This story about a bogus professor of Islam in Germany brings to mind the silver-tongued philosopher and snake-oil salesman Tariq Ramadan.

Many thanks to Hellequin GB for translating this article from Politically Incorrect:

Fake professor advised the state of North Rhine-Westphalia on Islam

by Manfred Rouhs

The Ministry of Education of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia is separating itself from a (possibly only supposed) humanities scholar who advised the authority on Islamic matters for more than ten years. This is what Die Welt reports. The report states that the man “apparently built his professional career partly on false information.” The vernacular speaks of impostors in cases of this type.

The long-standing government advisor was responsible for, among other things, Islamic religious instruction in the most populous federal state, and prefixed his name with “Prof. Dr.” Photos show him with important politicians such as the former Federal Presidents Christian Wulff and Horst Köhler, whose image of Islam he apparently helped to shape.

Too bad that nobody knows on which university he’s a professor at. And a dissertation written by him could not even be found by the editors of Die Welt. The termination of his contract with the Düsseldorf Ministry allows the assumption that the Islam scholar’s curriculum vitae, which was submitted more than a decade ago when he was hired, may have been incorrect in some details.

Obviously, an academic career at Central European universities is not necessary to successfully advise a Federal Republican ministry for more than ten years on matters of Islam and, in particular, Islamic religious instruction. What is important for such activities is rather the ability of the advisor to listen carefully and to be able to find out what the decision-makers to be advised want to hear: Islam is good. Islam is harmless. You really don’t have to have studied to be able to tell this…