OPEN LETTER/ Come to the dialogue and listen to me speak, otherwise I will cut off your scholarships, you will rot in prison. Please!

 Kliko këtu për të tjera
Voxpress:

6 facts you didn't know before about mosques in Germany

2022-10-05 17:55:54Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA BETTINA BAUMANN

 

6 facts you didn't know before about mosques in Germany
Worshipers in Cologne Cathedral

 

Germany has thousands of mosques, but most are located in the backyards of buildings or in industrial areas. No one knows their exact number.

Germany is well known for accuracy and order. Everything is documented and analyzed. But no one knows exactly how many mosques there are in Germany. According to calculations from 2350 to 2750. In 2019 these mosques were visited at least once a week by 24% of the 5.5 million Muslims living in Germany, according to the study of the German Islamic Conference.

On Open Mosque Day, which has been held by Germany since 1997 on October 3, around 1,000 mosques open their doors to be visited by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. The motto this year was: Few resources, great responsibility. "The effect of the climate crisis can be seen both here and in many parts of the world, as recently in the great flood disaster in Pakistan," says Aiman ​​Mazyek, head of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, (ZMD).

Here are some facts about mosques in Germany:

 

6 facts you didn't know before about mosques in Germany
Wünsdorf Mosque, POW camp in the First World War

 

Jihadists were prepared in the first mosque in Germany

The Wünsdorfer Mosque in Brandenburg was built in 1915 at the request of the mufti of Istanbul and is considered the oldest Islamic building in Germany, and even in Central Europe. The mosque was at the center of a prisoner of war camp for Muslims, Camp Crescent. Not only were prayers held here, but the German empire used the mosque to incite Muslim prisoners against their colonial powers: France and England. The German Empire called this "revolutionary strategy". This is where the jihadists were sworn in and sent to the "holy war". But the prisoners were also used for research purposes by recording the language or making anthropological measurements. These were later used in the "racial studies" of the nationalists. Upon the construction of the mosque in Berlin-Wilmersdorf in 1928,

 

6 facts you didn't know before about mosques in Germany
Sehitlik Mosque, Berlin

 

The oldest German mosque resembles the Taj Mahal

The mosque in Berlin Wimmersdorf is today the oldest mosque in Germany and is reminiscent of a world-famous monument from India. Taj Mahal. Two minarets more than 30 meters high surround the building. This mosque was conceived by the German architect Karl August Herrmann for the Ahmadiyya-Lahore Islamic community from present-day Pakistan, whose members came to Germany in the 1920s. Together with German Muslims, they founded the German-Muslim Association and this mosque became the epicenter of Muslim life.

Women also preach in a mosque in Berlin

In the mosque opened in Berlin in 2017, the Ibn-Rushd Goethe mosque of a special kind, men and women pray together, people of the LGBTQ community are not excluded. The website states that “the Ibn Rushd Goethe Mosque represents a progressive, moderate Islam that agrees with democracy and human rights. We live in an Islam where women and men are equal and equally valued." This mosque states that it has its doors open to all faith types, Sunni, Shia, Sufi and Alevi. The initiator is the activist for human and women's rights, lawyer and author, Seyran Ateş, who pays a high price for this. She regularly receives threats to her life and is under police protection.

6 facts you didn't know before about mosques in Germany
Prayer at the Ibn Rushd-Goethe Mosque in Berlin

Associations of mosques are under criticism

Mosques in Germany are run by mosque associations. The most well-known association of mosques is the "Turkish-Islamic Union for the Institution of Religion", DITIB. This association is criticized because it is killed by the Turkish religious authority, Diyanet, the Turkish state presidium for religious affairs. Its imams are mostly educated in Turkey, paid by the Turkish state and preach for several years in German mosques. Critics warn of the increasing influence of the Turkish state on believers. Erdogan has many supporters in Germany, this was seen in the presidential elections in 2018, but also during his visits, where he is welcomed with enthusiasm.

Mosques in Germany often invisible

At a time when Christian buildings define the appearance of German cities, mosques do not stand out. Most of them are not distinguishable from the outside. Often there is only a sign at an entrance, indicating that there is a mosque behind the building or in some industrial area. An exception is the DITIB Central Mosque in Köln, designed by renowned architect Paul Böhm, which opened in 2017. The imposing predominantly concrete and glass Islamic building with two 55-meter high minarets was planned to be Germany's largest mosque, but after criticism the plans were changed. Today it offers space for 1,200 believers, as much as the other DITIB mosque in Duisbrug Marxloh.

Mosques usually refrain from calling the muezzin

In Islamic countries, the muezzin traditionally calls for the Friday prayer. In principle, this is also allowed in Germany, but it is practiced very rarely, and it is difficult, because most mosques do not have minarets. Added to this is the unacceptability in German society. Opponents of the muezzin's call refer to the nuisance of the noise and criticize the religious belief that is expressed in this form, that unlike the church bell, the muezzin's call has theological meaning and is not compared to the bell. Only 30 mosques in Germany regularly hear the call of the muezzin./ DW

Galeria fotografike (
)


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

Video

SHIKO KANALIN NE YOUTUBE
×