Austria passes law on Islam, banning foreign funding

Austria's parliament on Feb. 25 passed a law banning foreign sources of financing to Muslim organisations and requiring imams to be able to speak German, in a move closely watched by other European nations facing growing problems with radical Islam.
      
The new law aims to promote what conservative Integration Minister Sebastian Kurz calls an "Islam of European character" by muting the influence of foreign Muslim nations, organisations and funding at a time when concerns are rising about the spread of extremist Islam.        

The legislation also offers Austrian Muslims a mix of increased rights and obligations in practising their faith in the central European country.
      
But the law has generated opposition from several quarters, including Austrian Muslim groups that call it "discrimination" that imposes restrictions on Islam that other religions aren't saddled with.         Turkey's leading Muslim cleric, Mehmet Gormez, has decried the bill as "a 100-year regression," arguing that no complaints have ever been lodged about the fact that Turkey funds many imams in Austria.
      
Austria's far-right Freedom Party, meantime, mocked the bill as a "placebo" at a time when estimates suggest around 200 people from Austria -- including women and minors -- have gone to Syria and Iraq to join jihadist militias like Islamic Front.
      
The two-year-old bill passed by parliament Wednesday predates the recent jihadist violence in France and Denmark, but is designed to "clearly combat" the growing influence of radical Islam, Kurz said.
      
The new law will be studied by Austria's neighbours.
      
Earlier this month French Prime Minister Manuel Valls raised the notion of banning foreign funding of...