoted the police’s response as saying.
Read also: French High Court Upholds Ban on Abaya Dress in Schools
Refusing to give up on his dream, the young Muslim man filed an appeal to present his new arguments, stressing that he could not understand how they could reproach him for the private practice of his faith.
“I am not a radical Muslim. I was being honest. What more could I have done? Lie and hide my mark?” he asked.
While the response from the police academy tried to camouflage their reason for refusing to approve Karim’s application, Mediapart emphatically reported that the young Muslim man’s dream of serving his country as police officer was shattered solely because of his forehead mark.
The disturbing story is hardly surprising as it comes on the heels of the normalization, even banalization of anti-Islam sentiments in France. Indeed, the French government has in recent months made several decisions that an anti-Islam undertone. The latest such move is the controversial decision to deny Muslim women and girls the right to wear the hijab at school and public institutions.
Last August, France’s Education Minister Gabriel Attal declared that the abaya — a loose full-length robe worn by Muslim women — would also be prohibited in state schools. Wearing a headscarf in public schools has been banned in France since 2004.
