Austria's parliament has passed a law that aims to curb foreign influence on local Islam, but which has also created tensions with Austrian Muslims.
The drafting of the law from 1912 that regulates the relationship between Islam and the state had been overshadowed by debates about religious extremism and by recent terrorist attacks in Europe.
The law bans the funding and deployment of some Muslim clergy from foreign countries such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia, both practices currently in use.
It also establishes that Austrian law stands above Islamic religious rules, in line with the government's plan to foster an "Austrian-style Islam," as Foreign and Integration Minister Sebastian Kurz has repeatedly stated.
Muslim representatives said the law was discriminatory, arguing it was more restrictive than laws governing other religions.
"The attempt to create an 'Austrian-style Islam' ignores the need for fostering religious diversity and mutual respect," the Turkish Islamic Union (ATIP) said in a statement.
"It turns the Islam law into a security law," added the union, which runs many Austrian mosques. It employs some 60 imams paid by the Turkish state, out of the 300 Muslim clergy working in Austria.
The union and other Muslim organisations are planning to fight the bill at the Constitutional Court.
The head of Turkey's religious authority, Mehmet Gormez, said the law would curb religious freedoms and would set back Austria 100 years.
The far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) said the law was not strict enough and would therefore not help prevent radicalisation.
"I say that [Islam] does not belong to Austria, neither culturally nor historically," FPOe leader Heinz-Christian Strache said in parliament.
Around 600,000 Muslims live in Austria, making up approximately seven per cent of the country's 8.6 million inhabitants.
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