The Initiative of Liberal Austrian Muslims (ILMÖ) has harshly criticised the upcoming Third Conference of European Imams and Pastors in Vienna.
ILMÖ said 120 Muslims from 40 countries would attend the 14-15 May conference at the invitation of the Austrian Islamic Denomination (IGGiÖ).
ILMÖ claimed that none of the attendees from abroad knew anything about Muslim life in Austria and explained that, since there was no religious hierarchy in Islam, any Muslim could be his own imam. It also noted there were no pastors in Islam.
ILMÖ added that IGGiÖ had no influence in Austrian mosques and most Austrian Muslims knew nothing about the conference, which meant it would be useless for them, as the two previous such conferences had been.
The time and money wasted on the conference were dangerous, given the danger of political Islam for European Muslims, ILMÖ said.
Noting that the conference would cost Austrian tax-payers one million Euros, ILMÖ called on IGGiÖ to make all its activities and sources of income public.
“IGGiÖ is not democratic and remains a clique based on an opaque clan system,” ILMÖ charged, adding that political support of the organisation constituted “deliberate deception” of the Austrian people.