The opening of a self-styled ‘liberal’ mosque in Berlin – marked by the mixing of genders, the absence of headscarves, and the openness to pluralistic understandings of Islam – by lawyer and activist Seyran Ateş has sparked a media frenzy both in Germany and abroad. Liberal and conservative media outlets have celebrated the mosque. Liberals…
Anti-Semitic prejudice amongst Muslim youth has become an issue of growing concern in Germany. Schools, while at times being the site of anti-Semitic hatred,1 have reacted by expanding educational opportunities aiming to combat the hostility to Jews exhibited by some of their students. Grass-roots project combating anti-Semitism The Theodor-Heuss comprehensive in Berlin has mounted one…
Germany is often perceived as a country that has dealt exceptionally well with the ghosts of its past, most notably with respect to the reflection on the Holocaust. Yet upon closer inspection, the old demons do resurface and intermingle with contemporary political predicaments. Nothing shows this more clearly than a series of ongoing rows that touch…
Initially, reactions on the part of German Muslim leaders to the attacks in Manchester and London had been muted, with a sense of the routinized and somewhat hapless repetition of well-worn formulas of shock and condemnation prevailing. Fighting against complacency This limited response has not gone unnoticed, with many criticising Islamic associations and Muslim representatives for…
Muslim representatives in Germany have condemned the recent attacks in Manchester and London. Especially the events of Manchester gave rise to expressions of shock and anger, as the targets of Salman Abedi’s suicide bombing that left 23 dead had been a pop concert by US singer Ariana Grande and its mostly very young audience. Responses…
