Europe and Islam: Degrees of separation

AS NEWS reports from different countries remind us every day, the political, legal and
educational institutions of Europe are struggling hard to find ways of incorporating the new
reality of Islam into older systems for regulating religion.
In Britain this week, a lobby group called the Lawyers' Secular Society reacted
with indignation when an event it was planning at the University of West London was cancelled
by the hosts at the last moment. The event was intended to launch a report that drew attention to
the number of Islamist figures with hard-line views on gender, sexuality and relations with other
faiths who were gaining access and influence on British campuses. The meeting's cancellation
seemed to confirm their apprehension. The campus insisted that its decision was made on purely
technical and procedural grounds: the organisers had not gone through the proper channels to
book the room.
In Austria, meanwhile, both libertarians and some Muslims are up in arms over a proposed new
law which is supposed to regulate Islam. In its original form, it would have allowed only one
German translation of the Koran to circulate in the country; this idea has apparently been dropped
but the government would still like to subject Islam to much greater scrutiny, and restrictions on
foreign funding, than any other faith. Muslims say they feel victimised, while secular campaigners
like the Forum for Religious Freedom Europe have questioned whether it is logical to impose
transparency requirements on some religions and not on others.
Meanwhile in francophone Europe, some anguished discussions are taking place over how to
solve a problem which almost all parties acknowledge: the need for imams who are
properly trained, understand European society better and guide their flock away from, rather than
towards, extremism.
In both France and the French-speaking part of Belgium, expert reports have been commissioned
on how to provide university-level education for Muslim prayer leaders. In France especially, the
question is a delicate one because of the cherished principle of laicit--strict separation
of church and state--which has prevailed in most of the country since 1905. Because of
laicit, public universities cannot have theology faculties--though this restriction does not apply
to Strasbourg or the surrounding region of Alsace-Lorraine, which was not part of France when the
law entered force.
France's religions can, of course, make their own provision for high-level education, and several
private Muslim establishments already exist. Meanwhile universities, with the government's
blessing, have been offering diplomas in areas like law, sociology and inter-faith relations
which, without delving into theology, are meant to be useful for religious practitioners.
According to press leaks (in Italian), the French report, by Francis Messner, a professor at
Strasbourg University, calls for a three-pronged approach which builds on the existing situation:
fostering and regulating private theological institutions, encouraging more universities to
offer religion-related diplomas, and nurturing "centres of excellence" where the history and
sociology of Islam--and the causes of extremism--can be researched at a very high standard.

Neither zealous Muslims nor staunch secularists will be perfectly satisfied by this approach, but in
French terms it is a reasonable compromise. The Belgian report may prove more controversial.
It apparently offers three alternatives--a theology faculty offering many levels of
instruction; a master's degree in Islam; or a system of recognising degrees from other countries
in Islamic studies. Already there has been a sharp reaction in the world of scholarship. JeanPhilippe Schreiber, a professor at the Free University of Brussels, argues that for the government
to impose new theological courses would be an attack on academic freedom. As of now, Mr
Schreiber said, francophone Belgium had two campuses, in Lige and Brussels, which were
secular, and another, at Louvain-la-Neuve which was historically Catholic but quite liberal. For the
government to start mandating courses in Islamic theology in any of these places would "be a step
backwards", he insisted.
In addition to all these ideological issues, there is a hard reality to consider. Being an imam in
Europe is a rather thankless task. Of the 1,800 imams in France, about 1,000 offer their
services for virtually no pay. Only 330 receive a decent, full-time salary--in most
cases from religious authorities in their home countries, such as Algeria, Morocco or
Turkey. Only 25-30% of the imams working in France have French citizenship. The idea of
"home-grown" French imams, well trained and correspondingly well paid, is an attractive one in
principle--but poor Muslim communities seem unwilling or unable to finance such
arrangements. And for the secular French state, putting imams on its payroll would be
inconceivable.
These arguments are only just beginning.