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By Munir D. Ahmed

Islam is to-day after Christianity the second largest religion in Germany. But this is a recent phenomenon which is not even half a century old. Muslims started arriving in Germany in large numbers after the Second World War. In pre-war Germany there were a very limited number of Muslims in the country, mainly a few dozen German converts, who had embraced Islam through self-study or with the help of their contacts with the Muslims, who had found their wy to Germany in the pursuit of study or trade.

The real influx of the Muslims started in the sixties when the labour-short German industry was obliged to hire cheap labourers anitially from the Mediterranean countries (Italy, Spain and later on also Portugal). Along with them came some Muslim students, mainly from the Arab states. But as their numbers were limited, their presence was not felt particularly by the general public. This started to change in the sixties when the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, which at that time was confined to West Germany, negotiated contracts with Turkey (1961), Tunis (1965), Morroco (1966) and Yugoslavia (1969) to aquire labourers from those countries. The basic assumption at that time was that the labourers would come over to Germany for a limited period of time, during which they will be allowed to work and earn a living in this country. They would be free to transfer their earnings to their home countries where their respective families would be living.

This soon proved to be a false assumption, as the families of the labourers wanted to join their men-folks, who in the mean time had acquired skills and were coveted by the industry. Inspite of the settling down of the Turkish families in Germany, the authorities still insisted that the „Guest Workers“, as they were called, were there for a brief period of time, after which they will be going back to their countries of origin. This stemmed from an age old notion that Germany was not a land of immigration such as the USA and some other countries of North and South America. It was in fact due to this myth that hardly any efforts were undertaken by the state and the German society at large to accommodate foreigners in the country.

They were left alone in practically all spheres of life without any guidance or help. Hardly anybody cared to teach them the language or looked after their housing and familial problems. The result was that the „Guest Workers“ of the first generation never learned German language properly and thus remained alienated from the society. This is true also in the case of Italiens, Spaniards or Portugiese among the „Guest Workers“. But they at least had something in common with the native Germans. They were mostly Christians belonging to the Catholic Church and as such were not entirely in an alien environment.

It was different in the case of the Turks, as they were Muslims, who all of a sudden found themselves confronted with an alien society. There were no places, where they could congregate for prayers, and there was nobody to lead them. Most of them had no theological background and did not know how to celebrate their religious rites. Inspite of this they started to pray together in rented houses, mostly in garages and other such premesis, which they could acquire with their meager resouces. It was many years later that the first Imams appeared on the scene. They were at least in the beginning not sent by particular organisations. Mostly they had come to live in Germany on their own. In some cases they were formar Muslim students, who took upon themselves to teach the Qur’an to their Turk bretheren, particulary to the children.

It was in this way that the so-called „Qur’anic Schools“ came into being, where Muslim children were imparted lessons in after-noon classes. This practice was destined to creat great commotion in the German press, as some people saw the hand of the „Islamists“ behind these institutions. There is no denying that in certein cases this allegation was not entirely out of place. But as will be discussed later the matter was exegerated out of proportion to fit in the scenario of the looming danger of Islamic invasion of the Christian West.

There is no denying that Islam by and large presents itself in Germany as a Turkish pheomenon. Out of almost three million Muslims in the country, which is roughly 4 % of the total polpulation, there are over two million Turks. Therefore, Islam is seen almost entirely in the light of its Turkish environment. But in fact the Muslim community in Germany is divided into two main Groups, namely the Turkish and non-Turkish congregations. And then there are many sub-groups, such as Pakistanis, Iranians, Arabs and Bosnians. But the division in not to a great extent denominational with the exception of the Ahmadiyya which is now almost entirely being disregarded. The Sunni and the Shia Muslims tolerate each other to a large degree. In fact in the Shia mosque in Hamburg, there is a separate section of German speaking Muslims, which is frequented by Muslims from all denominations. Then there are mosques which are managed by the Pakistanis, Arabs and others, where adherants of any Muslim denomination are welcome.

The overwhelming majority of the mosques is in the hands of the Turks, who conduct their operations mostly in Turkish language. This being the one main cause of seperation of the Turks from other Muslims in Germany. This language barrier is to some extent taken advantage of by the Turkish officials, who are interested in controlling and guiding their compatriots. In fact the Turkish state has quite for some time taken over the resposibility of providing Imams or Khojas, as they are called by the Turks, for the Turkish mosques. This arrangement has also the backing of the German authorities, who would like to keep the lid on the top of this otherwise unpredictable mob. But this exercise has not been fully successful, as some Turkish organisations as well as political parties have implanted their kind of Islamic ideas in the heads of not so few compartiots. This has happened inspite of the fact that the Turkish Republic’s „Religious Authority“ has been guiding the Turkish workers in Germany in the quise of the „Turkish Islamic Union of Diayanat“, which functions unter the direction of the Turkish Embassy. About 2 % of the Turk immigrant workers in Germany are non-Muslims. Another 30 % belong to the Alavite rite, which many people do not regard as a genuin Muslim denomination. The rest of the Turks in Germany are Sunnites of the Hanafi school of law.

As the Turkish state adhers to the principle of laity, most Turks do not affiliate themselves with the religious organizations. In fact the overwhelming majority of them is out-side of the orbit of any kind of mosques or other worship places. This is also true for the most Muslims living in Germany. Less than ten percent of them regularly visit a mosque or have any contact with an established religious organzation.

The number of the Muslim worship places in Germany exceeds one tausend establishments, out of which only a small proportion can be qualified as mosques in the true sense of the word. But in the mean time quite a fews mosques have been built and their number is ever increasing. There exist great hurdles in the way of building a mosque in Germany. Most cities right away deny permission for the construction of a mosque with the argument that such a building is alien to the character of a European city, or the German population would not like to hear Azan being called out in their neighbourhood. At least the matter regarding Azan can be solved out, as in most cases the mosques are not located in purely Muslim populated areas. Therefore, it will not be out of place if Azan is recited inside the mosque, as is currently the case in most European cities. Lately, it has been argued against granting permission for the building of mosques, that the construction of Christian churches is not allowed in Saudi Arbia. Therefore, in retaliation to this practice, German authorities will not give permission for the construction of the mosques in German cities. Everybody knows that this is not a tenable proposition in a democratic society, which does not define itself in contrast to another model. It has its own norms for the rights and obligations of the citizens.

In fact the real reason behind this kind of reaction is very wide spread prejudice against Muslims in general and Islam in particular. The example at hand is the case of a Muslim lady teacher, who was denied teachership at a government school inspite of her qualifications, only because, being a staunch Muslim, she insistred on wearing a head-scarf in the class. Her case was referred to the court which decided against her appointment in a state run school. The argument was that government schools are obliged to be neutral in matters of faith. But this is only the half truth, as also in governmental schools religion is taught as a subject, which is invariably Christianity. Lately schools have felt the need of imparting instructions in Muslim faith as the number of Muslim pupils has increased greatly. In many cases the majority of the pupils in certain classes belongs to the Muslim faith. Before discussing this matter in some detail, I would like to revert to the case of the head-scarf, which has become a kind of a farce in the mean time. In Hamburg a German Muslim lady teacher, who wears a scarf out of religious conviction, has been recently inducted into the teaching profession, because she is a teacher of mathematics and as such very much in demand. But another teacher in a neighbouring state was denied the job although the pupils and their parents had held demonstions in her favour.

This is happaning in a country in which the cross as a symbol of Christian faith is hanging from the walls of school classes in some states. As a matter of fact, parents of a non-Muslim child had taken this matter to the court with the argument that they do not want their child to be indoctrinated in religious matters. The highest court of the country decided in their favour and advised the school concernd to remove the cross from the class room. But the State of Bavaria, in which the school was located, passed a law in the state legislature to revert the decision of the court. So the argument that the govermental schools must be neutral in faith matters is not very compelling one.

Muslim parents have for long been striving for permission to install religious instruction for their children as a regular teaching subject. In cases they even offered to take over the resposibilty for these lessons. Lack of Muslim teachers in the schools was the reason behind this offer, which in very limited number of cases was accepted and made use of. But as a general rule, the educational authorities were not satisfied with such an arrangement, as they had doubts about the competence of the nominated voluntary teachers. At the same time one should know that this kind of arrangements can at the best be only transitional. Parentes cannot substitute regular teachers and there was no body else, who could schoulder the responsibility.

German authorities do not recognise Muslim organizations as a public law corporations. This status is hitherto given only to the both denominations of Christianity and the Jewish faith, which in fact has currently less then 60000 members in Germany. But they were accorded this status after the First World War during the period of the Weimar Republic. At that time about half a million Jews were living in this country, who were made to suffer by the Nazis during the Third Reich. And the Federal Republic of Germany has as succsser state rightly not taken away this status from the deminished Jewish community.

The question of recognition by the State is a complex one, or so the Muslims are given to understand. The State wants the Muslims to unite in a kind of a church-like organization, which is impossible due to the diversity of the Muslim organzations, denominations and their respective affiliations with the national states. The recognition as a public law corporation would allow the Muslim community to obtain the right to levy taxes, to operate as a civil service employer, to exercise disciplinary power and to issue documents, such as marriage cirtificates. Public law corporations are not liable to taxation and they do not pay state fees. Instead, they are entitled to governemntal subsidies and have a right to be consulted in religious and cultural matters. They sit on the governing boards of the state owned radio and television corporations. They are given time in the electronic media for religious sermons. Jews, for example, have a special Sabbath prgramme, which is relayed every Friday afternoon. Above all it also gives the possibility of securing a voice to the Muslim community in matters of educational policy. Because Muslims are denied this status by whimsical mechanations by the German State, they are not consulted in curriculum matters. Lately, a court in Berlin has decided in favour of a local Muslim group, which had claimed the right to decide on the contents concerning Islam to be taught to the Muslim pupils in the state-owned schools. This is uptill now the only axample. Muslim congregations in the State of Hessen are currently trying to obtain the same right . But their chances to win seem less promising.

It seems as if the same law is not applicable to every-body and every-where in Germany. The other bizarre exampel which shows the same kind of dichotomy in the application of law concerns the question of the slaughter of animals. Jews are allowed to slaughter animals in their traditional way, which by the way, is exactly the same as the Muslim practice. But Muslims are not allowed, although Islam prescribes halal meat very much in the same way, as the Jews are asked to eat cosher meat.

This should not be taken as a sign, as if the Muslims are faceing great hurdels in their daily life in Germany. They enjoy a degree of freedom, for which they can rightly be envied by the people even in many Islamic states. Lately, great number of them have adopted German nationality, which gives them the right to vote in general elections. By doing so they have started taking active part in the politics of the country, which also effects their lives. In this way the number of German Muslims is increasing by the day. No body knows the exact number of German converts to Islam, but this much can be said safely, that it should run into thousands. Alone the German women embracing Islam in order to marry a Muslim male ist quite considerable. Lately, the number of German men is on the increase, who marry Muslim women, which in many cases creates great many problems for their Muslim spouces and occassionally culminates into tragedies. The Muslim clergy are still clinging to the assumption that the allowance to marry among the people of the book applies only to the men and the women do not fall under this category. But the practice is overtaking them, as has also happened in India, where Muslim women are freely marrying Hindu and Sikh spouces. Iranian, Turkish and Pakistani girls are taking the liberty in this regard in Germany and elsewhere.
 

Paper presented at International Seminar: "Muslims' Rights in Non-Muslim Majority Countries", 21-22. September 1999 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

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