Reforms of Islamic education cause disputes at Muslim Forum in Moscow

A reform of the system of Islamic education was the major topic of debates at the International Islamic Forum held in Moscow. The issue was raised on setting up an academy to unite the existing Islamic Universities, said Khadjimurat Gatsalov, the Mufti of North Ossetia. However, as noted by Professor Aidar Khabutdinov from the Russian State University of Justice (RSUJ), the centralization will inevitably prejudice someone's interests. The Forum has become a place of heated debates, its participants have noted.

The forum was organized by the Russia's Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM), the Council of Muftis of Russia, the Fund for Support of Islamic Culture, Science and Education and the International Union of Muslim Scholars, Ahmad Makarov, a member of the organizing committee of the forum, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The forum focused on three groups of problems, said the above Professor Aidar Khabutdinov, namely, according to his version: the answer of Islam to modern challenges, which debilitate the morality; stabilization of the situation in the Russian Muslim community and in other countries to prevent revolutions; and the creation of a modern and competitive system of Islamic education.

The hottest debates were around the issue of uniting the efforts of secular and Islamic educational institutions, said Khabutdinov.

Now, the main topical issue is on how Muslims in Russia and the Caucasus, in particular, will get their knowledge, said Khadjimurat Gatsalov, the Mufti of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.