Topic: Mosques in Germany

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Official opening of Gifhorn's "Christian-Muslim" kindergarten (photo: © Braunschweiger Zeitung 2018)

Interfaith cooperation and integration

Germany’s first Christian-Muslim kindergarten

Despite early learning being linked to better chances in later life, Muslim parents in Germany are currently less likely to send their kids to kindergarten. A pioneering interfaith project in Gifhorn presents an appealing alternative, promoting integration in partnership with local church and state actors. Arndt-Walter Emmerich reportsMore

Christian-Muslim dialogue in Germany: Together in the search for GodMathias Rohe on the muezzin call: "Traditional religious practice is not political Islam"Islam in Germany: Imam Idriz – "We need to allow controversial discussion"Islam in Germany: Countering the Islamisation hysteria
New mosque building in Dormagen defaced with swastikas (photo: picture-alliance/dpa/L. Hammer)

Islamophobia in Germany and Europe

European Muslims face increased online and physical attacks

Muslims in Europe regularly experience threats, witness attacks and are the target of hate across national borders. Now the Council of Europe, the continent's leading human rights organisation, is to examine the problem and make recommendations to policymakers on how they can better tackle Islamophobia. By Christoph StrackMore

Islamophobia: Criticism of religion? Blatant racism!Islam and the West: What Islamisation?Islamisation, a racist conspiracy theory: The hatred of Hanau and its enablersThe rights of Muslims in Germany: Protected by the German constitution
Photo symbolising palliative care (photo: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Berg)

Palliative care for migrants in Germany

Support at the end of a long journey

Germany is home to 21 million people with a migrant background. Hospices and providers of palliative care are adapting their practices to make them more inclusive. By Christoph StrackMore

Where are the Islamic chaplains? No pastoral care for Muslims in Germany's armed forcesInterview with the Islam scholar and law professor Mathias Rohe: Coronavirus prompts German discussion on the call to prayerAladin El-Mafaalani's "Das Integrationsparadox": Demanding a seat at the table
Anti-Afrin offensive graffiti on the side of a DITIB mosque in Minden, Germany (photo: Ozturk)

Mosque attacks in Germany

The wrong target

Since the beginning of the Turkish military offensive in the northern Syrian enclave of Afrin, there have been repeated violent attacks on Turkish mosques in Germany. Foreign conflicts should not be imported to Germany, nor should the military conflicts of other nations be fuelled by weapons exports, says Armin LangerMore

Germany's arms exports controversy: When doves cryTurkey’s Afrin offensive: Wrong, but not unjustifiedTurkey′s incursion into Syria: The Kurdish quagmire
Seyran Ates, co-founder of Berlin's Ibn Rushd-Goethe Mosque, spreads out her prayer rug during the official opening on 16.06.2017 (photo: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Gambarini)

Berlin′s new mosque

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Liberal Islam is a chimaera

The hostile reactions to the opening of a "liberal mosque" in Berlin are no great surprise. They are not, however, evidence that Islam is incapable of reform, says Loay MudhoonMore

Interview with Islamic studies scholar Armina Omerika: "Muslims need new ways to approach their religious heritage"The Reform Islam debate: Islam doesn′t need a Martin Luther!Islam and religious freedom: Coercion leads to hypocrisy
Minaret belonging to the DITIB Central Mosque in Cologne (photo: dpa/picture-alliance)

DITIB Central Mosque in Cologne

A place to pray, a place to meet

For many Muslims in western Germany, a dream has finally come true. Years behind schedule, the Central Mosque in Cologne finally opened its doors in the middle of Ramadan. The faithful can now pray there every day. Ulrike Hummel went along to see itMore

German architect to build mosque: "Muslims should not try to hide"Cologne's new Central Mosque: Open to allGermany: Bringing mosques out in the open
Imam Benjamin Idriz (photo: imago)

Interview with Imam Benjamin Idriz

Questioning tradition

Muslims are not only permitted to ask critical questions of their theology; it is actually necessary – the opinions of scholars distort the view of the Koran, says Benjamin Idriz, imam of the mosque in Penzberg, Upper Bavaria, in conversation with Claudia MendeMore

Constantin Schreiber′s controversial mosque report: Outside IslamThe Reform Islam debate: Islam doesn′t need a Martin Luther!Qantara dossier: "Reform Islam"
An integration teacher coaching students during a German language course at an Adult Education Centre in Wedding, Berlin (photo: Alina Novopashina/dpa)

Germany′s integration debate revisited

Piling on the pressure

What exactly does integration mean? And just how much allegiance may a society demand of its migrants? Such questions are currently the topic of vigorous debate – especially following the recent referendum result in Turkey. Expecting that migrants should do all the adapting in order to conform to the majority society will, however, only stir up conflict, warns Claudia MendeMore

What it means to be German: Recognise the potentialThe refugee debate: What makes us German?Germany and Islam: "Muslims are already German"
Constantin Schreiber (right) during his research into German mosques (photo: ARD)

Constantin Schreiber′s controversial mosque report

Outside Islam

Constantin Schreiber, a German television journalist, conducted research on sermons given in Muslim houses of prayer and used it to produce a book and some TV reports. Now he has come under fire. Schreiber is accused of employing underhand methods and taking a biased approach to his subject. Is there anything in the criticism? Canan Topcu has the answersMore

Islam in Germany: A poor second Germany's Islam debate: For all our freedoms!Racism in Germany: The taint of PEGIDA journalism
Worshippers attend Friday prayers at the mosque of the Lahore Ahmadiyya movement in Berlin, 2014

Islam in Germany

A poor second

Germany is a secular country, but the German legal framework approves of institutionalised religions in a biased way. The religions must organise themselves according to state standards and those standards are tailored toward the structures of the Christian religion. A commentary by Alexander GoerlachMore

Islam in Germany: The long road to legal recognitionInterview with Naika Foroutan on Germany's Islam Conference: Encouraging developmentsSyrian refugees and Arab mosques in Germany: ″Allah is listening″
Muslim worshipper during prayers in a Hamburg mosque (photo: picture-alliance/dpa)

Syrian refugees and Arab mosques in Germany

″Allah is listening″

Syrian refugees in Germany are alarmed by Arab mosques, often supported by Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, which preach ultra-conservative or highly literal interpretations of Islam, such as Wahhabism or Salafism. By Joseph NasrMore

Refugees in Germany: Mosques: a gateway to integrationPhoto essay: The mosques of BerlinThe rights of Muslims in Germany: Protected by the German constitution
Sickle moon atop a mosque minaret (photo: dpa/picture-alliance)

The secularisation of Muslims

Silent withdrawal

While the emerging religious demography only counts members of the Church as Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims etc. are counted as religious from birth – with no option to leave their religion. This skews the statistics and our perceptions. By Michael BlumeMore

Islam and enlightenment: Beware of the myth The Reform Islam debate: Islam doesn′t need a Martin Luther!Secularism in the Islamic world: Part I – It′s a knotty problem
Ruhrtriennale 2016 venue: the mosque in Duisburg-Marxloh

″Urban Prayers″ music theatre project

Spotlight on faith

What do people believe in? What is their language of prayer? Which churches, prayer rooms, mosques or temples do they attend? The interfaith theatre project ″Urban Prayers″ posed these and other tough questions – in six different places of worship throughout Germany′s Ruhr region. By Gaby ReucherMore

Ruhrtriennale website: "Urban Prayers Ruhr"Qantara dossier: "Dialogue of religions"The Berlin Project "House of One": Three religions under one roof
The German pastor Gregor Hohberg, the Israeli rabbi Tovia Ben-Chorin and the German-Turkish imam Kadi Sanci during the symbolic foundation stone ceremony in Berlin on 3 June 2014 (photo: JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images)

The Berlin Project "House of One"

Three religions under one roof

Berlin is set to host Germany's first ever house of worship to unite synagogue, church and mosque. With the "House of One" project, Jews, Christians and Muslims aim to send out a signal of tolerance from Berlin's historic centre. Jannis Hagmann on the ambitious and refreshingly pragmatic projectMore

Qantara dossier: Dialogue of religionsThe Salaam-Shalom Initiative: Breaking down artificial wallsResistance to Pegida: "Intolerance must not be tolerated"
Mescid-i Aksaa Mosque, Gelsenkirchen 2009 (photo: LWL-Industriemuseum Dortmund/Brigitte Kraemer)

Refugees in Germany

Mosques: a gateway to integration

The many Muslim refugees currently arriving in Germany are a challenge for the country′s mosques. Not merely in terms of humanitarian aid, but in terms of how German Islam is likely to change and develop as a result. By Andreas GorzewskiMore

Qantara's dossier on Islam in GermanyThe rights of Muslims in Germany: Protected by the German constitutionIslam and the West: What Islamisation?
People attend an event in the Sehitlik Mosque in Berlin-Neukolln (photo: Max Zander)

Converts to Islam

German Islam

Germans who adopt Islam not out of frustration but out of a sincere passion for the religion are often disappointed by those born into the Muslim faith, finding that they insufficiently embody the beauty of Islamic doctrine and spirituality. By Charlotte WiedemannMore

Portrait of the theologian Rabeya Muller: Equality in the name of IslamYusuf Islam: The "Peace Train" is rolling againSalafist propaganda in Germany: Mass conversions in public placesConversion of Christians and Muslims in India: Homecoming or forced conversion?Christian minorities in Iran: Iran's persecuted converts

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