“El den el haq” (The right religion) in Germany, a banned group and a free leader

By: Shaimaa Hefzy

On the map of the banned groups in Germany, there is “The right religion” group, which the German government suspects of having a link with Daesh. The German authorities suspect that the “Right religion” group is adopting a hatred speech, and that many of the people who were in contact with it, went later to fight among the lines of “Daesh” in Syria and Iraq.

The founder of the group is Ibrahim Abu Naji, who was quoted by the German Interior Minister, Thomas de Mezer, as saying in a statement carried by Deutsche Welle in November 2016: “We haven’t any criminal accusation against him yet,” but the European security services classified him as dangerous.

Abu Naji has been sued for inciting violence, including murder. In June 2012, the then German Minister of the Interior, Hans-Peter Friedrich, filed a suit to begin proceedings to ban the “right religion” group, however, all the judicial attempts to arrest Abou Naji and ban his group have not been successful, because his statements against Western lifestyle, against homosexuality are in favor of Islamic law and are incompatible with the German values, but they are not criminal offenses,” according to the Germany law.

In December 2017, federal prosecutors in Germany immediately banned the

“Right religion” group on charges of promoting extremism among young people.

According to the “Russia Today” on 19 December, the federal prosecutor announced that the decision to ban the group is final; the group itself did not appeal the preliminary decision to ban, and the appeals of two of its members were withdrawn.

In November 2016, the German Ministry of Interior banned the “Right Religion” group on charges of “recruiting 140 people to be sent to fight in Syria and Iraq”.

The German news agency quoted a statement by “Thomas de Mezier,” the German Interior Minister, in which he announced “the prohibition of the work of the group, and its campaign to distribute copies of the Qur’an to people in the streets.

“We do not want terrorism in Germany, we do not want to have propaganda for terrorism in Germany or to export it from Germany,” De Mezier said. “We do not want terrorism in Germany.” He added.

“The authorities suspect that the group is spreading anti-understanding messages among peoples, acting against the constitution, and a large number of those who went to fight with the Daesh organization in Syria and Iraq were in contact with the group before joining daesh,” a spokeswoman for De Mezier said.

The group didn’t issue any statement on the decision to ban it.

The German internal intelligence service estimates the number of Islamists in Germany at 9200, and the number of militants who could carry out attacks at 1200.

Ibrahim Abu Naji was born in 1964 in the Palestinian refugee camp Nusseirat in the Gaza Strip. He went to Germany at the age of 18 to study electrical engineering, but he opened a store selling posters. Then he declared his bankruptcy, after he was asked to pay taxes amounted to 70 thousand euros, then he obtained German citizenship in 1994. Abou Naji is one of Germany’s most influential hardliners, an Internet activist who is accused by the authorities of “discriminating between Muslims and infidels”.

Abou Naji also runs the campaign “Iqra” (Read) for the distribution of the Qur’an among Germany cities, he began this campaign in 2012. Abou Naji’s  goal represented in “improving the image of Muslims and Islam in Germany,” he accuses “Zionist advocates” that they made him a target of the German government,  he considers himself as a normal Muslim, and believes that the term Salafism is used by the media to divide Muslims.

The Constitution Protection Authority (German intelligence) is classified Abou Naji as “the most influential Salafist in Germany.” A German intelligence report reports that the number of radical Salafis in Germany reached about 7,500 in 2015, while the number was estimated at 3800 five years ago, and that “only a minority of them call for violence, but the transition from ideological Salafism to violent Salafism may happen quickly.”

German intelligence said in a report issued in 2015: The initiatives of distributing the Qur’an are carried out by people who are engaged in “advocacy of Islamic extremism and the recruitment of jihadists”.

There are also increasing indications that there were people who first participated in the initiative of Qur’an distribution; to participate in the fighting in Syria, later.”

The German Interior Minister, Thomas de Mezer, said that the decision to ban this group “is directed against the abuse of religion by people who promote extremist ideas and support terrorist organizations under the guise of Islam,” stressing at the same time that “the ban is not directed against the distribution of the Qur’an or translate its meanings.