Meet Macron’s nemesis: the ‘Malcolm X of French Muslims’

Emmanuel Macron is becoming quite the curmudgeon in attacking those who don’t conform to his view of the migrant crisis. The French president has said the Italian government is “cynical and irresponsible”, likened populism to “leprosy” and demanded fines be levied against EU states that don’t take their share of migrants. The Italians, increasingly exasperated with the French president, have hit back – labelling him a “chatterbox”.

There is a subject, however, on which Macron has gone uncharacteristically quiet in recent months: Islam. During last year’s presidential campaign it was the one issue on which he appeared uncomfortable when challenged by Marine Le Pen. His response was not to offer a strategy for combating the rise of Islamic extremism in France but to attack the National Front, warning that a vote for Le Pen could lead to a civil war.

In the months after the election, the silence continued. Then, at the beginning of this year, he announced that he wanted