GENEVA,
July 17, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Swiss Muslims are taking concrete
steps to establish a federation of Islamic organizations as an
umbrella group for all Islamic bodies in the central European country,
a Muslim activist has said.
"It
is high time that Swiss Muslims formed a representative umbrella group
to speak in unison with authorities, and it is a matter of time for
this all-inclusive group to see the light," Mohammad Karmous, the
head of the League of Muslims in Switzerland (LMS), told
IslamOnline.net.
He
said the much-anticipated body is expected to present the democratic
face of the Muslim minority and represent an ethnic mosaic of Turks,
Albanians, Bosnians, Arabs, Asians and Africans.
Switzerland
is home to some 380,000 Muslims, representing a sizable 4.7 percent of
the country’s some eight million people.
Islam
is the second religion in the country after Christianity.
Foot-Dragging
The
Muslim activist said the idea of an umbrella group has been forced
onto the backburner because the federal system in Switzerland operates
on canton-to-canton basis, driving Muslim minorities in each province
to have their own representative body.
The
last such Muslim body was established in the central canton of Luzern
on June 16 in a gala ceremony at the City Council.
Other
cantons that saw the establishment of Muslim groups include Geneva,
Zurich, St. Gallen, Aragau, Bazel, Neuchatel, Ticino and Fribourg.
Karmous
further attributed the foot-dragging to ethnic divisions as each
Muslim community fails to see beyond its own interests.
"But
time has changed and we should all act in concert and iron our ethnic
differences," he stressed.
The
Muslim activist said the new umbrella federation would speak on behalf
of every community and represent different currents.
He
regretted that the Swiss Council of Churches has named a Muslim
representing the minority in the self-styled Council of Religions,
which is to be established soon.
The
Council of Churches has picked Ferhard Afsar, a Muslim Shiite of
Iranian origin, to the post.
"It
makes no sense at all that the country’s second largest minority
couldn’t field its own representative," Karmous said.
Several
dailies have also expressed surprise at Afsar’s nomination since
Muslims in Switzerland are overwhelmingly Sunnis.
In
November of last year, the Council of Churches took the initiative of
establishing the Council of Religion grouping the three monotheistic
religions.
The
council, which is not recognized by the central government, is
expected to serve as a podium of inter-faith dialogue and reflect on
the country’s burning issues and internal affairs.
