The academic training of imams: Recent discussions and initiatives in the Netherlands

Three main parties have always been involved in the issue of training
imams in the Netherlands, namely, the government, the academic educational institutions, and Muslims. The two fundamental rights of academic
freedom and religious freedom were always present in the theoretical discussions and debates as well as in the practical establishment of three
recently established academic programmes funded by the government in
the framework of training imams.

This paper is going to trace, in broad lines, the main developments of
training imams working in the Netherlands which started almost twenty-five years ago and then recently crystallized in establishing three new
programmes at the Vrije Universiteit (VU) in Amsterdam, Leiden University and the Higher Vocational School, Inholland. At the end, this paper
presents an overview of these programmes besides a short sketch of other
Muslim initiatives in this regard.