UKIP’s leader in Wales has said that more Muslim leaders should preach in English to help their communities integrate into British society.
Nathan Gill told BBC Radio Wales it would make people “feel more inclusive about Britain” and that their British roots were just as important to them.
However, Saleem Kidwai, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Wales, said 99% of sermons were in English.
He said the rest were all simultaneously translated.
‘Challenge’
Mr Gill told the Jason Mohammad programme that imams preaching in mosques should help Muslims feel “that their British roots are just as important to their religion as being instructed through a different language which not all of them fully understand”.
“It would also enable families and people to know what is actually really being said to people about their faith so they can challenge it,” he added.
“I would be very surprised if there was an entire congregation that didn’t speak a word of English, and they should be learning English or Welsh if they live here in Wales.”
Mr Kidwai dismissed the suggestion that Welsh mosques were not helping to promote integration, adding that very few Muslims in Wales did not understand English.
“For religious reasons our prayers are said in Arabic, but 99% of sermons are given in English. In some cases where they are given in a language like Bengali or Urdu, there is a simultaneous translation.
“People are making the effort to integrate by learning English - they may not be very articulate but they can get things done.”