Amended Austria Islam Law Fails to Satisfy Muslims
"Some changes were made to the criticized issues, but they will not change our attitude to the law," Fuat Sanac, the head of the Austria Islam Community, told Anadolu Agency.
The new Islamic law, introduced last October 2, has sparked huge criticism from the Muslim community for including many articles that viewed Muslims as a threat.
Austria’s new Law on Islam will prohibit Muslim organizations receiving funding from abroad.
This will also affect imams who work in Austria but are financially supported by Turkey, banning them from renewing their visas once they expire, OnIslam.net reported.
Currently, some 300 imams work in the country, including 65 Turkish scholars.
Moreover, mosques with less than 300 community members will be closed within a year and those with more than 300 will have to register as a legal entity.
The authority of the prime minister to recognize and abolish religious organizations can only be justified in cases of "security and anti-democratic practices."
A new version has appeared for the law, expected to be passed by parliament in January 2015 and take effect in February.
The draft removes the article that bans preaching by unregistered preachers and compels mosque preachers to translate their sermons into German.
A new article was introduced to allow the government to cancel activities held by religious organization.
It also announced the closure of the Islamic Theology faculty at the University of Vienna, replacing it with two separate faculties based on the Alevi and Sunni schools of Islamic thought.
The graduates of these faculties will be tasked with working at mosques or Alevi community places of worship, known as cemevi.
The changes made to the law failed to satisfy Muslims in the country.
Sanac, the head of the Austria Islam Community, called the amendments "positive," but inadequate, adding that the Muslim community was expecting more amendments to the law.
The article over banning foreign funding was not changed, as was previously demanded.
Austrian Muslims are estimated at about half a million or nearly 6 percent of the European country's 8 million population.
In Vienna, Islam is the second-largest religious grouping, after Roman Catholicism.
