VIENNA, April 3, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – The second Conference of European Imams will open in the Austrian capital Vienna Friday, April 7, with the participation of Austrian President Heinz Fischer and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
"The
Imams and Female Preachers in Europe conference is a follow on from the
2003 conference held in Graz (in southeastern Austria)," Mudr
Khugah, the representative of the organizer Islamic Religious Authority
(IRA), told IslamOnline.net Monday, April 3.
Khugah
said the three-day event has the backing of the Austrian government and
is financed by the Foreign Ministry.
"Vienna
Mayor Michael Häupl is a staunch supporter of the conference and
generously invited us to hold our conference in the Vienna Municipal
Council," he added.
The
conference brings together 150 Muslim leaders, imams and female
preachers from 40 European countries.
British
and German Muslim parliamentarians have been also invited to the
conference.
Austrian
Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel and Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik will
also attend the opening session.
Key
Role
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"The problems facing Muslim minorities across Europe and how to resolve them are also high on the agenda," said Khugah.
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Khugah
said the conference will be focusing on the key role played by European
Muslims in serving their respective societies.
"The
problems facing Muslim minorities across Europe and how to resolve them
are also high on the agenda," he said.
Issues
such as Islamic education, political participation, integration, family
role, unemployment, the environment and animal rights will be also
discussed by the conferees.
Imams
in Austria held their first conference in April 2005 to clear
stereotypes on the Muslim faith and counter attempts by right-wing media
to demonize them in the eyes of the Austrian people.
Muslim
leaders and lawyers have just drawn up a new draft law that gives the
minority more rights such as establishing a college to graduate imams.
Islam,
which was officially acknowledged in Austria in 1912, is considered the
second religion in the country after Catholic Christianity.
Muslims
are estimated at 400,000 in Austria, making up 4% of the country's eight
million population.
