Switzerland’s first Islamic research center has opened its doors to promote the moderate values of Islam in the European country and offer Swiss Muslim a rare Islamic education in Deutsche.
The institute board of trustees groups scholars tasked with preparing the curricula “on sound academic bases as adopted by accredited Islamic institutes in the Islamic nations,” Abdullah Nicholas Blancho, board member of the newly-established Islamic institute, told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) on Tuesday, April 22.
The newly established institute, “the Islamic Sciences Institute” has been launched by the Swiss Islamic Shura Council.
According to the council, the new institute would allow people from all faiths to enroll in Qur’an, Sunnah as well as Hadith studies.
The establishment would offer Islamic religious studies in Deutsche, filling an important void due to lack of a sufficient number of qualified academic Islamic figures capable of lecturing about Islam in the European country.
The Islamic institute aims to “promote the moderate values and principles of Islam that essentially call for tolerance”, according to Blancho.
It was suggested to offer correct information about the Islamic faith and correct wrong impression that “Islam is incapable to address contemporary issues,” he added.
Switzerland is home to an estimated 500,000 Muslims, out of a population of more than 8 million, most of whom are immigrants from Albania and elsewhere in the Balkans.
Established in 2009, the Swiss Islamic Shura Council represents a group of Swiss Muslims, including academic figures, who defends Islam and Muslims rights in the European country by countering far-right hate campaigns.
There are nearly 160 mosques and prayer rooms in Switzerland, mainly in disused factories and warehouses.
Only four of them have minarets, none of them used to raise the Azan, the call to prayer, which is banned.
Source: OnIslam
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