By Michael Scott Moore As the first generation of Muslim immigrants to Germany get older, over 70 percent still plan to be buried in the country of their birth. Is integration a problem even in death? Yemos Vurgun was the frail matriarch of a Turkish immigrant family when she died in 1994, aged 90, and…
Concerned about Islam’s image problem in much of the Western world, some Muslims in Germany have come up with a solution — The Islamobile. But the mobile information station also raises new questions. The Islamobile stands next to the local Catholic church. The stand is “a mobile multimedia information point in the form of a…
KOBLENZ – The Civic Education Centre (Zentrum Innere F_hrung) of the German Armed Forces, Catholic and Evangelical camp priests, the women’s commissioners and the deputy chairman of the Central Council of the Muslims in Germany held a discussion in Koblenz. Among the topics were the appointment of a “camp imam” for the religious support of…
Social participation is one of the immigrants’ most important demands. Most of them do not want to be integrated, if that means completely giving up their culture, language and religion. Most concepts, however, ignore the immigrants’ opinion and expectations altogether. “Do not threaten immigrants with sanctions and deportation”, asked the T_rkische Gemeinde in Deutschland (TGD)…
The number of converts to Islam rose four-fold from about 1,000 in 2004. While previously mostly women followed their husbands into their religion, now converts come from all social groups and ages, across the board. There are approximately 3,22 million practising Muslims in Germany, the number of mosques is set to double shortly – and…
