How to deal with extremist voices: Inclusion of hard-line Salafi in TV debate causes uproar in Germany

‘My life for Allah’ Recent reports indicate that the flow of German recruits to the jihadist groups on the Syrian battlefields is declining.1 Nevertheless, among all European countries, Germany comes second in terms of the number of its citizens that have joined ISIS, al-Nusra Front, or related groups. Against this backdrop, the German public broadcaster…

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Expectations and reactions ahead of the German Islam Conference

January 30, 2014   Muslims associations and German State authorities will be meeting this year at the annual German Islam Conference to continue the debate about Muslim life in German society. The German Islam Conference was initiated in 2006 by former Minister of Interior Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU). One if the issues will be the implementation…

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More Muslim burials without legal obligation for coffins

November 7, 2013   Like other German cities and States, the city of Rüsselsheim in the State of Hesse permits Muslims to bury their dependent community members according to Islamic faith and rituals. The graves are headed towards Mekka and include religious texts. Since March 1st 2013, the cemetery and funeral law of Hesse permits…

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Public debate on Muslim women, integration and Islam

May 3   According to a representative survey, conducted in 2012 by the Allensbach Institute for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, the majority of the questioned people associate Islam with a propensity for violence, fanaticism and intolerance.   Although the real life situation of Muslim women does not correspond with the image of the “oppressed…

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Allah or the Advisory Council, Islamic Religious Education in Germany

A few weeks ago, a new school subject was introduced in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia: Islamic religious education. The new subject is a provisional arrangement and is not uncontroversial. By Ellen Hoffers Aya frowns. In the back row, Ayman starts a kind of sing-song “Shalom, salaam, shalom.” Bernd Ridwan Bauknecht sighs. He has…

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