AINT-LIGER-DE-FOUGERET (France), Nov 6: Deep in the wooded hills of
Burgundy in central France, an unusual institute is training unusual
students: aspiring French imams who hope to minister to the country`s
large Muslim population.
Early in the morning, some 200 students
from across the country stream into the European Institute of Human
Sciences de Saint-Legerde-Fougeret, where they learn to read the holy
Quran and study Islamic theology and Arabic literature.
After seven intensive years of study, only 10 or so graduates eachyear to lead prayers or preach at mosques.
Estimates
of France`s Muslim population vary widely, from between 3.5 million and
6.0 million, though there is little hard evidence as to how many are
practising. In any event, France`s Muslim community is the largest in
western Europe.
Relations between the authorities and Muslims,
many of them secondor third-generation immigrants, chiefly from North
Africa, have often been tense.
Some younger Muslims have been
tempted by extremist jihadist views and France hasimplemented a
contentious ban on women wearing full veils.
Over the past nine
years, various governments have encouraged the professional training of
local religious leaders. Interior Minister Manuel Valls recently backed
the practice, even if the job of imam is badly paid, if at all, and
enjoys no official recognition.
The initiative goes back 20 years
when the Union of Islamic Organisations in France, which has close ties
to the Muslim Brotherhood, converted a former children`s holiday centre
into the institute. Its stated aim is to train imams equipped `with a
solidknowledge of Islam and the sociocultural realities of Europe`.
The
idea was to provide an alternative to the recruitment of foreign imams,
who often spoke no French and had little or no knowledge of French
lifestyles.
`The training of imams who are products of French
society is vital: Today 70 per cent of the faithful don`t speak Arabic,`
said the institute`s director Zuhair Mahmood.
Initially financed
by the Gulf States, the school depends heavily on fees of about 3,400
euros ($4,400) a year board and lodging included.
`Since I was
small I havedreamed of becoming an imam, said 18-year-old Wahib, who did
not want to give his last name, `but seven years is long and there are
no grants`.
Apart from the rural setting, the atmosphere in the
run-down prefabricated corridors of the institute is like that of any
other college.
At break time men, often bearded, and women, all of them wearing head scarves, wait for coffee.
The women can follow the 20 hours of weekly courses but cannot become imams.
Said,
who also did not want to give his last name, was born inMorocco and now
living in Nice in southern France. He took correspondence courses for
two years and left his family to `deepen` his knowledge of Islam. `If I
succeed, I become an imam. It`s my vocation,` he said.
`I would love to pass on my knowledge to others and above all fight against extremism.
There
are about 10 people in his class. They listen to the interpretations of
a sura from holy Quran, as part of a third year theology course, which
also includes an introduction to French law.
`Being an imam, it isn`t something that happens,` the 33-year-old Said told this correspondent.
`It`s a real responsibility, We have to be safeguards.
`Radicalism is always the result of ignorance,` Said`s theology teacher Larbi Belbachir added.
Traditionally,
congregations of the faithful choose their imams, who carry out their
duties as volunteers or are paid by gifts. Those presiding in large
mosques can earn 1,500 euros ($1,950) a month.
They are classified as educators or teachers but never as imams.
`When this profession is recognised and paid as such,` Said suggested, `perhaps there will be more vocations`.-AFP
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