Middle East studies in the News

Islamic Scholar Calls for Australian Trained Imams [on Tariq Ramadan]

ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
March 3, 2008

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/03/2178700.htm

http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/4864

A leading Islamic scholar is calling for Imams who teach Islam in Australia to be trained in Australia.

Academics, lawyers and politicians met in Brisbane today to discuss the challenges for Islam in Western countries.

Oxford Professor Tariq Ramadan says it is important for Imams in Western countries to speak the local language, and to teach Islamic principles in the context of local cultures and laws.

"They don't know the reality of the country, and this is not going to help the people," he said.

Professor Ramadan says Imams who have not been trained in Australia can encourage divisions between Muslim and non-Muslim Australians.

"Because they are themselves not feeling at home, the Imams, they are just talking as if we are in a non-Islamic society ... and nurturing again this us versus them."

He says it is dangerous to encourage such divisions.

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