By Christoph Strack
On 15 June, the "Islamkolleg" in Osnabruck officially launched its new training programme for imams in German. The college is intended to prepare Islamic theologians for their work in mosque communities and thus further the integration of Muslims in Germany. By Christoph Strack
(QANTARA) For Ender Cetin, it is a “right step in the right direction”. The 45-year-old, born and raised in Berlin as the child of Turkish migrants, was one of the first to enrol in the new course at the Islamkolleg in Osnabruck, which celebrated its launch on 15 June.
Cetin, who has already served as a lay imam, waxes lyrical about the new training. He admits he finds the idea that it will be possible to train imams ‘made in Germany’ for once, with open prospects for the future, really exciting. “It is going to be hugely enriching,” Cetin adds.
Just how important the Osnabruck project is was revealed by Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, who is responsible for religion within the federal government, during a speech to the German Islam Conference in November 2020. Then, Seehofer described the Islamkolleg, still in the planning stage at the time, as “self-confident and cooperative.” He said the establishment was good news for Muslims in Germany. With a view to the various offerings, he said, he was confident that in the future, far more than today, the “Islamic culture” in Germany “will correspond to the reality of life of the Muslims living in Germany”. It is about turning away from an imported Islam, often dominated by Turkey and shaped by its mosque association DITIB.
Behind the project are Islamic scholars from the University of Osnabruck, where the Institute for Islamic Theology has been established for years, and German Muslims with a Bosnian background. According to their own information, the participating associations cover some 500 of the 2500 or so mosques in Germany. But Bosnian Islam in Germany is not controlled from Bosnia. Anyone visiting the city’s largest Bosnian mosque in the heart of Berlin’s trendy Kreuzberg district will easily understand the sermon, which is delivered in German.
