Situation in Austria

Currently, there are about 570.000 Muslims living in Austria. With a 6,2% share of population, they are already the second largest religious community in Austria.

With growing presence and duration of stay, Muslims face the challange of an ever growing complexity of life in Europe. The social and religious problems that arise through this, are not very well known to Muslims from their own background and constitute a major challenge for their process of integration. 

The diaspora situation of Muslims intensifies the problems all the more, as the once strong family cohesion is ripped apart and with it it's function as a safety net in times of trouble. Therefore mosque-communites and imams assist their members and function as religious counselors, although they don't have the ressources.

A profound education, which would allow religious counselors to deal with the contextual challenges of Muslims and to give professional assistance, would be a solution.