In an article appearing on Qantara, Deutsche Welle‘s online platform seeking to foster cross-cultural dialogue with, broadly speaking, the Islamic world, journalist Tonio Postel takes stock of Muslim life in Germany between participation and exclusion, integration and Islamophobia. Growing participation of Muslim migrants in society The exercise is a welcome one. Given the plethora of more…
Since Friday, March 9, a number of Turkish-linked institutions in Germany have been attacked by arsonists. At least three mosques, a Turkish cultural centre, and a greengrocery were targeted.1 A string of arson attacks This series of incidents comes shortly after Germany’s Interior Ministry published new figures on Islamophobic hate crime: in 2017 alone, mosques,…
Seyran Ateş, controversial founder of an avowedly ‘liberal’, gender-equal mosque in Berlin at which she serves as female Imam, has been faced with disbelief at her most recent comments on the Muslim headscarf. Women’s rights lawyer turned to the religious field Ateş made a name for herself in the 1990s as a lawyer defending women’s…
A German charity organisation distributing food to the poor has been accused of racist bias after one of its branches excluded “foreigners” from its distribution activities. The organisation in question, named Tafel, essentially functions as a food bank, giving away groceries for free to the needy. Founded in 1993, the organisation has steadily grown, along…
2017 marked the first year that the German Interior Ministry officially registers Islamophobic (islamfeindliche) hate crimes. The authorities have now released preliminary figures on anti-Muslim criminal activity for the past year.1 950 Islamophobic criminal incidents in 2017 According to these statistics, Muslim individuals or institutions were targeted in 950 separate instances in 2017. This includes…
