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Australian clerics to train at university
ISLAMIC clerics will be trained in Australian universities under a proposal by Muslim leaders to prevent students being radicalised by fundamentalist teaching in the Middle East.Home-grown imams will be able to study in Melbourne and Sydney, using a curriculum that emphasises spiritual rather than political Islam, under the plans being drawn up by an arm of John Howard's Muslim Community Reference Group. Joumanah El-Matrah, who co-chairs one of seven sub-groups in the Prime Minister's Muslim advisory body, said the clergy courses would offer a mainstream alternative for religious training outside the hothouse environment of training centres in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, where many aspiring imams travel. "The course will offer a meaningful alternative within Australia for young Muslims who are interested in developing some training in Islam, or their interest in becoming imams," she said. "In time we think the graduates of the course would create a vision of what it means to be a Muslim here, in a way that is conducive to this community." It is understood preliminary approaches have been made through the federal Department of Education to established universities in NSW and Victoria with a view to starting courses as early as next year. The plan comes after The Australian revealed in December that Muslim clerics would be subject to a strict code of behaviour under a proposal being devised by Islamic leaders to rein in inflammatory language. The Muslim community's image has suffered greatly in recent years because of the extremist ideology preached by some imams. Firebrand Melbourne sheik Mohammed Omran was criticised by Mr Howard and moderate Muslim leaders for calling Osama bin Laden a "good man" and labelling as a US-government conspiracy the attacks of September 11. And in a lecture delivered to more than 1000 people last year, Faiz Mohammed, from the Global Islamic Youth Centre in Sydney, said rape victims had only themselves to blame. Ms El-Matrah, who manages the Islamic Women's Welfare Council of Victoria, said the proposed clerical training would range from undergraduate to PhD levels and be carried out by local and visiting imams. "What we're looking at is a standard course, one to operate out of Victoria and one to operate out of NSW," she said. "(While) there are already Islamic courses in both states ... they are not courses that are designed for imams. "You can have brilliant people from overseas, but the cultural context in which they've done their training is radically different from Australia. "I think it's important to note that all other religions in Australia have similar sorts of degrees already." Melbourne's most prominent Muslim cleric, Fehmi Naji El-Imam, who co-chairs the clergy training sub-group with Ms El-Matrah, said he would ensure only moderate theologians were hired to lecture students. But Ms El-Matrah warned that the proposal should not be seen as a means of eradicating or undermining Islamic extremism. "We don't want people to think this is going to fix all of the community's problems," she said. "The course won't be set up to undermine these (extremist) people. But what I imagine is that the more people there are that are fluent in Islam, the less power people like, say, Benbrika, are going to have." Muslim cleric Abdul Nacer Benbrika is among 19 Melbourne and Sydney men awaiting trial on terrorism-related charges following federal police raids in November. The Australian revealed last year that Mr Benbrika was self-taught and had no formal qualifications. Posted by: Oztralian 2006-03-15 |
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