More Knowledge Leads to More Tolerance

It is regarded as the most beautiful building of its kind in Germany: the new Sehitlik Mosque in the Neukölln area of Berlin. It is the city’s largest mosque and was one of the main attractions on Open Mosque Day.

It is regarded as the most beautiful building of its kind in Germany: the new Sehitlik Mosque in the Neukölln area of Berlin. It is the city's largest mosque and was one of the main attractions on Open Mosque Day.

Sehitlik Mosque in Berlin-Neukölln, photo: press office FDP-Bundestagsfraktion
Sehitlik Mosque in Berlin-Neukölln

​​For eight years now, Islamic communities throughout Germany have been holding" Open Mosque Day", which is coordinated by the Central Council of Muslims in Germany. Tours, bookstalls and discussions over tea and biscuits are intended to help foster better mutual understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims and send out a signal of openness.

"Muslims: Partners for Security" was this year’s motto, a reference to the fears many people have of Islam." You hear so much in the media at the moment about Holy War and that kind of thing," one Berlin woman says about her reasons for visiting the mosque. "That is why I want to learn more about Islam. The more people know about each other, the easier tolerance becomes. Apart from that, I want to be able to talk about it with my children."

Solidarity with the German population

Open Mosque Day always takes place on 3 October, the Day of Germany Unity. According to the Central Council, this is intended to "express Muslims' understanding of themselves as part of German unity and their solidarity with the entire population."

About 200,000 visitors were welcomed at the roughly 700 mosques that took part this year, Mounir Azzaoui from the Central Council told the "Islamische Zeitung", roughly the same number as in 2003. The Central Council has also been satisfied with the response from the press.

In Berlin, 16 mosques belonging to the major Islamic umbrella organisations – including the Turkish Islamic Union of Establishments for Religion (DITIB), the Islamic Federation (IFB) and the Berlin Association of Islamic Cultural Centres – opened their doors.

Ottoman-Arabic-European

Crowds of visitors are bustling about in the courtyard of the Neukölln Sehitlik Mosque, while others view the interior of the domed Ottoman-style building, with its Arabic and European elements. They have left their shoes at the entrance. There are no other rules of dress for the guests.

The almost completed work on the construction of the Sehitlik Mosque has been going on since 1998, financed with donations from worshippers and membership subscriptions amounting to about 1.5 million euros. Headlines were caused by the minaret, which was built too high, contravening the city building regulations, but the problem has now been resolved, explains Ender Cetin, who offers regular tours during the day with his wife.

However, in Germany the call of the muezzin that tells the faithful it is time for the five fixed daily prayers may not sound out down from the minaret, but only inside the mosque.

Dress code for men

Mosques are also meeting places and cultural centres that house libraries, advisory services and leisure facilities. The Sehitlik Mosque is not big enough sometimes, says Cetin. During Ramadan, the month of fasting, the mainly Turkish worshippers spill out onto the street. The women pray on the upper floor because men and women have to worship separately.

"We men are the weak sex and are not supposed to be irritated by their sight," Ender Cetin explains with a smile. The group laughs. This is the reason behind the Islamic dress code for women, which stipulates that they must cover their breast and head. However, there are also rules for men: They should not wear tight trousers and must cover their upper bodies. Apart from this, they have to lower their gaze in the presence of women who are not members of their own family.

Mrs Cetin adds that faithful Muslims, both men and women, not only have a right to educate themselves, but a duty to do so. This duty even takes precedence over the requirement that women veil themselves. Personally, she would therefore take off her headscarf if this were necessary in order to complete her studies, but she would not want to do a job in which she was forbidden from wearing the headscarf.

Disputes about new mosques

Berlin's Islamic communities had 208,829 members at the end of 2002, according to information from the Land Statistical Office (2,500 more than a year earlier). 106 mosques and meeting rooms were counted at the end of 2001, many of them located in courtyards hidden away from the street or old factories. The organisations that run the mosques are mostly affiliated to umbrella groupings like DITIB. The Central Council of Muslims estimates that there are approximately 2,200 mosques across Germany.

About ten more mosques and cultural centres are planned at the moment in the German capital. And some of these projects are being debated with great passion: those who advocate the free practice of religion find themselves in conflict with those who fear that Islamist currents and activists will infiltrate their way into German society.

There was no hint of the disputes about new mosques or fundamentalist ideology during Open Mosque Day. Mr and Mrs Cetin, modern and Muslim, charming and eloquent, must have changed quite a few Berliners' image of Islam.

Ingrid Scheffer

© Goethe Institut

Ingrid Scheffer is a freelance journalist, Berlin

Turkish Islamic Union of Establishments for Religion (DITIB) (Turkish/German)