Posted on 06/20/2005 5:48:55 PM PDT by Lorianne
STOCKHOLM, June 20, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Swedish imams have went public with calls for the government to teat them on equal footing with priests in terms of financial assistance and salaries.
The demand highlights the miserable living conditions Muslim preachers suffer, forcing them to take up jobs unsuitable for their religious status, to say the least.
"The government should allocate salaries to imams, as it does with priests," Ammar Abdous, chairman of the imams' committee in northern Sweden, told IslamOnline.net.
"The government should realize that imams play a major role in helping the process of integration, solving family problems for the Muslim minority and guiding the youth to steer clear of drugs and crime," he stressed.
Abdous added that imams are also assigned to visit jails and detention camps to attend to the spiritual needs of Muslim prisoners.
"Thus, the imams should not be forced to seek other jobs to financially support themselves because is a waste of their time and effort."
Sweden has some 145 imams, 45 of whom are members of the umbrella Swedish Council for Imams.
Some imams receive symbolic assistance from the Union of Islamic Societies in the capital, which only receives 5-7 thousand Krona (600-1,000 $US) monthly government aid.
According to IOL's correspondent, one pays an average of 4,000 Krona as a monthly rent for an apartment in Sweden.
Priests, on the other hand, get salaries between 15,000 to 24,000, based on seniority.
Islam has become the second official religion in Sweden, after Christianity.
Cab Drivers
Sheikh Hassan Moussa, chairman of the Council for Imams, had cried the negligence of the government and slammed the resentful condition imams have come to suffer in the European country.
"The Council does not receive support from any Swedish body. The Muslim League in Stockholm finances the Council with some 50,000 Krona (around US$ 7,000) annually, in addition to hosting the Council's headquarters," he said in statements published by The Expressen daily Sunday, June 19.
Moussa said this kind of money "does not allow us to support imams at all. They merely receive meager payments from their Islamic societies".
He regretted that this has forced some imams to work as paper sellers or even cab drivers to make ends meet.
"This is definitely harmful to their image and religious clout" Moussa maintained.
The Council for Imams was established in June 21, 2003, upon a call from the Muslim League in Stockholm to be an umbrella group for imams and callers in Sweden.
Sweden has a 350,000-strong Muslim minority, many of them are Iraqi and Iranian Kurds asylum-seekers.
YOu got to love it, 145 Imams and a third of them are on the "Council".
Any one with half a brain can see where this is going.
Let the Muslims world wide support the Imams. Oh wait, they don't even support the Palestinians...unless it's an explosive contribution.
I'm not sure if this is really a misspelling or not. :)
Yeah, it's hard to tell with the level of English of the author. I think it was intentional.
Somebody living in the 6th century don't need much money. Some beans and a couple of goats for comfort don't cost much.
I didn't know the government pays the salaries of priests in SwedenThey don't, salaries for priests in the Church of Sweden are paid from the church's sizable assets - income from capital and property (like over a million acres of land, mainly forest). Most of the church (salaries are but a small part) is financed through a "church fee" collected from the members (something like 80% of the population).
Maybe the Imams are confused because of the cooperation between the tax authority and the church, which lets the church conveniently collect its fees with the regular tax.
Ping to the Swedish Ping List.
Thanks, that helps explain something I heard about Swedish church attendance. I heard that if you're on a roll at a church, you can be taxed for membership so many Swedes don't formally practice religion. I've even heard that alot of Swedes don't get baptised because of it.
I'm still trying to sort fact from fiction over here.
I heard that if you're on a roll at a church, you can be taxed for membership so many Swedes don't formally practice religion. I've even heard that alot of Swedes don't get baptised because of it.While the economic issue might be important for some, and the number of people leaving the church has gone up, I think it's more a sign of general secularization than anything else. Religious people, I imagine, aren't turned away by the requirement of helping to finance the church. Personally, I don't know anyone who hasn't been baptised, but I can't vouch for all of Sweden :)
It would also be a mistake to assume that the 80% of the population belonging to the church are actually "practicing religion". I'm very much an agnostic, and thus not religious by any standards, but I'm also a member of the Church of Sweden. My membership and the little money it cost is more a sign of support than anything else. I also, separately, donate money to church-organizied activities for children and teens. The reason is two-fold - first of all the church, through its historical significance, carries a lot of Sweden's heritage (like all the old churches). Second - while I can do without the spiritual stuff, the ethical and moral lessons given to young people are worthy all my support.
Thank You for your insight. I appreciate it.
Like I said - fact from fiction....
:)
Tell the Immies to start holding bingos, give away a head in a basket or something.
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