Advisory Board for UK Mosques, Imams

The new body is entrusted with making recommendations on how to run mosques and Islamic centers in Britain.

"There are problems of governance within mosques and we need to build their capacity and make sure they are properly resourced," Khurshid Ahmed of the British Muslim Forum, one of the driving forces behind the body, told the BBC News Online.

The Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board (MINAB) is entrusted with making recommendations on how to run mosques and Islamic centers across Britain.

It was launched by four British Muslim organizations, including the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), a coalition of some 400 organizations and the largest Muslim umbrella group in Britain.

The new body was one of many recommendations made by a taskforces on extremism in the wake of the terrorist London attacks.

A total of 56 people died and more than 700 were injured when four bombers, three of them British-born Muslims of Pakistani origin, detonated explosives packed in rucksacks on three rush-hour underground trains and a city bus on July 7, 2005.

Britain is home to some 1.8 million Muslims.

Change Image

Yusuf Al-Khoei of the Al-Khoei Foundation said the nascent body aims to change a smeared image about Islam.

"We need our mosques to be more than places of worship, they need to be proper community centers," he said.

"We are trying to decouple Islam from images and allegations of violence.

The MCB has recently launched a report based on wide-ranging consultations with imams and mosque trustees across Britain to counter stereotypes on the Muslim places of worship as terror hotbeds.

The 40-page report, unveiled Saturday, May 13, recommended a new drive to open the doors of Britain's mosques to the wider community.

There is no official estimate of the number of mosques in Britain, but unofficial estimates put their numbers at 1,600.

Britain's first purpose-built mosque was built at Woking in Surrey in 1894.

Imam Training

The board will also advise on the training and qualifications of imams in the European country.

"I think we would want to set up some sort of an academy in this country which will ensure that home-grown imams can be properly trained and accredited here ... and do away with the need to import people from outside," Ahmed said.

"We need to be very realistic and honest with ourselves. The vast majority of our imams lack the capacity to intellectually engage with our young people. We need to help them build that capacity."

Khoei echoed the same view.

"For too long there has really been no structure. I have seen people claim to be imams in mosques who could not even read or write."

The nascent body released a document on the "Good practice guide for mosques and imams in Britain".

It lists the expected duties of imams and what services a mosque should provide, including a library, a crèche and a prayer room with space for women.

British Muslims have a number of academic centers, including the Markfield Insitute of Higher Education, that offer a module on the management of mosques, trusts and endowments.

The issue of imams training has recently taken central stage in several European countries.

Major Swiss Christian groups have put forward a proposal to establish a government-supervised institute to educate imams on the "liberal" lifestyle in western societies.

German integration minister Marieluise Beck has also released a 20-point strategy recommending that imams coming to Germany should have knowledge of the language and society.