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Qatar to fund Islamic university in Europe

Via Quatar's English language daily, The Peninsula:

Qatar has pledged that it will take part in financing the first Islamic university to be established in Europe by next month.

The university, named the 'Ibn Sina Institute for Human Science', will be opened in the French city of Lilie, located in the northern part of the country.
The university will "take the responsibility of qualifying imams and guides in order to tackle issues related to Muslim minority issues." One thing in particular caught my eye:
The [school] will also focus on teaching French and qualifying students in Shari'a law to enable the imams able to interact with European realities in order to address both Muslims and non-Muslims in France.

Another subject, civics, will be presented to ensure imams are aware of French laws.

Are they teaching civics so the Muslim students can understand the laws in order to flout them, or to abide by them? And what exactly does "interact with European realities" mean to them? I just hope this group of Islamists are mainstream and peaceful.

Posted on Saturday, October 21, 2006 at 06:13PM by Registered CommenterSeth Simmons in | Comments3 Comments | References1 Reference

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Reader Comments (3)

Based on no outside research, I'd be inclined to read that portion of their mission statement with optimism. Certainly, failures of assimilation have posed the greatest threat to the potential for a functional relationship between France and its Muslim minority. One might hope that this intention--among future Imams, no less--to be made aware of their Western context, signals a step in the right direction.
October 23, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterRebecca
Also, I wonder what you folks think of this--especially in the context of the post on higher education.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/22/AR2006102200714.html

I'm inclined to agree with the need to educate college students about religion--acknowledging, of course, the poersonal bias that accompanies my de facto Relgion minor--but I wonder why one would privilege this particular need above others. That is, among all of the things incumbent upon college students to learn, and in the context of a school without a core curriculum, why prioritize religion over its counterparts in other disciplines? If colleges like Harvard to talk about courses that students must take, they should reconsider the absence of a core within their institutions.
October 23, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterRebecca
"why prioritize religion over its counterparts in other disciplines?"

Assuming the Harvard proposal is implemented, I'm not sure the school would be placing a religion class higher in priority than any other. It seems to be that they would simply be recognizing a void in the curriculum, and a particularly important one at that, and filling it.
October 23, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterSeth Simmons

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