In my last contribution, when I wrote about the Belgian headscarf ban, the city of Antwerp came out in a rather bad light, making Belgian Muslim girls, women and – thanks to the heated debate that followed – the whole Muslim community feel quite unwelcome in what for the most of them is their home country. This week however, Antwerp is sending a different message after its University started its first training for Islamic teachers. In the beginning of October, around 60 teachers started this post-academic training called “Deepening into the Islamic Religion.” This training is meant for high school teachers of Islam who already posses a bachelor or master’s degree and their teaching certificate issued by the Muslim Executive of Belgium, which is the official Muslim interlocutor for the Belgian federal government. The decision to provide this kind of training was made after ‘The Centre for Migration and Intercultural Studies’ or CEMIS , the Muslim Executive, the Belgian government and the University of Antwerp sat together and felt there was a gap to fill in this department. Being a critical media watcher, I was glad to see Belgian news channel VRT announce this Flemish first in a very positive way. The spokesperson of the CEMIS, Christiane Timmerman, told the reporter why this training was brought to life, whom it is addressed to and she explained what kind of subjects are being taught. The principles of the Islamic faith together with the subject of ‘Hadith’ (one of the most important Islamic sources for thought), ‘Fiqh’ (Islamic jurisprudence) ‘Falsafa’ (Islamic philosophy) and ’Qur'an recitation’ are all essential parts of Islam that are included in this training. And while there was an occasional snapshot of the classroom with veiled women and a Qur'an reciting professor up front, the reporter mentioned this is a one-year training that is being given in Dutch, except for the recitation, which happens in Arabic in accordance with tradition. There’s also room for didactics and more importantly, diversity, and Islamic communities in the Western context are being discussed. And to put the average Islamophobic viewer at ease, the reporter ended this short news fact by saying that this is clearly not a narrow version of Islam. Prevention is better than a cure, is what might have crossed the minds of those that decided to enter this kind of training. In some parts of Europe, Islam teachers have been the subject of many debates, controversies even, in Austria for example. In January of this year, a survey by a Vienna University researcher found that 22 percent of the Islamic teachers in Austria rejected democracy because it conflicted with their religion. Besides this, an Islam teacher was banned from his school after spreading anti-Semitic leaflets to students. Five months later they found it time to try for a cure and the University of Vienna announced they would introduce a special course, called “Muslims in Europe,†for Islamic teachers, which offers an interpretation of Islamic teaching within a European context and a better understanding of Austrian society. They also announced there will be a specific German language requirement for teaching. It’s great to see how people are occupied with the challenges Islam is facing in Western societies and vice-versa. Having local citizens instead of tutors imported from the Arab world teach Islam to young Muslims and on top of that providing an academic training with a focus on the European context is a step in the right direction of finding that balance between cultural assimilation and national integration. Quite a few other European countries, such as Germany, Italy, Great Britain, etc. are also meeting halfway with their Muslim community and are providing some form of guidance in the Islamic teaching department. BM The beliefs and statements of all Bikya Masr blogumnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect our editorial views.
