海角大神

For years Aysen Y眉sra Yilmaz, the daughter of Turkish immigrants who came to Germany as guest workers, looked for a way to ground her religion in the German culture she has adopted as her own.

She finally found it this year in Germany鈥檚 first publicly funded university Islamic theology department, connected to T眉bingen University in the Black Forest鈥檚 foothills and one of Germany's oldest universities. 聽

鈥淲e live in Germany, so we have to be able to represent our religion in German,鈥� says Ms. Yilmaz, who is one of 36 students enrolled in a brand-new bachelor鈥檚 degree program there.

The opening of the department at T眉bingen will be followed by openings later this year in 翱蝉苍补产谤眉肠办, 狈眉谤苍产别谤驳 and Frankfurt. Funded by the government to the tune of 鈧�20 million ($25.4 million) for the next five years, the goal of the theology departments is to ground a new generation of Islamic religious leaders and scholars in German culture and root out what experts say is one of the main causes of radicalization of young Muslims in Europe 鈥� the lack of imams trained in the country.

Germany has 4 million Muslims, counting both immigrants and those born there, making up about 5 percent of the population. But the lack of religious training in the country means that most of Germany鈥檚 2,000 imams come from abroad, mostly Turkey, staying an average of four years. The predominance of foreign imams in the education of Germany's Muslims exacerbates difficulties they might already have integrating into German society.
The imams imported from abroad tend to promote a more radical interpretation of the Quran, experts say, and they鈥檙e often unprepared to deal with many aspects of their job in Germany.

Here, they have to not only lead Friday prayers but act as counselors, community organizers, and youth workers 鈥� in short, they have to be a bridge between the mosque and day-to-day secular life in Germany. But they have no context for answering how the Quran would deal with many of the dilemmas confronting young Muslims living in Western Europe: a young Muslim man who wants a girlfriend like his secular friends or a Muslim girl who wants to take swimming lessons in school, for example.

鈥淢ost deal with their home culture, their home language, their homeland,鈥� says B眉lent Ucar, a professor of Islamic religious education at the University of 翱蝉苍补产谤眉肠办, which last year pioneered a crash course for foreign imams on German society and language. So far 30 imams are enrolled, with many more on the waiting list, he says. This fall, 翱蝉苍补产谤眉肠办 will house the second of the four publicly funded centers for Islamic theology in addition to its already existing training program.

鈥淚mams have good intentions, but they can't fulfill their jobs. They can't fulfill the conditions to bring about integration because they don鈥檛 speak German,鈥� says Mr. Ucar.

The rarity of German-speaking imams who can connect with young German Muslims is also a problem in Germany鈥檚 eyes because of the increased popularity of a new cohort of young, radical, German-speaking imams, such as Pierre Vogel, a former boxing professional who converted to Islam and draws enormous crowds in public. He also has a strong following online.

A German citizen in his 30s who attended a Roman Catholic school as a child, Mr. Vogel later turned to Salafism, the fastest-growing Islamic movement in Germany. He knows how to connect with young people, especially those who feel adrift in German society but find the Turkish imams brought to the country out of touch. The presence of people like Vogel, who wears a long red beard and calls himself Abu Hamza, makes the need for German-trained imams all the more obvious, experts agree.

鈥淔or young people seeking direction, contact with these types of imams can be the first step toward slipping into Islamist violence,鈥� says sociologist Rauf Ceylan of 翱蝉苍补产谤眉肠办 University.

When she officially opened the Islamic theology center in T眉bingen in January, Education Minister Annette Shavan said the center's new graduates would be the best antidote to 鈥渉ate preachers.鈥�

鈥�Religion needs to be thought through,鈥� she said.

Zahic Sicic enrolled in the T眉bingen program precisely to combat the turn to fundamentalism. 鈥淧eople like Pierre Vogel have no idea about religion,鈥� says Mr. Sisic, who grew up in Stuttgart in a Bosnian-Iraqi family. 鈥淵oung people don鈥檛 know anything, and ignorance is dangerous. When you can鈥檛 explain something, you become aggressive.鈥�

鈥淭hat鈥檚 why young people should know more about Islam 鈥� so that there isn鈥檛 this aggression potential.鈥�

鈥淚mported imams bring lots of problems,鈥� says Sisic's professor, Omar Hamdan, a Palestinian Israeli and Sunni Muslim. He is confident that with the Islamic theology centers, one of which he leads, Germany will 鈥渘ot always have to wait for just anybody to be brought over here from whatever country, be it Turkey or Egypt.鈥�

Some groups, such as the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs, have expressed only half-hearted support for the new center, in part because they fear the loss of Turkish influence. But Mustafa Hadzic of the Central Council of Muslims in Cologne, one of Germany's largest Muslim umbrella groups, says all recognized mosques support the centers.

Imams trained in Germany are 鈥渢he only alternative to extremism, fundamentalism, jihadism,鈥� says Mr. 聽Hadzic, who serves as an imam in a Bosnian mosque in Cologne.

Weaving Islam into Germany's social fabric

Unlike in secular France, which sees religion as a threat to the influence of the state over its people, the German government sees religious institutions as contributing to the public good. It views the communities of faiths it officially recognizes 鈥� 海角大神ity and Judaism 鈥� as public organizations, granting them certain privileges and financial support. It collects a 鈥渃hurch tax鈥� 聽on Germans who declare church membership when filing their taxes and distributes the funds to the various churches accordingly. It also finances the education of theologians and priests and allows religion to be taught in public schools.

Even if Islam does not have yet that status, mostly because it does not have one main representative for the government to liaise with, myriad schools teach classes on Islam. The country needs at least 2,000 teachers trained in Islamic theology to teach the country's 700,000 Muslim schoolchildren, according to official government statistics.

Two years ago, the German Council of Science and Humanities, an independent body that advises Germany's state and federal governments, recommended that Islamic theology centers be established at public universities, similar to the ones that exist for Protestantism and Catholicism. In a country where religious communities are seen as partners to the government, the new centers are evidence that Islam is increasingly accepted as part of Germany鈥檚 social fabric.

鈥淟ook, we are now a part and parcel of a world-famous university,鈥� says Mr. Hamdan. 鈥淚slam no longer stands on the outside. We stand on equal footing with the other theology schools. We鈥檙e just as central as the other religions.鈥�

Speaking on the 20th anniversary of German reunification two years ago, former President 海角大神 Wulff told crowds. 鈥淚slam also belongs to Germany.鈥� At the time, his comments created an uproar.

Until recently, Germany resisted seeing itself as a country of immigration, says Christine Langenfeld, a law professor at G枚ttingen University who specializes on church-state relations. She calls the creation of publicly funded Islamic theology centers a 鈥渕ilestone.鈥�

鈥淭he hope is that at some point soon it won鈥檛 be necessary to import imams anymore 鈥� That Islamic theology centers will bring about a modern understanding of Islam that makes it possible for Muslims to live in Europe side by side with many other religions,鈥� says Ms. Langenfeld, who is a member of the Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration, an independent foundation that advises policymakers on immigration and integration policy. 聽

鈥淸The theology centers are] a path towards integration, equality and acceptance.鈥�