Austria's New Law Effort on Islam

There's an interesting episode unfolding in Austria over Islam.  I normally blog mostly over Germany.....but there are various elements of change going on in Europe, and you have to take moments to ponder how certain problems are being viewed and "solved".

So, Austria.....has had this policy standard over Islam that has existed for 102 years.  Yeah....since 1912...just two years prior to the war.

Islam was given a number of rights, and Austria basically allowed an enormous amount of freedom in terms of religion.  The Austrians have viewed the current situation and decided to change a few things.

So, rule number one.....the Koran has to be translated and be made available in German....at all Mosques.  Most Islamic members didn't think this was a big deal.....but oddly enough, a number have come up to say that the Koran was never meant to be translated, and it cannot be done.  How Turks, Syrians, Egyptians, and Saudis work with the current text?  That's a curious thing.  They rely upon some Mullah, who runs the same type atmosphere as the Catholic Church treating the Latin-texts of the Bible as sacred.

Change two?  No outside income.  Funding coming in from Saudi Arabia?  It'll come to an end.  The Islamic members will have to pay and fund their own operations within Austria.

Change three?  Foreign Imams coming in to run the local Mosques in Austria?  That's going to end as well.  There will be Austrian Muslims, who will run their own Mosque operations.  I noticed that one journalist commented that 65 Imams in Austria.....are paid by the government of Turkey.  That would come to an end.  Naturally, some folks aren't happy about that rule.

As commented by a government official there.....there's to be no difference between a devout Muslim individual and an Austrian citizen....there are to be one, and the same.

Where does this lead onto?  I noted that the bulk of all Mosque construction in Germany for the past thirty years.....was all paid by outside funding.....all coming from Saudi Arabia.  If you look at the budget of each German Mosque in operation today.....I think the bulk of their funding is mostly an external device.....and not being met by the internal members of the German local community.

It'll be curious how France and Germany view the Austrian model, and if they copy it within the next year or two.  Just forcing the text change alone....might shift power from the local Imam of each group to individuals who could read and come to their own conclusions.....avoiding the Catholic Church episodes of the period prior to the 1600s in Europe.

What I expect?   I'll make a bet that within two years....various money-laundering games are noted by the Austrian cops, and several Islamic individuals end up in court....forced to explain why they violated the law....shifted money around and hid it from the authorities.  Just having some Mullah arrested and detained.....will force local members to question what he did to be charged with a crime. Maybe some positive things will come out of this.