8/13/2019 The Islamization of Germany

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-islamization-of-germany 1/12

The Islamization of Germany in 2013

by Soeren Kern 

January 15, 2014 at 5:00 am

Print  Send  Comment  RSS Share:

In December, two new studies, one funded by the German government, found that themajority of Muslims believe that Islamic Sharia law should take precedence over thesecular constitutions and laws of their European host countries.

"Critics of Islamic ideology and its organizations are constantly confronted withlawsuits and have to legally defend themselves against the accusations of blasphemy orincitement-to-hatred. Even if it does not come to a conviction, such processes cost a lotof time and money…Thus... we are experiencing a de facto application of Islamic law."

— Felix Strüning, Gustav Stresemann Foundation Report.

"[It] must be recognized: democracies must beware of those who believe a free society issomething that needs to be vanquished." — Die Welt. 

What follows is a chronological review of some of the most important stories about the rise of Islam

in Germany during 2013:

In January, the Turkish-run Kuba Camii Mosque in Eschweiler, a city situated along the German-

Belgian-Dutch border and about 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Cologne, for the first time began

publicly calling Muslims to prayer.

The call to prayer was described as an "historical event" and was attended by numerous dignitaries,

including the Turkish consul and the Turkish attaché.

The Turkish imam of the Kuba Camii Mosque, Bahri Ciftci, declared his hopes that "the public prayer

call will be a symbol of a tolerant, intercultural and interreligious common coexistence."

The mayor of Eschweiler, Rudi Bertram, said, "Tolerance must be practiced on a daily basis. We are

all responsible for ensuring that there is a co-existence."

The mosque is one of a growing number of Islamic institutions in Germany publicly calling theMuslim faithful to prayer—five times a day, seven days a week—with cries of Allahu Akbar! ("Allah is

Greater!").

The sonorous prayer calls (known in Arabic as adhan) can be heard from great distances when

amplified through electric loudspeakers. Critics say some German towns and cities are beginning to

evoke the sounds and images of the Islamic Middle East.

8/13/2019 The Islamization of Germany

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-islamization-of-germany 2/12

8/13/2019 The Islamization of Germany

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-islamization-of-germany 3/12

From Berlin to Dortmund to Mönchengladbach, the proliferation of mosques housed in former

churches reflects the rise of Islam as the fastest growing religion in post-Christian Germany.

Major German newspapers greeted the news with apparent resignation, and published editorials

with titles such as "When Mosques Replace Churches," "Tenant Allah," "Christian on the Outside,

Muslim on the Inside," and "The New Normal."

Also in February, a German-born Islamic jihadist calling himself "Abu Azzam the German" 

threatened to attack Berlin and kill German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

In a three-minute video posted on the Internet (the video has since been removed), the man can be

heard singing in German an Islamic a cappella battle hymn known as a nasheed .

"We want to see Obama and Merkel dead!" he sings. "Our troops are already there [in Germany],

what joy. You'll bleed, your heads will roll! ... Oh Allah, give the German people what they deserve!"

A screenshot from the video of "Abu Azzam the German", threatening attacks on Germany and

Chancellor Merkel.

Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told German Interior Minister Hans-Peter

Friedrich that Berlin was guilty of "a human rights violation" for insisting that Turkish immigrants who

want to live in Germany must integrate and learn the German language.

In March, Germany banned three Salafist Muslim groups the Interior Ministry said wanted to overturn

democracy and install a system based on Islamic Sharia law.

The Interior Ministry said on March 13 that it had banned three Islamic groups "DawaFFM,"

"Islamische Audios" and "An-Nussrah," which is part of the "Millatu Ibrahim" group [The Religious

Community of Abraham] that was outlawed in June 2012.

8/13/2019 The Islamization of Germany

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-islamization-of-germany 4/12

8/13/2019 The Islamization of Germany

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-islamization-of-germany 5/12

Speculation is rife that the Persian Gulf Emirate of Qatar will pay for the project, although the Qatari

Ambassador to Germany told the newspaper Münchner Merkur  that no final decision has been

made.

In April, Peer Steinbrück, the chancellor candidate for the center-left Social Democratic Party

(SPD), said at a campaign stop in Berlin that he supported the idea of physical education classes inGerman schools being divided by gender as a courtesy to Muslims.

Steinbrück said: "If schools are able to do it, then they should." After his comment was greeted with

silence, Steinbrück added that the measure should be taken "out of consideration for [Muslim]

religious convictions."

The reaction to Steinbrück's comments was immediate and fierce from across Germany's political

spectrum, an indication that overt support for multiculturalism is becoming a political liability in

Germany.

On the same day that Steinbrück made his controversial comments about Muslim-friendly gym

classes, Germany's Central Council of Muslims (ZMD) demanded that the German government

introduce statutory Muslim holidays throughout Germany.

In an interview with the daily newspaper Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) on April 3, council

chairman Aiman Mazyek said that granting one day during the month of Ramadan and another on

the fast-breaking day of Eid al-Fitr would be "an important sign of integration" and "would emphasize

tolerance in our society."

The proposal was not well received. Wolfgang Bosbach, a member of parliament for the ruling

Christian Democrats (CDU), told WAZ that he sees "far and wide no need" for the legal recognition

of Muslim holidays, adding that Germany has "no Muslim tradition." The current public holidays—

such as Christmas and Easter—are part of a Christian-Western heritage, Bosbach said.

Also in April, Bavaria became the first state in Germany to classify so-called Islamophobes as

extremists. The Bavarian branch of Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the BfV, also began

monitoring German activists accused of fomenting hate against Muslims due to their

"unconstitutional" opposition to the construction of a mega-mosque in Munich.

The move to silence critics of the mosque was announced by Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim

Herrmann in a press conference on April 12, and represented an unprecedented threat to theexercise of free speech in post-reunification Germany.

Herrmann made the announcement while presenting an annual report about threats to democratic

order in Germany. A seven-minute video of the press conference with subtitles in English can be

viewed here. 

8/13/2019 The Islamization of Germany

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-islamization-of-germany 6/12

Herrmann singled out Freedom Bavaria as well as the Munich branch of a highly popular free

speech blog calledPolitically Incorrect (PI), which focuses on topics related to immigration,

multiculturalism and Islam in Germany.

On April 28, a major research study on religious attitudes in Germany found that more than half of all

Germans view Islam as a threat to their country and believe it does not belong in the Western world.

The findings confirm the results of dozens of other surveys, and reflect a growing divide between the

views of ordinary Germans and those of Europe's multicultural elites, who for decades have

promoted mass immigration from Muslim countries.

The study, entitled "Religion Monitor 2013: Religiousness and Cohesion in Germany"

(German and English), was produced by the Bertelsmann Foundation, one of the most influential

think tanks and lobbying groups in Europe, and a strong proponent of "progressive" causes such as

multiculturalism and global governance.

On April 29, the television news program RTL Extra (a 23-minute video of the RTL report can be

viewed at YouTube here) explained how Muslim polygamists are being financially supported by

German taxpayers.

Although polygamy is banned in Germany by Paragraph 1306 of the Civil Code and Paragraph

172 of the Penal Code, in practice these laws do not apply to Muslims.

The RTL report shows how Muslim men residing in Germany are taking advantage of the social

welfare system by bringing two, three or four women from across the Muslim world to Germany, and

then marrying them in the presence of an imam, a Muslim religious leader.

Although these polygamous marriages are not officially recognized by the German state—they are

technically illegal and punishable by fines and imprisonment—the practice is commonplace among

Muslims in all major German cities. In Berlin, for example, it is estimated that fully one-third of the

Muslim men living in the Neukölln district of the city have two or more wives.

Once in Germany the women request social welfare benefits, including the cost of a separate home

for themselves and for their children, on the claim of being a "single parent with children."

The RTL report says that even though the welfare fraud committed by Muslim immigrants is an

"open secret" costing German taxpayers millions of euros each year, government agencies arereluctant to take action due to political correctness.

In May, a major conference on German-Muslim relations ended in failure after Muslims attending the

event refused to acknowledge the government's concerns about the threats to security posed by

radical Islam.

8/13/2019 The Islamization of Germany

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-islamization-of-germany 7/12

German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich had wanted the eighth annual German Islam

Conference, held in Berlin on May 7, to focus on finding ways the government could work together

with "moderate" Muslims in Germany to combat Islamism and extremism.

But Muslims attending the gathering were apparently offended by the insinuation that Islam could be

radical or violent, and demanded instead that the German government take steps to make "Islamequal to Christianity" in Germany.

In June, an appeals court in northwestern Germany decided a contentious divorce case based on

Islamic Sharia law. The ruling was one of a growing number of court cases in Germany in which

 judges refer or defer to Islamic law because either the plaintiffs or the defendants are Muslim.

Critics say the cases—especially those in which German law has taken a back seat to Sharia law—

reflect a dangerous encroachment of Islamic law into the German legal system.

The Appeals Court [Oberlandesgericht] in Hamm, a city in German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, ruled on June 2 that whoever marries according to Islamic law in a Muslim country and

later seeks a divorce in Germany must abide by the original terms set forth by Sharia law.

The case involved a 23-year-old Iranian woman who married a 31-year-old Iranian man in Iran

according Sharia law in 2009. The couple later immigrated to the German city of Essen, gave birth to

a daughter but then separated in 2011. A lower court in Essen granted the woman a divorce in

November 2012 and the husband appealed the decision.

The appeals court in Hamm sided with the woman because, according to the German judge, the

couple agreed to abide by the principles of Sharia law at the time they were married and thus the

case should be decided according to Islamic law, regardless of whether the couple was now living in

Germany.

The court ruled that the woman was legally entitled to talaq, an Islamic means of obtaining a divorce

by reciting the phrase "I divorce you" three times. The court also said the husband had violated the

original terms of the Islamic marriage agreement by failing to provide financial support for his wife for

a period of six months.

In a similar but separate case in April 2013, the appeals court in Hamm overturned a previous

decision by a lower court in Dortmund and ordered an Iranian man to pay his estranged wife (also an

Iranian) the equivalent of 800 gold coins as part of a divorce settlement.

That case involved a couple who were married in Iran in 2001, immigrated to Dortmund and later

obtained German citizenship. The couple separated in 2007.

As part of the marriage agreement, the husband had promised his wife a dower of 800 Bahar Azadi

gold coinspayable upon demand. The court ordered the husband to pay €213,000 ($280,000), the

8/13/2019 The Islamization of Germany

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-islamization-of-germany 8/12

current equivalent value of the coins, in compliance with a marriage contract he signed in

accordance with Islamic law, even though both individuals are now German citizens.

Also in June, a Turkish mosque in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia began sounding

public calls to prayer from an outdoor loudspeaker system mounted on the roof of the edifice.

The Fatih Camii Mosque in Wipperfürth, a factory town situated 40 kilometers (25 miles) north-east

of Cologne, began publicly calling the Muslim faithful to prayer during a formal "muezzin-induction

ceremony" on June 21 attended by local and foreign dignitaries, including the Turkish consul.

The Fatih Camii Mosque—run by the Turkish-Islamic Union for Islamic Affairs (DITIB), a branch of

the Turkish government that controls over 900 mosques in Germany—received municipal approval

for a muezzin publicly to call Muslims to the mosque for prayer five times a day after Mayor Michael

von Rekowski said he wanted to show the world that Wipperfürth "takes pride in being an

intercultural and interreligious community."

At the request of the mayor, leaders of the Wipperfürth mosque met with representatives of the

Protestant and Catholic churches in town to "integrate" the timing of the Muslim prayer calls into the

traditional schedule for the ringing of church bells.

On June 11, the head of Germany's federal agency for domestic intelligence, Hans-Georg Maaßen,

presented the annual intelligence report for 2012. Among many items of interest, the 450-page

report states that 30 Islamist groups were active in Germany during 2012. The number of estimated

Islamists jumped to 42,550, up from 38,080 in 2011.

The report also shows that Hezbollah is using mosques and other Islamic organizations in Germany

to raise funds for the terrorist group's activities in Lebanon. The report also shows a steady increase

of Hezbollah operatives in Germany: 950 in 2012, up from 900 in 2010.

On June 25, German police foiled an Islamist terror plot to use remote-controlled airplanes filled with

explosives as guided missiles. Nearly 100 police raided homes in the German states of Bavaria,

Baden-Wurttemberg and Saxony. Two of the suspected plotters were students in the aeronautics

department at the University of Stuttgart, who were developing systems for using GPS to guide

pilotless aircraft, according to the German public broadcaster SWR. 

Meanwhile, the Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt and the Justus-Liebig-Universität in Giessen opened

a joint center for Islamic theology. The center is the fourth taxpayer-funded department of Islamictheology in Germany.

In addition to the center in Frankfurt/Giessen, Islamic theology departments have also recently

opened at universities in Tübingen (January 2012), Erlangen/Nürnberg (September 2012)

and Münster/Osnabrück (October 2012).

8/13/2019 The Islamization of Germany

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-islamization-of-germany 9/12

Islamic theology courses at German universities are so popular that they are "changing the German

religious landscape," according to the news service Deutsche Welle. 

German Education Minister Annette Schavan says the Islamic centers are a "milestone for

integration" for the 4.3 million Muslims who now live in Germany. She says Germany has a demand

for more than 2,000 Islam teachers, who are needed to instruct more than 700,000 Muslim children.

The German government claims that by controlling the curriculum, the schools, which are to train

Muslim imams and Islamic religion teachers, will function as an antidote to "hate preachers." Most

imams currently in Germany are from Turkey and many of them do not speak German.

But the idea has been criticized by those who worry that the Islamic centers will become a gateway

for Islamists who will introduce a hardline brand of Islam into the German university system.

In July, Muslim mobs ushered in the beginning of Ramadan with three nights of rioting in Hamburg.

The unrest began on the evening of July 12 when more than 150 Muslim youths attacked police andburned cars in Altona, the westernmost district of Hamburg. More than 100 riot police were deployed

to restore order. An 11-minute video of the Hamburg unrest, with cries of "Allahu Akbar!" ("Allah is

Greater!) can be viewed here on YouTube.

Also in July, the German news agency Deutsche Welle reported that German military canteens have

adapted to Ramadan and altered their menus to provide Muslim soldiers with foods that are

prepared according to Islamic Sharia law.

According to Deutsche Welle, army canteens are better equipped than many other large kitchens to

prepare food for Muslim and non-Muslim soldiers separately: "The cooks use separate forks and

ladles and make sure that the meat is stored separately. And if we grill together, the cooks always

have some aluminum foil with them, so that the turkey breast doesn't touch the bacon."

In August, a gang of Islamic radicals in Eisenhüttenstadt, a German city near the border of Poland,

attacked a young Muslim couple for violating the Ramadan fast. 

During the incident, at least ten Chechen jihadists broke into an apartment at the asylum seekers

facility in Eisenhüttenstadt and beat the couple, who are refugees from Chechnya, to the point that

the woman suffered a miscarriage. According to local police, Chechen gangs have a history of

enforcing Islamic Sharia law in the city.

In September, the state of Lower Saxony signed a preliminary "state treaty" with local Muslim

representatives to recognize Islam as an official religion. The document, dated September 30,

addresses 30 specific grievances presented by the Muslim community, which constitutes around 7%

of the overall population of the state.

8/13/2019 The Islamization of Germany

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-islamization-of-germany 10/12

"A mutual skepticism has occurred in the past and our government wishes to show its respect to the

Muslims with this treaty," according to the minister-president of Lower Saxony, Stephen Weil. Similar

"treaties" have also been signed in Bremen and Hamburg. 

On September 11, judges at the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig ordered a Muslim schoolgirl

to take part in mixed-sex swimming lessons. Her parents had insisted that the girl, 13, not take partin swimming lessons at her school in Frankfurt because she felt "uncomfortable" swimming with

"bare chested" boys near her. She either wanted to be allowed to skip the lessons or be given

special instruction on her own.

The court ruled that the "social reality of life in Germany comes above her religious beliefs," and

ordered her to attend swimming lessons wearing a full-body-covering garment known as a "burkini" 

in order to accommodate her beliefs.

On September 19, a dispute in Berlin over efforts by multiculturalists to ban Christmas was resolved

after Mayor Klaus Wowereit stepped in to declare that Christmas is still legal. A row erupted after theleft-leaning Green Party in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin announced that the traditional Christmas

markets that have taken place in the neighborhood for generations would henceforth be held under

the religiously-neutral term "Winterfest." Muslims make up roughly one-third of the population in

Kreuzberg. Wowereit said he had received complaints about the ban from angry people all across

Germany and said the dispute had harmed Berlin's reputation.

Meanwhile, the first Desert Flower Center was opened in Berlin in cooperation with the

hospital Waldfriede. The center is the first medical facility in Europe to offer comprehensive

treatment for victims of female genital mutilation. Around 50,000 women in Germany are affected by

FGM, 20,000 of whom live in Berlin.

The German parliament recently redefined FGM as a criminal offense in its own right, punishable

with a jail term of up to 15 years. Previously, it fell under the grievous bodily harm category, with

sentencing restricted to a maximum of ten years.

In October, the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel  reported that 200 German Islamists fighting

against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad have gathered in northern Syria and

established their own camp, known as the "German Camp." The war-torn country is currently "by far

the most attractive location for jihadists," according to a classified intelligence document that was

leaked to the magazine.

According to Der Spiegel , the 71-page document sheds light on the extent to which Germany's

Muslim population is supporting the Syrian jihadists. Humanitarian aid charities and fundraisers have

amassed hundreds of thousands of euros in what intelligence agencies dub "trigger events," where

imams collect funds for weapons acquisitions and call on young men to join the jihad.

8/13/2019 The Islamization of Germany

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-islamization-of-germany 11/12

The newspaper Die Welt  said that German security services are increasingly concerned that the

fighters will return to Germany more radicalized after potentially receiving terror training from Al-

Qaeda and Islamic groups in the country.

In November, the Marzahn-Hellersdorf Adult Education Center in eastern Berlin sparked a

nationwide debate after it removed a series of six nude paintings out of deference to Muslimimmigrants. Critics said the decision was an overzealous bid at cultural sensitivity.

School officials feared the works may shock Muslim students and prevent them from attending class.

The school is located nearby a newly established refugee center, which draws immigrants and

asylum-seekers to the neighborhood.

In December, a new study found that the majority of Muslims in Europe believe Islamic Sharia law

should take precedence over the secular constitutions and laws of their European host countries.

The "Six Country Immigrant Integration Comparative Survey"—a five-year study of Moroccan andTurkish immigrants in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Holland and Sweden—was published on

December 11 by theWZB Berlin Social Science Center, one of the largest social science research

institutes in Europe.

According to the study (German and English), which was funded by the German government, two

thirds (65%) of the Muslims interviewed say Islamic Sharia law is more important to them than the

laws of the country in which they live.

Three quarters (75%) of the respondents hold the opinion that there is only one legitimate

interpretation of the Koran, which should apply to all Muslims, and nearly 60% of Muslims believe

their community should return to "Islamic roots."

The survey shows that 44% of the Moroccans and Turks interviewed agree with all three of the

above statements, which makes them "consistent fundamentalists," and fundamentalist attitudes are

 just as widespread among younger Muslims as they are among older Muslims.

In a commentary on the study, the German newspaper Die Welt  said the findings cast serious doubt

upon the unbridled optimism of European multiculturalists, who argue that Muslim citizens will

eventually internalize the liberal democratic mindset of Western society.

"The data are not suitable for simple conclusions," the paper writes. "But it must be recognized:democracies must beware of those who believe a free society is something that needs to be

vanquished."

Also in December, a discussion paper (German and English) published by the Berlin-based Gustav

Stresemann Foundation—a think tank dedicated to the preservation and advancement of liberal

8/13/2019 The Islamization of Germany

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-islamization-of-germany 12/12

democracy in Europe—warns that national and international Islamic organizations are increasingly

putting pressure on Western politicians gradually to criminalize any critique of Islam.

The author of the report, the German political scientist Felix Strüning, provides a meticulously

detailed analysis of the Islamic lobbying effort—by means of a "human rights lawsuit"—to

silence Thilo Sarrazin, a prominent German banker who has criticized the refusal of Muslimimmigrants to integrate into German society.

Strüning writes that German political authorities are increasingly bending to pressure from German

Islamic organizations by adopting Muslim definitions of "Islamophobia" in public discourse, thus

creating legal uncertainty as to "who can say what about Islam and Muslims in Germany."

"Critics of Islamic ideology and its organizations are constantly confronted with lawsuits and have to

legally defend themselves against the accusations of blasphemy or incitement-to-hatred," Strüning

writes. "Even if it does not come to a conviction, such processes cost a lot of time and money, which

in many cases includes one's reputation and possibly even his or her job. Thus, also in the West, weare experiencing an increasing de facto application of Islamic law in matters of Islam."

Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based  Gatestone Institute. He is also Senior Fellow

for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group.

Follow him on Facebook  and  Twitter .