The nationwide mosque association Ditib plans to significantly increase the number of imams it trains, but faces major difficulties in funding these initiatives independently.
Ditib’s General Secretary, Eyüp Kalyon, told the “Tagesspiegel” that the establishment of a second training program in Dormagen has been like “hitting the turbo button”. He explained that the previous system of training graduates within Germany would take far too long. This new pathway allows for the continued qualification of Turkish theologians. According to Kalyon, the goal is to multiply the number of male imams trained through this method, with hopes of graduating 75 religious representatives annually. However, Kalyon clarified that no firm date has been agreed upon with the federal government regarding replacing Turkish imams with those trained in Germany.
Addressing the influence of the Turkish religious authority, Diyanet-which pays the imams’ salaries-Kalyon refuted the notion that funding dictates content. “He who pays determines not the contents” he stated. Nevertheless, it has been established that, starting in 2024, the supervisory authority for all religious representatives lies with Ditib, not Diyanet. Kalyon emphasized that Ditib is an autonomous association in Germany: “We make our decisions here. We take Diyanet as a theological reference”. He also noted that both the local mosque communities and the national association are structured democratically.
Despite these plans, Kalyon pointed out that the approximately 1,000 religious representatives serving in Ditib mosques cannot be self-funded. He explained that communities only have two sources of income: donations and membership fees. He added that paying an average salary between 4,000 and 6,000 euros is simply beyond the budget of local congregations.
