BERN, November 25 (IslamOnline.net) - Muslim activists in Switzerland reacted differently to a proposal put forward by major Swiss Christian groups on the need for a government-supervised institute to educate imams on the "liberal" lifestyle in western societies.

The proposal raised some fears within the community that the institute would be a platform for imposing a European Islam, sidelining the Shari`ah and dealing with the Noble Qur’an as an out-dated historical heritage.

“This might turn Islam into mere ideas with no obligations on its followers,” Ahmed Afifi, a Muslim activist, told IslamOline.net.

Last week, the Swiss Bishops' Conference called for setting up an institute to educate imams coming to the country on the western lifestyle.

Agnell Rickmann, secretary general of the Bishops’ conference, told the Swiss NZZ am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday, November 21, that such training is “a reasonable demand.”

“There is a big difference between preaches of an Albanian imam, brought up in a European society, and other Arab imams who don’t even speak the Swiss language,” he said.

The Protestant Church Federation, for its part, said imams should be familiarize with the country’s languages and the European values, including equality between men and women and freedom of expression and thought.

Afifi and other Muslim activists, however, expressed concern that the Swiss government might employ secularists in implementing such plans, widening the gap between Muslims and the western societies.

Such an institute could graduate Muslims only by name who know nothing about true Islam and then impose them on the Muslim community, they fear.

This, according to the activists, would leave Swiss Muslims tormented between accepting the teachings of liberal-minded imams or risk being classified as “radicals” unable to integrate into society.

However, other Swiss Muslims said the institute proposal could yield benefits to Swiss Muslims and help their integration efforts.

"Such an institute would be an example of cooperation between the government and the Muslim community," said Abdul Hafez Warderi, spokesman for the Islamic cultural institution in Geneva.

He said the institution was ready to cooperate with the project by providing the religious content of the curricula while the government provides the cultural one.

Abdul Hafez stressed that such cooperation should not target the Noble Qur’an and Sunnah but rather focus on Fiqh (jurisprudence) of Muslim minority, which is concerned with the rulings regarding the issues that concern Muslim communities living in non-Muslim societies.

Swiss Muslims have been exerting efforts to establish an Islamic studies seat in Basel University under the supervision of the Cairo-based Al-Azhar University.

"The project doesn't allow intervention in the religious texts by any party," Al-Sayed Al-Shahed, the project supervisor, told IOL.

He noted that Basel university will be responsible for appointing the staff in accordance with the standard academic criteria but without any intervention in the curricula.

Observers said the institute proposal would face several obstacles, chiefly among which is financing as the law bans spending public money on religious education.

As Islam is not officially recognized in the European country, the graduating imams would not be entitled to financial support from the state, they added.

According to IOL correspondent, the major obstacle is how to tackle issues of Shari`ah and penalties, which the western countries always have reservations about.

Last week, the Swiss press accused Yusuf Ebrahm, director of the Islamic center in Zurich, of being a radical imam after he said no on can deny the penalties mentioned in the Noble Qur’an.

Similar efforts have been taken in several other European countries.

Islam is the second religion in Switzerland after Christianity.

The country is home to 350,000 Muslims representing a sizable 4.5 percent of its eight million people.