Imam Shortage

last updated 8 January 2015

Amsterdam

At least 18 of the Netherlands’ busiest mosques have lost their imams in the last few months, the Dutch Immigration Service said this week. The imams, all Turks, were deported after failing to take a test of Dutch language and culture. Since March, all immigrants, even those who have lived in the Netherlands for years, have been required to return to their countries of origin to take the test at a Dutch embassy. The imams ignored that requirement, and when the deadline passed, were deported. The Islamic Institute of the Netherlands, complaining that the travel requirement was disruptive to religious life, wanted imams to have the option of taking the test in the Netherlands. But Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk would not allow exceptions. “We have one law here,” she said, “and even imams have to obey it.”