Islam in Germany

The Wünsdorf Mosque, at the Halbmondlager POW camp, was Germany's first mosque, built in 1915; it was demolished in 1925–26.

Owing to labour migration in the 1960s and several waves of political refugees since the 1970s, Islam has become a visible religion in Germany. According to a national census conducted in 2011, 1.9% of Germany's population (around 1.5m people) declared themselves as Muslim. However, this is likely to underestimate the true number, given that many respondents may have exercised their right not to state their religion. A 2009 estimate calculated that there were 4.3 million Muslims in Germany at the time (5.4% of the population). Of these, 1.9 million (2.4% of the population) were German citizens. As of 2006, about 15,000 converts were of German ancestry, whereas in 2015, their number was estimated to be around 100,000. According to the German statistical office, 9.1% of all newborns in Germany had Muslim parents in 2005.

Demographics

Further information: Religion in Germany

Islam is the largest minority religion in the country, with the Protestant and Roman Catholic confessions being the majority religions. The large majority of Muslims in Germany are of Turkish origin (63.2%), followed by smaller groups from Pakistan, countries of the former Yugoslavia, Arab countries, Iran and Afghanistan. Most Muslims live in Berlin and the larger cities of former West Germany. However, unlike in most other European countries, sizeable Muslim communities exist in some rural regions of Germany, especially Baden-Württemberg, Hesse and parts of Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia. Owing to the lack of labour immigration before 1989, there are only very few Muslims in the former East Germany. The majority of Muslims in Germany are Sunnis, at 75%. There are some members of the Shia (7%), mostly from Iran. Some members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community (1%), most of whom are of Pakistani origin, comprise a minority of Germany's Muslims, numbering some 35,000 members in more than 200 communities as of 2004. Most Turkish Muslims are Sunnis, but between a fifth and a quarter are believed to be Alevis. The Alevis are a heterodox religious and cultural community officially not recognized by the Turkish state, who account for between a fifth and a quarter of the population (more than 15 million people) in their native Turkey. Most Alevites embrace tolerance and secularism, which helps them to integrate into mainstream German society much better than other belief systems.

History

Haj Amin al-Husseini meeting with Adolf Hitler (December 1941).

Muslims first came to Germany as part of the diplomatic, military and economic relations between Germany and the Ottoman Empire in the eighteenth century. Twenty Muslim soldiers served under Frederick William I of Prussia, at the beginning of the eighteenth century. In 1745, Frederick II of Prussia established a unit of Muslims in the Prussian army called the "Muslim Riders" and consisting mainly of Bosniaks, Albanians and Tatars. In 1760 a Bosniak corps was established with about 1,000 men.

In 1798 a Muslim cemetery was established in Berlin. The cemetery, which moved in 1866, still exists today.

The German section of the World Islamic Congress and the Islam Colloquium, the first German Muslim educational institution for children, were established in 1932. At this time there were 3,000 Muslims in Germany, 300 of whom were of German descent.

The rise of Nazism in Germany did not target Muslims. Adolf Hitler had a favorable view of Islam and Muslims. He repeatedly expressed the view that Islam would have been much more compatible to the "Germanic races" than "meek" and "feeble" Christianity:

Had Charles Martel not been victorious at Poitiers [...] then we should in all probability have been converted to Mohammedanism, that cult which glorifies the heroism and which opens up the seventh Heaven to the bold warrior alone. Then the Germanic races would have conquered the world.

Hitler's confidant Albert Speer reports a similar statement made by Hitler: "The Mohammedan religion too would have been much more compatible to us than Christianity. Why did it have to be Christianity with its meekness and flabbiness?"

The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini energetically recruited Muslims for the SS (Schutzstaffel), the Nazi Party’s elite military command. He recruited Muslim volunteers for the German armed forces and was involved in the organization and recruitment of Muslims into several divisions of the Waffen SS and other units.

The Islamic Institut Ma’ahad-ul-Islam was founded in 1942, during World War II, and is now known under the name "Zentralinstitut Islam-Archiv-Deutschland" (Central Islamic Archive Institute).

After the West German Government invited foreign workers ("Gastarbeiter") in 1961, the figure sharply rose to currently 4.3 million within two decades (most of them Turkish from the rural region of Anatolia in southeast Turkey). They are sometimes called a parallel society within ethnic Germans.

Denominations

A mosque in Essen

Khadija Mosque in Berlin of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

Cologne Central Mosque

Only a minority of the Muslims residing in Germany are members of religious associations. The ones with the highest numerical strength are:

Sunni

• Diyanet İşleri Türk İslam Birliği (DİTİB): German branch of the Turkish Presidency for Religious Affairs, Cologne
• Islamische Gemeinschaft Milli Görüş: close to the Islamist Saadet Partisi in Turkey, Kerpen near Cologne
• Islamische Gemeinschaft Jamaat un-Nur (de): German branch of the Risale-i Nur Society (Said Nursi)
• Islamische Gemeinschaft in Deutschland organization of Arab Muslims close to the Muslim Brotherhood, Frankfurt

In addition there are numerous local associations without affiliation to any of these organisations. Two organisations have been banned in 2002 because their programme was judged as contrary to the constitution: The "Hizb ut-Tahrir" and the so-called "Caliphate State" founded by Cemalettin Kaplan and later led by his son Metin Kaplan.

Ahmadiyya

• Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Deutschland: German branch of the Worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. There is no ethnicity or race associated with this community although most of the members of the community residing in Germany are of Pakistani origin. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was established in Germany in 1923 in Berlin and is one of the largest in Europe. Communities exist in Baden-Württemberg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse and Bremen.

Others

• Verband der islamischen Kulturzentren: German branch of the conservative Süleymancı sect in Turkey, Cologne
• Verband der Islamischen Gemeinden der Bosniaken: Bosnian Muslims, Kamp-Lintfort near Duisburg
• Zentralinstitut Islam-Archiv-Deutschland e.V. : Documentary of Islamic Foundation-writings since 1739. The Islamic Institute was founded in 1942 (Sooner called Ma’ahad-ul-Islam Institut).

Umbrella organisations

Furthermore, there are the following umbrella organisations:

• Zentralrat der Muslime in Deutschland
• Islamic Council in Germany (Islamrat in Deutschland)

Controversies

As elsewhere in Western Europe, the rapid growth of the Muslim community in Germany has led to social tensions and political controversy, partly connected to Islamic extremism, and partly more generally due to the difficulties of multiculturalism and fears of Überfremdung.

In the education system

German States that have banned teachers from wearing headscarves (red)

One such issue concerns the wearing of the head-scarf by teachers in schools and universities. The right to practice one's religion, claimed by the teachers in question, contradicts in the view of many the neutral stance of the state towards religion. As of 2006, many of the German federal states have introduced legislation banning head-scarves for teachers. It is almost certain that in 2006 these laws will be validated as constitutional. However, unlike in France, there are no laws against the wearing of head-scarves by students.

In the German federal states with the exception of Bremen, Berlin and Brandenburg, lessons of religious education overseen by the respective religious communities are taught as an elective subject in state schools. It is being discussed whether apart from the Catholic and Protestant (and in a few schools, Jewish) religious education that currently exists, a comparable subject of Islamic religious education should be introduced. However, efforts to resolve this issue in cooperation with existing Islamic organisations are hampered by the fact that none of them can be considered as representative of the whole Muslim community.

Construction of mosques and other projects

The construction of mosques occasionally arouses hostile reactions in the neighbourhoods concerned. For example, in 2007 an attempt by Muslims to build a large mosque in Cologne sparked a controversy.

Similarly with the Sendlinger Mosque Controversy, and the proposed construction of a training academy in Munich, originally called the "Centre for Islam in Europe, Munich" (ZIE-M), and later the "Munich Forum for Islam".

Fears of Islamic fundamentalism

Fears of Islamic fundamentalism came to the fore after September 11, 2001, especially with respect to Islamic fundamentalism among second- and third-generation Muslims in Germany. Also the various confrontations between Islamic religious law (Sharia) and the norms of German Grundgesetz and culture are the subject of intense debate. German critics include both liberals and Christian groups. The former claim that Islamic fundamentalism violates basic fundamental rights whereas the latter maintain that Germany is a state and society grounded in the Christian tradition.

According to a 2012 poll, 72% of the Turks in Germany believe that Islam is the only true religion and 46% wish that one day more Muslims live in Germany than Christians. According to a 10-year survey by the University of Bielefeld, which dealt with different aspects of attitudes to Islam, mistrust of Islam is widespread in Germany with only 19 percent of Germans believing that Islam is compatible with German culture.

According to 2013 study by Social Science Research Center Berlin, two thirds of the Muslims interviewed say that religious rules are more important to them than the laws of the country in which they live, almost 60 percent of the Muslim respondents reject homosexuals as friends; 45 percent think that Jews cannot be trusted; and an equally large group believes that the West is out to destroy Islam (Christian respondents’ answers for comparison: As many as 9 percent are openly anti-Semitic; 13 percent do not want to have homosexuals as friends; and 23 percent think that Muslims aim to destroy Western culture).

Banning of IHH Germany

In July 2010, Germany outlawed the Internationale Humanitäre Hilfsorganisation e.V. (IHH Germany), saying it had used donations to support Hamas, which is considered by the European Union and Germany to be a terrorist organization, while presenting their activities to donors as humanitarian help. German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said, "Donations to so-called social welfare groups belonging to Hamas, such as the millions given by IHH, actually support the terror organization Hamas as a whole." IHH e.V. was believed by the German Authorities to have collected money in mosques and to have sent $8.3 million to organizations related to Hamas.

Religiosity of young Muslims

Studies show that while not all Muslims are religious, Muslim youths are markedly more religious than non-Muslim youths. A study comparing Turkish Muslim youths living in Germany and German youth found that the former were more likely to attend religious services regularly (35% versus 14%).

41% of young Turkish Muslim boys and 52% of the girls said they prayed "sometimes or regularly", 64% of boys and 74% of girls said they wanted to teach their children religion.</ref name="Gesemann2">

Religiousity of the Muslim parent generation

While the Muslim parent generation is more religious than the non-Muslim parent generation, not everybody is religious. 10% of the youths, which lived in Eastern Germany and 28% of the youths which lived in Western Germany come from a set of parents which is described as "fairly religious" or "very religious". 73% of Muslim youths in Germany do.</ref name="Gesemann2">

Notable German Muslims

A

• Vaneeza Ahmad a Pakistani-German model
• Asifa Akhtar, Professor of Epigenetics, Director Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics
• Mehmed Ali Pasha (marshal) was a German-born Ottoman soldier

Mesut Özil

B

• Kristiane Backer a German television presenter, television journalist and author
• Atif Bashir, footballer, plays for Barry Town in the Welsh Football League First Division.
• Aslı Bayram a German actor and writer and an honorary Ambassador for Crime Prevention by the Justice Ministry Hessen, Germany
• Danny Blum, German Soccer player

C

• Denis Cuspert a German militant Islamist and former rapper

D

• Sevim Dağdelen a German politician and a member of the German parliament Bundestag
• Ekin Deligöz a Turkish-German politician and a member of the German parliament Bundestag

E

• Khalid El-Masri
• Ibrahim El-Zayat a European Muslim activist in Germany and has been a functionary in many important Islamic organizations in Germany, Europe, and Saudi Arabia.

F

• Abdoldjavad Falaturi was a German scholar of Iranian origin

G

• Yasmeen Ghauri a model born in Canada of mixed Pakistani and German descent
• Cemile Giousouf a German politician and a member of the German parliament Bundestag
• Fritz Grobba was a German diplomat during the interwar period and World War II
• Karim Guédé a football player

H

• Ali Ghaleb Himmat is an Italian businessman who ran the Islamic Community of Germany (IGD)
• Murad Wilfried Hofmann a prominent German diplomat and author
• Ahmed Huber was a Swiss German journalist who was active in both Islamist and Far Right politics.
• Hadayatullah Hübsch German writer and journalist
• Ashiq Hussain, Neuroscientist, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology

K

Khedira playing for the Germany national football team.

• Lamya Kaddor a German writer and known for introducing Islamic education in German in public schools in Germany
• Metin Kaplan was the leader of the radical Islamist movement Kalifatsstaat ("caliphate state") which was based in Cologne, Germany
• Jawed Karim a German-American Internet entrepreneur
• Elsa Kazi was a German writer of one-act plays, short stories, novels and history, and a poet
• Hasnain Kazim an author and journalist, correspondent of the German news magazine Der Spiegel and Spiegel Online
• Necla Kelek a German feminist and social scientist
• Navid Kermani a German writer and a scholar of Islam
• Sami Khedira, German Soccer player
• Sead Kolašinac a Bosnian professional footballer

L

• Mojib Latif, Professor, meteorologist and oceanographer
• Johann von Leers was a member of the Waffen SS in Nazi Germany, where he was also a professor known for his anti-Jewish polemics

Mojib Latif

M

• Jamal Malik, Professor of Islamic Studies and chair of Religious Studies, University of Erfurt, Germany
• Shkodran Mustafi a German professional footballer

N

• Youssef Nada a noted businessman and Muslim Brotherhood financial strategist.
• Adam Neuser was a popular pastor and theologian
• Omid Nouripour an Iranian-German politician and a member of the German parliament Bundestag

O

• Susanne Osthoff a German archaeologist
• Cem Özdemir a German politician and a member of the German parliament Bundestag since 2013 and between 1994 and 2002 and of the European Parliament between 2004 and 2009
• Mesut Özil, German Soccer player
• Aydan Özoğuz a German politician and a member of the German parliament Bundestag

Aydan Özoğuz 2015 in Berlin

S

• Marwa Ali El-Sherbini was an Egyptian woman and German resident who was killed in 2009 during an appeal hearing at a court of law in Dresden, Germany.
• Ahmed Siddiqui (German)

T

• Bassam Tibi a political scientist and Professor of International Relations

V

• Pierre Vogel a German Islamic preacher and a former professional boxer

German Orientalists

• Annemarie Schimmel

See also

• Islamic Centre Hamburg
• Islamic dress in Europe
• List of mosques in Germany
• Religion in Germany
• Turks in Germany

External links

• Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Deutschland
• Links: Islam in Germany
• Germany: European Muslim Union with its offices in Granada, Spain, Bonn, Istanbul and Sarajevo
• A German Initiative to Bridge the Gap