Controversial Austrian Law Encourages Teaching Islam In German

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

The Austrian Parliament today passed a controversial reform to the law that governs Islam in that country. A 1912 law made Islam an official religion there comparable to Christianity and Judaism. The bill that passed today aims to encourage an Austrian form of Islam. It encourages Muslim religious instruction in German instead of Turkish as is often the case, and it bars foreign funding of mosques and imams. Joining us from Vienna is Sebastian Kurz, who is the Austrian foreign minister and the minister who deals with integration issues. Welcome to the program.

SEBASTIAN KURZ: Hello, thank you.

SIEGEL: Muslims have criticized this bill for treating their religion differently than other religions. Why do you think that's necessary to do?

KURZ: The recognition of Islam has a long tradition in Austria. But the law which was created in 1912 was not up-to-date anymore. And so we started the reform process to get a (unintelligible) Muslim community in Austria.

SIEGEL: Does the fact that foreign funding of mosques and imams - is that an acknowledgment that you have a special problem that you don't have with other religions in Austria?

KURZ: Yeah, the first thing is that we don't these kinds of fundings from abroad in the Catholic Church or any other religious groups in Austria. We only have it in the Muslim community. And this makes religious institutions dependent to foreign states or foreign organizations.

SIEGEL: Does that mean that if an imam who was trained in Saudi Arabia and doesn't speak any German came to Austria he would not be permitted to preach or to be an imam at a mosque?

KURZ: At the moment, most of our imams in Austria are imams like these you mentioned. But in the future, our goal is to have our own Austrian imams. It is necessary for us to show young people that it's possible to be a believing Muslim and a proud Austrian at the same time.

SIEGEL: Is this reform a response to European youths, including some from Austria, going off to fight in the Middle East as jihadists or fighting for the Islamic State?

KURZ: No, it would be wrong. The truth is that we started working on this law three years ago. And I think we have to keep these discussions separate.

SIEGEL: The Muslim population of Austria is put nowadays at about 7 percent of the Austrian population - almost 600,000 people.

KURZ: That's correct.

SIEGEL: Is this an acknowledgment of the failure of Austria to integrate those people into Austrian life so that they can feel both Austrian and Muslim?

KURZ: I think it is necessary to mention that most of these people are very well-integrated in Austria. But if you look at the law, you will find out that there are not only obligations, there are a lot of new rights for the Muslim community. For example, the protection of religious holidays, the right to have Islamic graveyards and the right for pastoral care at public institutions like hospitals or prisons - we haven't had these rights in the past.

SIEGEL: Is this aimed mostly at Turkish money that's been coming into the country?

KURZ: It's money from several countries, not only from Turkey.

SIEGEL: Saudi Arabia?

KURZ: For example.

SIEGEL: Qatar?

KURZ: For example.

SIEGEL: United Arab Emirates?

KURZ: (Laughter) I think we can stop here.

SIEGEL: Those countries have all supported the community.

KURZ: Let me - let me mention one point I think which is very important. We have nothing against one time donations. And these are still allowed. But what we want to reduce is the control. If we have this kind of support, our communities do not have the opportunity to develop freely.

SIEGEL: Mr. Kurz, thank you very much for talking with us today.

KURZ: Thank you.

SIEGEL: That is Sebastian Kurz, foreign minister of Austria - also the minister who deals with integration issues - talking about the law that passed the Austrian parliament today governing Muslims in Austria. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.