Prime Minister of Britain Tony Blair unveiled plans to launch a reported £ 1 million fund to change the mode of teaching of Islam at British universities. His announcement was to provide significant funding for implementing many recommendations presented in a government-commissioned report by director of the Markfield Institute of Higher Education, Ataullah Siddiqui, which includes training Muslim imams and reducing mosques’ reliance on some overseas clerics, who are criticised for fuelling extremism. It came as the government was reported to be seeking to designate Islamic Studies as “strategically important” to Britain’s national interests and allowing tighter scrutiny of university courses. He said that Britain needs more Muslim imams trained in UK universities, to reduce reliance on imams from overseas. He also called for closer links between Islamic schools – madrassas – and mainstream British education.
In his speech, Blair said it was wrong to equate Islam and Muslim communities with extremism and stressed the importance of hearing the authentic voices of Islam and the country’s Muslim communities.
Blair was addressing a conference, hosted by Cambridge University’s Inter-Faith Program, that was billed as having attendants from over 40 countries, including the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Shaykh Ali Gomaa and the Grand Mufti of Bosnia Mustafa Ceric.