The Algerian authorities have decided to expand their fight against terrorism to combat subversive sermons by religious leaders preaching in remote mosques. To stem the rising influence of Salafism in the country, a national syndicate for Muslim imams will be formed this week, a move that the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Endowments does not oppose.

The Minister of Religious Affairs and Endowments, Bouabdallah Ghlamallah, publicly said that he sees no reason why imams cannot form a syndicate. He and others in the goverrnment advocate controlling subversive mosque sermons that they believe are misleading believers with subversive and radical messages.

Bouabdallah Ghlamallah, whose ministry has ordered the provinces across the country to regulate the imams’ social and professional issues, opposes the hateful sermons that may create discord in Algerian society.

The rising influence of Salafism in Algeria is particularly acute in the center of the country, where the young faithful are increasingly adopting Sunni principles that claim a return to the original Islam. It is an ideology that preaches a literalist tradition that focuses on piety and morality and whose followers are both young and old. This “Islam of the religion’s first centuries” is worrying the Algerian authorities at the highest levels and they have decided to control the situation.