Germany sets strategy to counter extremist imams

Shaimaa Hefzy

All imams who work in Germany will in future have to prove they can speak the German language, under a draft law for religious leaders introduced by the government. This comes within a strategy to encounter the spread of extremist thoughts and ideologies among Muslims in Germany.

In November 2019, the German government began implementing a program to train Muslim imams, through an educational institution supported by the Ministry of the Interior.

Although some Islamic organizations train imams according to their societal background in Germany, the majority of the imams working in Germany belong to the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DİTİB), especially since the number of Turkish Muslims in Germany is about three million Muslims out of a total of 4.5 million Muslims in the country.

DITIB manages about 900 mosques in the country, including the central mosque in Cologne, and has about 800,000 members throughout Germany.

Its ties to Turkey are very strong. According to the official research service for the German Bundestag, which has created a register of Islamic organizations in Germany, its charter states that DITIB is “linked to the Turkish government’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet).”

The Diyanet sends Turkish imams to DITIB mosques; the imams’ salaries are then paid by the respective Turkish consulate general for the duration of their stay. In other words, the Diyanet determines the theological guidelines behind what is preached in the mosques, DW reported.

Almost 90 percent of imams in Germany are educated outside the country. The majority of them come from Turkey.

Forty-three-year-old imam Murat Gül is president of the Islamic Federation of Berlin and teaches Islam at the local Rosa Parks primary school.

Gül believes that in order to understand and address the needs of the Muslim community, Imams in Germany should know the language, the education system and the culture of the country they live in, which the German government started implementing in November 2019.

The German Cabinet has introduced a draft of a bill that would require clergy from countries outside the EU to prove their knowledge of German in order to reside in the country, .

Although the law would apply to clerics from all religions, the coalition treaty signed by the German government specifically refers to Muslim preachers.

“We expect foreign imams to be able to speak German,” an Interior Ministry spokesperson confirmed.

The draft states that “for religious reasons, clerics often take on an influential role in their communities” that requires them to act as models and counselors in a way that facilitates peaceful cooperation between different cultures and religions as well as a successful integration of immigrants to Germany.

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said German language skills were “imperative for successful integration.”

Currently labor laws do not have any requirements for work visas issued for charitable or religious purposes.

Currently, Islamic theology is taught at academic institutions in the cities of Münster, Tübingen, Osnabrück, Giessen and Erlangen-Nuremberg. In October this year, Humboldt University of Berlin also opened an Islamic theology institute.

However, students of theology cannot simply work as imams in Germany, since reading of the Koran, how to perform a prayer and other practical tasks are not taught at these institutes. To do so, a separate and practical education is needed.

In a response to DW’s inquiry, the Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Culture said the plan includes the “establishment of a registered association in cooperation with Muslim organizations and mosque communities that are interested.” Islamic theology experts will a part of this new association, the statement underlined. The ministry also suggested that the method could “function as a model” for the education of imams elsewhere.

DW spoke to Professor Rauf Ceylan of Osnabrück University, who had previously drafted a “road map” on how education for imams in Germany should be built. He sees the new initiative as “putting a foot in the door.”

However, he cautioned that the pilot project should not begin with “high expectations.” But “we just need to start, and I think when the quality shows itself, in the long run it will gain acceptance.”