Liberal Islamic teachers are valuable. They teach children from sometimes very traditional families a modern understanding of Islam. They interpret the Koran historically and open up the Islamic paradise for all people. Liberal female teachers sometimes even marry non-Muslim men (which massively contradicts conservative Islam). And they do all this in public. However, these liberals, many dozens of whom teach in North Rhine-Westphalia schools, are in a partly precarious position.
They receive their teaching permit from a commission, formerly called the “advisory board”, which is dominated by ultra-conservative, Islamist or nationalist Muslim associations. Most teachers who teach Islamic religious education have a definitive religious teaching licence, called ” Idjaza”. This can be withdrawn, but not so easily. An unknown number of teachers, on the other hand, still only have a provisional, limited Idjaza.
This group of teachers is hardly known publicly. The Ministry of Education now admits on request that they are “aware” of “individual cases”. The “Association of Muslim Teachers” also confirms that there are still “some teachers who have a provisional ijaza”. Especially in the first years after the introduction of religious education in 2012, the advisory board, urged by the state, distributed provisional ijazas to teachers because they had to build up staff quickly. However, there were conditions: the teachers were to complete a certificate course and then be examined by representatives of the associations. Then it was to be decided whether they would receive a final ijaza. Some liberal teachers, however, have stayed away from the examination until today – for fear of not getting a final teaching licence from the ultra-conservatives. Some experts in authorities and associations have known about this problem for a long time, but did not make a fuss about it in order to protect the teachers.
The associations are now apparently trying to track down such hidden liberals. Last week, an expert from the previous advisory board sent a confidential letter to the school committee of the state parliament, which serves this purpose. Teachers with provisional ijaza are not mentioned in the letter, which is exclusively available to the newspaper WELT AM SONNTAG. But this, fear knowledgeable liberal Muslims in an interview with WELT AM SONNTAG, is a tactic of the author (or his possible backers), who belongs to an ultra-conservative association. His name is known to the editors, but he does not wish to be named.
In the letter, the author complains that for years Islamic teachers have apparently been teaching in North Rhine-Westphalia who have no or a falsified teaching licence. What is remarkable is what the author of the letter and the associations demand in order to track down the alleged teachers without or with a falsified teaching licence: they urge the ministry to provide them with the names of all active Islamic teachers in the state. Only the ministry possesses this list of names. With its help, the associations could identify the liberal Islamic teachers who are hiding from them. Through their participation in the commission, the associations do know who has been granted a provisional or definitive ijaza since 2012. But they do not know whether these people are currently working as teachers. The respective school management decides on hiring at a school. Only they check whether the correct, final teaching permit has been issued. No one knows whether the school headmasters always comply with this.
Now, the allegations in the letter are undoubtedly serious. Parents allegedly reported that they knew of religious teachers “who are not in possession of an ijazah issued by the advisory board”. In addition, there are teachers who work with forged ijazahs. How many forgeries are in circulation “has to be checked. In individual cases it is so (see attached document),” the letter says. The document attached to the letter shows a photo of an allegedly forged ijaza. This would be a criminal offence. But these allegations are so far unproven.
WELT AM SONNTAG spoke to the friendly and well-versed author of the letter and asked him for proof. But they are missing so far. Unfortunately, “for legal reasons, we were not allowed to ask the parents for names and places”, the author explained. The photo of the alleged forgery does not prove anything either: the name of the teacher has been blacked out. And the author of the letter does not even know the person who discovered the allegedly forged document. The photo was leaked to him by a trustworthy third party.
Mouhanad Khorchide, professor at the University of Münster and chief trainer of Islamic teachers in North Rhine-Westphalia, also has doubts about the accusations. He said that he had “occasionally heard rumours that teachers were teaching without ijaza. But I never got an answer to my question about concrete details. The Ministry had a similar experience. It asked for concrete evidence to be able to investigate allegations. But they did not come. The Association of Muslim Teachers (VML) cannot confirm the allegations either. Chairwoman Birgül Karaarslan told WELT AM SONNTAG: “I have never heard of teachers giving Islamic religious instruction without or with a falsified ijaza. I am disappointed that something like this is being made public because it unfairly damages the reputation of dedicated teachers.”
In any case, the ministry refuses to respond to the demands of the federations’ representatives. It refuses to hand over the list of all teaching staff. But even if one of the suspicion points should be true – in concrete cases of suspicion, the ministry says, one should contact the local school supervisory authority.
There are reasons for this ministerial reticence: Reports are circulating of liberal teachers who were subjected to severe pressure during an ijaza examination. According to the Liberal-Islamic Federation (LIB) and the Association of Islamic Teachers (VdI), teachers were advised to join an association mosque or to separate from their non-Muslim partner – if they wanted to teach Islam. So far, the associations have not simply taken away anyone’s teaching licence. They take a more subtle approach. And they explain that they will decide on questionable candidates later. In this way, they postpone the case indefinitely. The professional future of those affected thus remains permanently at risk. Some Islamic teachers report that this has already caused examinees to wear headscarves against their convictions.