- Advocates for Imam Education in Germany by Merz
CDU Leadership Figure Friedrich Merz sees value in educating Imams at the German Islamic Academy. "The course is right," he stated following his visit to the Islamic Academy in Osnabrück, "to guarantee that the 5.5 million Muslims residing in Germany can receive guidance in their mosques from Imams who've been schooled in Germany."
The primary objective of the Islamic Academy is to offer practical-theological instruction for religious leaders fluent in German for mosque communities. Merz voiced his backing for the academy's continued operation.
The Islamic Academy was inaugurated towards the end of 2019, with its first 26 graduates collecting their accreditation in September 2022. The fundamental Imam training program provided there is currently the sole one of its kind across the nation.
Approximately 1,000 Turkish religious leaders are to be supplanted
The German Interior Ministry declared in December that the roughly 1,000 Imams affiliated with the Turkish religious body Diyanet, presently functioning in Germany, should be replaced by Imams trained in Germany over the forthcoming years, with at least 100 additional Imams to be trained annually.
Germany and Turkey have devised a blueprint for the progressive discontinuance of sending Imams. This has been a lingering matter because the religious leaders, who generally serve for four years, take their cues from Ankara and often possess limited comprehension of German society.
The decision to replace approximately 1,000 Turkish Imams with those trained in Germany is aimed at ensuring that Muslims in Germany receive guidance from Imams who have a deeper understanding of German society. The German Islamic Academy, with its unique fundamental Imam training program, is expected to be a significant source of Imams for this purpose.
