Christians Under Attack

Human Sciences will be open to all those wishing to study Islamic history, law and literature, its rector Muhammad al-Bashari told Adnkronos International (AKI). The university will follow the French university system and is aimed at training imams and spiritual leaders who will live among Europe's Muslim minorities.

"The institute's courses focus on the rights of Muslim minorities, on the elaboration of fatwas (Islamic religious edicts) outside Muslim countries and on their philosophy," said al-Bashari.

The rector stressed the institute's role in "encouraging dialogue between Islam and the West" in the interview with AKI. He said that one of the university's top priorities is to "study Western thinking to better tackle the challenges faced by Islam today."

Al-Bashari also said the university will be training imams so they can deal with European secular societies and that future imams will be taught, for instance, "the French language and the country's judicial system" in order for them to interact with all the French people, Muslims and non Muslims.

The Qatari government and the city of Lille have promised to help fund the institute which will also receive finances from students' fees, according to al-Bashari. Lille has approximately 1.1. million inhabitants, 25 percent of whom are Muslim.

The institute is named after Avicenne, an Islamic scholar, doctor and Persian mystic who was born in 900 A.D.

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