Outrage around Islam college: Islamist receives tax money for training!

Outrage around Islam college: Islamist receives tax money for training!

The training of an Islamist-suspect Imams at the Islam college Germany caused excitement in Germany and raises questions about the meaning and purpose of this project funded by the federal and state governments. This situation not only puts a strain on the reputation of the Islam college, but also puts a significant impact on taxpayers.

The Islam college in Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, has been launched since 2021 to train imams, Muslim pastor and community educators in German. The aim of this initiative is to actively counter Muslim extremism. However, despite these ambitions, an imam has been trained at this educational institution, which is known to the security authorities as an Islamist. Ebadullah Maulawy Abdullah, who has been Imam of the Tawheed Mosque in Hamburg for eight years, is the focus of the investigation into the protection of the constitution, since supporters of the HizB-UT-Tahrir movement banned in Germany should also be active in his mosque.

financing and costs for the taxpayer

The funding of the Islam college is largely carried out by the federal government and the state of Lower Saxony. For the first five years of training, around 90 percent of the costs flow from federal funds. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, around 990,408 euros were granted for this year alone, and around 90,000 euros came from Lower Saxony. In total, the Islam colleague receives around one million euros annually, which is a total of around five million euros by 2025.

Totally viewed, the financial means should serve to exclude extremist influences in training. To support this, the prospective imams can also apply for scholarships via the Avicenna Study. These scholarships include monthly support and financial grants for health insurance companies to enable comprehensive training. According to BILD, almost 260,000 euros were paid to scholarship holders in Osnabrück this year alone.

But the emergence of an Islamist as part of this training raises the urgent question of how this could happen. Upon request, the Federal Ministry of the Interior indicated that the Islam college must ensure that no extremist persons or organizations are included in the promotion of the measure. The goal is clear: extremist efforts should be excluded from the training.

political reactions

The reactions to this incident are not long in coming. Berlin's Senator for Justice Dr. Felor Badenberg (CDU), who was Vice President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution until 2023, was outraged: "What a bankruptcy declaration! An Islamist who is fighting against our democracy is financed by the state for years to combat extremism." It calls for a comprehensive examination and a transparent and effective regulation for the allocation of state funds.

The Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Science in Lower Saxony have already announced consequences, but it remains to be seen which measures are taken to ensure that such cases can be excluded in the future. The debate about the financial support of such institutes is now louder and more critical, while the public is waiting for answers and solutions.

For more information about the background of these developments and the political reactions, it is recommended to have detailed reporting on www.bild.de to be followed.