Three years ago, the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Education set up the Sunni Council Foundation and appointed it to be responsible for Islamic religious education.

The foundation caused a stir in 2021 when it refused a number of liberal teachers of Islamic theology at schools and universities permission to teach, which in some cases still threatens their professional existence today.

The ministry let the panel rule.

At least two university teachers did not receive the teaching license, which is important for their professional existence, after they lodged a protest, submitted documents later or went to court.

But the strange thing is that, according to the foundation, they suddenly no longer need this teaching permit.

Thomas Thiel

Editor in the Feuilleton.

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The private lecturer for Islamic theology, Abdel-Hafiez Massud, was surprisingly given leave for him by the Weingarten University of Education in the summer.

The university no longer saw any possibility of continuing Islamic theology, since Massud did not have the license to teach.

The university had appealed against the Sunni Council's negative decision.

But he made her wait more than a year with his decision.

Meanwhile, he is said to have pushed the university behind the scenes not to continue employing Massud, as he reports.

This is not documented in writing.

The foundation explained to this newspaper: “The Weingarten University of Education was informed that, with regard to the constellation described in this application, an agreement from the foundation for the employment of Dr.

Contradictory decisions

Why, one wonders, is a Sunni Council needed at all?

Why is Massud first denied what he then supposedly doesn't need at all?

And why is this only made known when the university has already separated from Massud and suspended Islamic theology?

Massud sees himself as a victim of administrative acrobatics.

The decision was delayed until his "dismissal" and then explained that it was not necessary at all.

To date, he has not been informed of the decision by the university, the foundation or the ministry.

The procedure has another snag for him: as long as he does not have a teaching license, he is not allowed to teach his subject at other universities in the country.

Should the Sunni School Council not be able to regulate the damage caused by the end of November,

Abdel-Hakim Ourghi, who teaches Islamic theology at the University of Education in Freiburg, has already done that.

Ourghi protested against the Sunni Council's decision not to grant him the license to teach and went to court after its refusal.

Since April 2021, Ourghi has held a position for Islamic theology at his university.

According to the statutes of the Sunni Council Foundation, however, he is not actually allowed to teach the subject without a teaching license.

And the foundation explains that it can no longer issue a subsequent teaching permit, because the university has already created facts with the permanent position.

Permission to teach should have been granted beforehand.

However that is to be judged from a legal point of view, the fact is that, from the point of view of the Sunni Council, Ourghi suddenly no longer needs the teaching permit, as can be seen from a statement on the foundation's website.

Ourghi thinks this is a tactical maneuver.

They want to appease him and prevent lawsuits.

He too can't apply anywhere without a teaching license, probably not for the professorship that his university wants to set up.

Here, too, the question arises: Why was permission to teach previously expected of him?

Why does the country need a body that abolishes its livelihood with contradictory decisions?

Wouldn't it be better to say openly: We don't want an enlightened Islam?

Or: Is it too difficult for us to enter into the necessary conflicts?

Michael Hermann from the Ministry of Culture, who launched the construct of the Sunni Council, has already indicated in the "Badische Zeitung" that Abdel-Hakim Ourghi's views on Islam could still become an issue.

That's how you keep scientists in prison.