By the 1930s the French had identified their stake in Islam and were prepared to go to considerable lengths to protect it. Such a policy had been made possible by the gradual evolution of a consensus within the French administration regarding the nature of Islam itself: namely a religion which bore little resemblance to the ‘orthodox’ model of the Arab world but which was much closer to the pre-Islamic traditional African beliefs and which was held together almost solely through the agency of the Sufi brotherhoods. This understanding of Islam was shared by all but a few mavericks who were convinced of the innate fanaticism of the Muslim faith. It was an understanding which was undoubtedly patronising but which was also immensely reassuring to the French administration.

There were, however, some signs in the late 1930s that the consensus was being at least questioned if not seriously challenged. The early focus of the questioning was the Mauritanian administration of de Coppet and Beyries and with de Coppet's promotion to Governor-General he brought with him some new ideas and initiatives concerning Franco–

Islamic relations. De Coppet was not unfortunately in power for enough time for us to draw very firm conclusions about how seriously he challenged prevailing ideas on Islam. Furthermore, the declaration of war in Europe in 1939 and the advent of the Vichy regime in Dakar in 1940 heralded such abrupt changes that it is doubly difficult to place de Coppet in his correct context.