Rising Hate Fuels The Exodus of Educated French Muslims
Disillusioned by systemic discrimination, educated French Muslims are leaving France in record numbers, seeking peace, security, and freedom to express their faith in places like London, Montreal, & Dubai.
Jeremy Martin
Samir’s wife is a doctor, and like him, she’s ready to leave France. “Four of her friends, general practitioners and dermatologists, have already left,” he explains. “They’re in Morocco, even though they don’t wear the headscarf and some don’t even speak Arabic. But to do what? It's our parents' country, not ours, not mine. My home is France."
For Samir, 39, with a master’s in sociology and over 15 years living and working in northern France, leaving isn’t a choice he’s taken lightly. “I've worked so hard to get where I am, but no matter what I do, I'm just an Arab and a Muslim,” he says.
Samir’s frustration is palpable. “I was forced to show people photos of my wife in a swimsuit at the beach and my daughter doing gymnastics to prove I wasn’t an extremist. You can’t imagine how humiliating that is.”
Samir’s experience, shared in the French newspaper Le Monde, reflects a growing trend among Muslims in France and Europe, where discrimination and prejudice are becoming increasingly prevalent. France’s estimated 5.7 million Muslims—the largest Muslim population in Western Europe—routinely find themselves at the center of public debate and scrutiny. The situation has reached a boiling point for some and has pushed them to seek peace and acceptance elsewhere. Reports suggest that in the last decade, thousands of French Muslims have left, citing “anti-Muslim racism, discrimination, inequality, and social exclusion.”
‘In my own country, I’m not French.’
The exodus has been described in the French publications that have covered it as a “silent emigration” of highly skilled Muslim professionals facing barriers in employment, enduring suspicion, and confronting a “glass ceiling,” explains Abdelghani Benali, an imam and professor at Sorbonne-Nouvelle University.
Julien Talpin, a political science researcher at CNRS and co-author of France, You Love It But You Leave: Study of the French Muslim Diaspora, confirms the exodus, noting the difficulty of quantifying departures but estimating that “over the last few years, departures have numbered in the thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands.”
After conducting a survey of 1,000 people and 140 in-depth interviews, Talpin found that nearly all left after the 2015 attacks, with more leaving in the last two years. “Departures have accelerated since 2015, with feelings of stigmatization rising after the attacks.”
Of the respondents, over 70% reported direct discrimination experiences. "Many also spoke of a degraded atmosphere that puts constant pressure on them, pushing them to be careful about everything they do, everything they say," he said.
For some, such as Amar Mekrous, 46, a Franco-Algerian raised in a Paris suburb, the choice to leave was bittersweet. “It’s only abroad that I’m French,” he reflects. “I’m French, married to a Frenchwoman, speak French, live French, love French food and culture. But in my own country, I’m not French.”
A demonstrator holds up a sign reading “French and Muslim... Proud of our two identities!” during a protest against Islamophobia, November 10, 2019 in Paris (AFP)
The French exodus is particularly driven by major events. The 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris were a turning point, with almost 430 hate crimes against Muslims recorded that year alone. More recently, tensions spiked after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel in 2023 and the French far right’s success at the ballot in the summer of 2024.
Of the 242 Islamophobic incidents in 2023, more than half took place in the last three months of the year, reported the Minister of the Interior, connecting the heightened tensions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The tension in the Middle East has fueled a dramatic rise in racist attacks across France. According to a French government commission, racist acts increased by 32% in 2023 (Ministry of the Interior data - SSMSI), with particular rise in antisemitic acts, up by 284% (Ministry of the Interior data - DNRT). Data compiled by the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF) showed the number of antisemitic acts recorded in France jumped to 1,676 in 2023, compared with 436 the previous year.
The sharp rise in both anti-Muslim and antisemitic attacks underscores the fragility of social cohesion in France, where escalating global tensions are increasingly mirrored in domestic incidents.
Systemic Discrimination
Despite Arabic being the second-most spoken language in France with about 4 million speakers, it is only taught in 3% of secondary schools, less than Russian and Chinese.
A 2017 investigation by the French rights ombudsman revealed that young men perceived as Arab or Black were 20 times more likely to be stopped for identity checks by police. In employment, candidates with Arab-sounding names were 32 percent less likely to be called for an interview, according to a government report released in November.
A key factor enabling the persistence of discrimination in French society is the lack of major media coverage of racist attacks against minority groups. Following the 2024 European legislative elections, in which the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party performed strongly, France saw a sharp increase in racist attacks. In many cases, those accused referenced the RN during their offenses.
According to media watchdog Arrêt sur images, an analysis of 27 prime-time news programs from July 1 to July 5 on major French public access TV channels TF1, France 2, and M6 revealed no mention of the spike in racist attacks. Although the news shows referred to “tensions on the ground” and acts “degenerating” or “turning violent,” they failed to specifically address the racist nature of these incidents. The selective reporting potentially downplays the severity of rising racial discrimination and the social implications of RN’s influence in French society.
Uneven secularism
It’s highly educated French Muslims with the means and professional opportunities to start anew abroad that are largely driving the emigration trend. The exodus represents a significant brain drain for France, depriving the country of the minds it has educated. But the flight of well-trained, skilled professionals signals a tipping point as the nation grapples with systemic discrimination that many believe remains deeply rooted in French society.
The concept of laïcité is a cornerstone of French identity, meant to ensure religious neutrality in public spaces. Yet in practice, this version of secularism has often been unevenly applied, particularly impacting France's Muslim population.
France’s particular form of secularism, which bans all religious symbols in public schools including headscarves and long robes, seems to disproportionately focus on the attire of Muslim women. Many Muslims feel that laïcité is used not as a shield of neutrality but as a tool that disproportionately restricts their freedom to express their faith.
Visible symbols of Islamic identity, such as the hijab, are subject to bans in certain contexts, including the recent rule prohibiting French athletes from wearing the hijab at the 2024 Olympics. The selective application of laïcité has been criticized for reinforcing stereotypes and perpetuating a climate where Muslims are viewed with suspicion, often equated with extremist threats.
For many French Muslims, this climate of scrutiny creates a sense of alienation. The restriction of religious expression, combined with targeted laws, can signal to Muslims that their faith is incompatible with French values, driving them to seek acceptance elsewhere. Educated and skilled French Muslims are increasingly looking beyond France for places where they can practice their religion freely and live without constant suspicion.
Discrimination Across Europe
Across the EU, discrimination and racist attacks against Muslims have increased in recent years. Nearly all discrimination markers against Muslims are higher in 2023 than they were in 2016. The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) concluced in its Survey on Immigrants and Descendants of Immigrants that job market data “reveal a grim situation for the Muslim population in the EU.”
Discrimination remains a major issue, with 38% of Muslim respondents reporting discrimination when looking for work and 35% at work itself. Entrenched discrimination on the job market is also at the heart of the silent flight from France.
More than half of those who said that they experienced racist violence (55%) suffered negative psychological consequences (e.g. depression or anxiety). A further 22% were afraid to leave the house or visit places.
With nearly half (49%) of tertiary-educated Muslims in the EU reporting discrimination, the exit of highly skilled Muslims from France could signal the beginning of a broader European trend.
Top destinations for Muslims seeking a better life include the United Kingdom, followed by the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Morocco, and other French-speaking regions.
Speaking from the UAE, a French Muslim who left France for a job in Dubai, cited the deteriorating professional and social climate: “In France, you need to work twice as hard when you come from certain minorities,” he said. He was happy to have left behind France’s “Islamophobia” and “systemic racism” that meant he was stopped by police for no reason.
The departure of educated French Muslims highlights a troubling trend for France that could also reverberate across Europe, as discrimination and exclusion erode the sense of belonging among a substantial segment of society.
A 30-year-old Franco-Algerian with two master’s degrees who also recently left France for Dubai called France’s systemic racism “complicated” after he hit a glass ceiling in his employment prospects. “The atmosphere in France has really deteriorated [...] Muslims are clearly second-class citizens,” he said.
Unless France can address the underlying issues of systemic discrimination, it risks intensifying this exodus, losing the contributions of its educated Muslim citizens to countries that offer the respect and freedom they seek. Addressing these issues will be crucial if Europe hopes to retain its talent and uphold the values of equality and inclusion.
