Source: Jihad Watch, BY
“’You can’t just leave a mosque open and allow anyone to go there and to preach. You need to have licences,’ Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al-Nahyan, the minister for tolerance of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), told Germany’s DPA news agency as he commented on the security situation in Europe. He added that the governmental noninvolvement into the activities of religious communities is what has led to the rapid rise of extremism.”
Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al-Nahyan can say that, but if an official in the U.S. or Germany said it, he would be denounced as an “Islamophobe.”
“‘You can’t let anyone preach’: Germany needs to ‘control’ mosques to fight terrorism – UAE minister,” RT, November 14, 2017:
A loose oversight over mosques is what contributes to the rise of Islamist terrorism in Europe, an UAE minister warned. He then called on Germany and its neighbors to introduce stricter regulation over Muslim prayer halls to prevent radicalization.
“You can’t just leave a mosque open and allow anyone to go there and to preach. You need to have licences,” Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al-Nahyan, the minister for tolerance of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), told Germany’s DPA news agency as he commented on the security situation in Europe. He added that the governmental noninvolvement into the activities of religious communities is what has led to the rapid rise of extremism.
Muslims in Germany as well as in the neighboring France, Belgium and the UK had been radicalized exactly due to the fact that authorities in these countries did not pay enough attention to what happened in the mosques on their territory, the minister argued. “Germany and other European states must eventually exert stricter control over such meeting places of Islamists,” he said.
The minister said that the European countries apparently had “good intentions” when they allowed Muslim migrant communities manage their religious issues, including the establishment of mosques and choice of imams, independently. Still, he criticized such approach as ultimately false and dangerous.
Europe must understand that only people who underwent sufficient training, have a profound knowledge of Islam and possess a license, can become imams, Al-Nahyan said, adding all European mosques should be placed under state surveillance. Explaining the idea, brought the example of his own country, where also prayer halls are controlled by the state authorities.
In the UAE, the state exercises “comprehensive” control over mosques while security services have broad powers allowing them to stop radicalization and prevent any terrorist attacks. The minister told dpa that his country repeatedly offered its assistance and experience in the field of managing religious institutions to the European countries but found little enthusiasm on their part.
“We believe that something [similar] should be done in Europe,” Al-Nahyan told dpa. According to the German media, authorities play no role in the appointment of imams. A person also does not need any approval from the state to establish a mosque….
