An attempt for minds t meet:
Thursday, 28 November, 2002, 20:49 GMT
Imams on Dutch culture course
By Clarisse Pereira
BBC, The Netherlands
Immigrant imams play an important role
Muslim clerics in the Netherlands are attending courses on Dutch values which include education about soft drugs, prostitution, gay marriage and euthanasia.
The seminars are part of a government programme for new arrivals, which since September has included a tailor-made course for religious leaders.
The Netherlands is the first country in Europe to demand immigrants take an integration course and 300 hours of Dutch language training.
The Islamic community is growing in the Netherlands, and now accounts for 6% of the population.
Most Muslim immigrants are from Morocco and Turkey who arrived as guest workers in the sixties and seventies.
Knowing the basics of the Dutch language isn't enough to become aware of what they will find in Holland
Yasar Ustuner
An imam plays a central role in an immigrant community.
"They are not just like other individuals," says Dr Faued Hussein, a Moroccan imam, who adds that the clerics have a duty towards their people that makes them a social, and sometimes even a political figure.
The Turkish imams arriving in the Netherlands are usually government employees who have only taken a short language course in Turkey, says Yasar Ustuner.
"Knowing the basics of the Dutch language isn't enough to become aware of what they will find in Holland," he adds.......
Full story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2525407.stm