By Ruza Zivkusic
ISLAMIC students hoping to become clerics won’t need to be educated overseas in future.
Muslim leaders across the country had called on politicians to introduce a course at universities for would-be imams.
And Victoria University vice-chancellor Elizabeth Harman welcomed the move, saying it would meet the needs of multicultural students.
Classes will be introduced in Melbourne and Sydney and will emphasise spiritual teaching rather than political Islam, Fehmi Naji El’Imam of the Muslim Community Reference Group said.
Mr El’Imam believed students who were educated in Australia would have a greater advantage in their profession than those who took up the classes overseas.
They would understand the Australian culture, politics and the way of life, he said.
“Imams that come from overseas might have less knowledge of the environment and less understanding of the Australian society.
“We want to change all this and make imams part of the mainstream religion,” he said.
The consultation process between the government and Muslim leaders is still in process, but the courses are expected to last at least four years.
Ms Harman said the introduction of the classes would bring several of opportunities to students.
“One is that it offers another range of courses that may be of interest to students, and the Commonwealth Government has indicated it will provide more funded places,” she said.
Students taking other courses would not miss out on university places because of the move.
The executive committee officer of Islamic Council of Victoria, Waleed Aly, questioned whether the Australian government would intervene with the teaching of Islam during the classes.
“A lot of Muslims are sceptical of the academic institutions that teach Islam because they feel they tend to come from an orientalist perspective, as opposed to one that is indigenous to the Muslim community,” Mr Aly said.
Ms Harman dismissed Mr Aly’s concerns, saying the government did not control curriculums of universities.
Ise Musse has been a practising imam for 11 years and is working at the Hoppers Crossing Virgin Mary Mosque. He studied in South Arabia.
He welcomed the call for Islamic clerics to be trained in Australia as long as the curriculum included teaching the Islam law.
“They have to understand how to perform and lead the prayer of congregation, and they have to understand how to offer counselling to families,” cleric Musse said.
Ms Harman said the university staff valued the multicultural community in the West.
“I would expect our non-Muslim students to be supportive of that multicultural perspective,” she said.
