Localising Religious Authority: Recruitment, Training and Funding of Imams and Scholars

Chapter 8 addresses whether the “nativisation” of Islam and Muslim religious authorities in Australia is tenable in the current political climate. It looks critically at government relations with the Muslim community and media discourses attempting to domesticate Muslims as a “transnational security threat.” In doing so, the chapter covers the debate about “overseas” versus “home-grown” imams and the training of imams in Australia. Notably, the chapter finds an inextricable link between funding and perceptions of religious authority. It finds participants are largely critical of government involvement in the funding of imams, particularly from overseas countries including Saudi Arabia and Turkey. This is supported by an overwhelming majority who prefer imams to be locally funded through mosque-based organisations, Australian government grants, domestic donations and self-sustained business models. The chapter finally addresses bottom-up efforts to localise Islamic authority in Australia through the educational pathways prepared for young and emerging scholars in the field of Islamic studies. This includes self-sustained local institutions, the emergence of locally trained teachers (ustads), hybrid forms of religious education, greater acknowledgment of female religious scholars and cross-collaboration between imams and academics in teaching Islam to the community.