This paper was produced by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue in advance of the 6th meeting of the Policy Planners Network on Countering Radicalisation and Polarisation (PPN) in Oct 2010. While ‘Imam-training’ has, in certain countries, become a focus for government engagement and prevent strategies, the question of religious guidance and authority and the influence they exert on Muslim communities is of course far broader than the role of Imams alone. This paper is an attempt to lay out the issues – beyond the purely legal and organisational aspects of integrating Muslim communities into European models of relations between States and religions – that need to be better understood, clarified and addressed for legitimate and effective policy-making to be developed in this complex field.