What is this new body of European Imams? And is it a new initiative?
Answer
By the name of Allah the most merciful and powerful,
I would like at the first glance to welcome all the audiences of IOL and thank IOL for this kind incitation.
The European assembly of imams and spiritual guides is an independent Islamic organization which gathers all the imams (males and females) who live in Europe and are active in the field of Da`wah. It aims to prepare and develop the category of imams and spiritual guides in Europe so that they could guide European Muslims according to the balanced regulations of Islam. As this will help them reach the active European citizenship and integrate into the European societies. We also seek to develop the role of the mosque in Europe and we work on an effective dialogue between our umbrella and the European Commission (EU) to be able to get an official recognition for the position of Imamah. And this is an initiative from the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE)
Name
Botra Nasem
-
Profession
Question
Is there any role that is supposed to be played by your body?
Answer
No doubt we haven't established this new umbrella that gathers all European imams and spiritual guides except because we believe that it would help us reach our goals.
And there are some supportive evidences which prove that we are now on the right track, one of which is that the EU believes now that the imam is the most significant profession that can guide all the European Muslims and can affect their role in the European community (positively or negatively). But the EU considers the official dialogue between the EU and European imams is a huge obstacle. Thus, this new organization will really help each and every European imam develop their qualifications and get their legal and financial rights.
And it is considered an important European demand which will keep the European imams'performance and vision watched.
Name
Moaaz Farukh
- United Kingdom
Profession
Student
Question
What is the mission and vision of this new assembly of European Imams?
Answer
The draft of the Main law stated the mission and the vission on the following way:
The Vision:
To bring all the efforts of Imams and spiritual guides in Europe together under one organisation to preserve the Muslim identity and prepare Muslims to play a distinguished and civilizing role in their European homelands.
The Mission:
We are a European non-governmental organisation. Our work is based on the teachings of Islam and its performance is governed by the European laws. We strive to create a common platform for helping Imams and spiritual guides to guide Muslims in Europe towards following Islam in a moderate way and working towards integration. We will aid mosques, Imams and spiritual guides to improve their performance and defend their rights and interests. We are committed to serving society and establishing social peace.
The conditions of this umbrella could be summarized in :
1- Respecting the Islamic instructions, by the understanding the Qur'an and the Sunna of the prophet (PBUH)accuratly, and by taking the European society into consideration.
2- Disciplining the European Laws that organize the work of the institutions.
3- We don’t issue the Fatwa in an institutional way, we are not a Fatwa institute, at the same time we don’t ban any member from issuing Fatwa if he was well-qualified for that.
4- We consider the European council for Fatwa and research is our first scientific reference in the field of issuing Fatwa, and we don't hesitate to resort to any other scientific juristic academy if it's Fatwas were accurate and considering the European Muslims' live.
5- The Euro Muslims charter which have been launched the last month in Brussels, is considered the base where the European assembly for Imams and guides proceeds with.
Name
Imams in Europe & their future
- United Kingdom
Profession
Question
In your opinion, what is the future of European imams and how do you see their stance in Europe in 20 years?
Answer
The future of European imams depends totally on the whole inputs.
These inputs can be for instance; whether or not the European country will understand the role of imams and will try to activate this role?
Moreover, one of the main effective factors is; whether or not the imams would be developing the tools used by them to present Islam? - the tools mentioned are like: being fluent in the language of the European country where the imam works and being quite aware of the real European community. In case the European imams use such tools, I assume that they would be soon playing a very critical role regarding the European Muslims'folder.
Name
Kadry Ismail
-
Profession
Question
Based on your long stay in Europe, what is the stance of European Muslims? what are the main challenges and advantages that they do face?
Answer
I have written an article titled European Muslims: challenges and chances, but unfortunately it is in Arabic.
Throughout this article, I tackled in details your question. But to sum it up, the stance of Muslims differs from a European country to another and differs also according to their population and to the organizations that represent them and the laws that govern them.
In general, there is a big challenge that faces European Muslims which is the phenomenon of Islamophobia. Moreover, the cultural challenge is also a significant one especially when it comes to the misunderstanding of Islam and applying it wrongly within a certain category of Muslims.
But Muslims nowadays are considered a valued number in the social equation, principally if they can improve their topographic, financial and political forces.
Muslims also need to avoid any chance that attracts them to a side emotional debate or a narrow argument. They have to look forward to owning all the reasons of the financial and scientific power. Further more, Muslims need to be very picky when it comes to representing the Islam.
And finally, may Allah bless all European Muslims' efforts.
Name
Sabeh El-saab
- France
Profession
Question
I wonder have you been satying in europe for a long while so that you would be aware of the challenges of European imams or you will be moving soon after this new post?
Answer
Personally, I having been living in Europe since 1997, for more than ten years. I used to work as an Imam in the city of Sheffield, then in Cardiff the Capital of Wales, then in Birmingham for all this period.
I've visited more than twenty European countries and I gave speeches there. During these visits I met all the Imams and the spiritual guides.
But when we analyze the challenges that Muslims face and how to tackle them, we don’t rely on the personal vision, whatever qualified that person was, but we depend on the collective dialogue that includes a group of those who lived in Europe from 10 to 25 years.
The obstacles that face the Imams and spiritual guides is variant, some of them are related to the ideology and culture, and others are related to the social statues , some of obstacles are connected with the legal stands.. and so on. But the most important challenge from my point of view, is how the Imam perform his great role that takes a lot of time and effort without getting or being in a formal job that could afford his expenses, as a result, he works as a volunteer Imam in his spare time which effects his performance.
Another challenge that, the Imams don't understand the European reality or the society they are living in, they even don’t have good command of the country's language.
Also, Imams are not aware enough of the organizational work, they find it hard to integrate in an organization where they could come up together with the same decisions and trends. Imams are suffering from the weak performance even in preaching or in judgments aspects, they don’t have the ability to solve the familial and social issues.
And one of the most important obstructions, is the spreading of the Islam phobia phenomena, and the imposed restrictions on the Imam and his freedom of expression, and curtailing his roles, all that restrict Imams.
And I can't deny the effects of the regional and ethnical fanaticism and how they weakness the Imams' performance and their abilities to deliver their important messages.
Name
Against Dutch Film
-
Profession
Question
Salamu Alikum
What is your opinion concerning the offensive incident of reprinting the danish cartoons and the Dutch new film Fetna? What is your reaction to such actions?
Answer
In fact, the history is full of a lot offensive behaviors like these ones you mentioned, as they are not new. People who do not respect religious believes are always there and around us anywhere. But I would like to highlight that; not every action taken by those people is based on religious fanaticism, as the unawareness of Islam and prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is a crucial factor in this hatred. Most of the European people - including the intellectuals- know information on Islam throughout wrong sources. So we need to introduce Islam and prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to all Europe, but for sure I do not deny the current war on Islam.
Another point is that imams and spiritual guides must guide people to a practical tips that lead to the triumph of prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), by coincidence, imams must not be satisfied by only emotional and rebellious speeches. As such speeches may lead to spoiling the situation more than solving it.
We call upon all the non-Muslims to stop offending any sacrosanct and religion which is stated officially throughout the current constitutions.
Because if Muhammad is offended today, Jesus and Musa may be offended tomorrow.
Another point: from the practical perspective we shouldn't exaggerate this matter, I believe that this matter is very dangerous, it offended billion and half Muslim living on earth, it is an offence to the most gracious character ever, but exaggerating the issue of publishing such cartoons gives the opportunity for those who looks for fame, and give the chance for those who lurk Muslims to issue laws that restrict the Muslims' movements and freedom of expression.
As for us, we've immediately released a statement regarding this issue just after the declaration of establishing the assembly, and I'm now working on contacting the governmental institutions and writing specific messages on this issue, I'm also going to participate in many conferences during the coming period to discuss this tremendous issue. In the assembly, there was a trend aiming to surround this crises and orient people properly to treat this issue effectively. We wish that Muslim audiences would be sharing their opinions with us to achieve all what we are aspiring.
Name
Editor
-
Profession
Question
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Answer
This session has come to an end.
We would like to thank Wanis El-Mabrook for speaking to IslamOnline.net viewers today, and we also thank all those who participated in this dialogue.
We apologize for not being able to accommodate any further questions. We request our readers to join us in the upcoming sessions.
