By Colin Randall in Paris France is to intensify efforts to integrate its large Muslim minority by trying to create a generation of French-speaking, socially aware imams equipped with some knowledge of law and diplomas from Parisian universities including the Sorbonne. Dismayed by calculations that a third of the imams practising in France do not speak the language of their adopted country, the interior minister, Dominique de Villepin, wants to launch a foundation early next year. A two-year course at the Sorbonne and Assas universities, starting next autumn, would take the initiative further, giving aspiring Muslim preachers instruction in French law and society.
