Participants in the International Meeting on “Islam in Europe and the challenges of the living together” pleaded in Marrakesh for the renewal of Islamic religious discourse and its adaptation to the European context and to its new realities.
The stakeholders in the meeting stressed that the approach of the various problems faced by Muslims in their host countries, necessarily involves a reform in the training of Imams.
They noted that this training is called to open on humanities, other religions, languages and communication and to adapt to the realities of the European context.
Participants in this meeting also stressed the central role of imams in the European context manhandled by the exclusionary logic.
They noted that the imams have the delicate task of facilitating dialogue with other religions and support the integration of Muslims in their host countries while taking into account the specificities and the European reality, fundamentally different from the Islamic world.
They also noted that the diversity of Islamic references sometimes giving rise to contradictory fatwas, is a major challenge for Muslims established in Europe.
Participants also highlighted the Moroccan model of training of Imams, A model that promotes moderate Islam.
“The imam must be sufficiently armed with Islamic legal knowledge to be able to properly fulfill his mission,” noted on this occasion, the Secretary General of the Council of the Moroccan Community Abroad (CCME) Abdellah Boussouf, who highlighted the enormous efforts made by the imams in Europe despite several existing challenges.
“The positive European laws provide complete equality between all the components of society including Muslims. However it is clear that reality poses several problems to the application of these laws,” he added.
Mr. Boussouf has also raised the issue of the representation of Muslims in European countries, which is a real problem.
This meeting provides an opportunity to collectively reflect on several issues including radical Muslim discourse that fascinates young people and leads them into the abyss of terrorism and fundamentalism, he added.
“Islam is a plan for life and not a project of death,” he said in this context.
The President of the European Council of Moroccan ulemas in Belgium, Tahar Tajkani, for his part, noted that the situation in Europe is characterized by its complexity.
“Some cases are incomprehensible to Muslims but are quite acceptable for Europeans.” These cases require an awareness of the needs and requirements of the European reality by the Imams in order to issue timely legal advice, he added.
Organized by the CCME, this meeting brought together sixty Moroccan imams notably from France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Denmark and Germany. These imams attended workshops led by researchers, supervisors and specialists in religion.
