As former German Chancellor Angela Merkel said earlier: Islam is part of Germany. More than five million Muslims live in the country, and Islam is also taught in Bavarian schools, so it is not surprising that there are almost 2,800 mosques. They often become the center of controversy, especially when their tall minarets appear in the cityscape. Their building regulations are the same as those of churches or synagogues, but much also depends on municipal regulations.
Among others, 44-year-old Hussein Hamdan mediates in such cases. As a doctor in Islamic and religious studies The first German advisor for Islamic affairs. In this capacity, it resolves potential conflicts between Muslim communities and local governments. For the past eight years he has worked in the state of Baden-Württemberg.
On June 2, 2015, an administrative office asked me to evaluate a Sufi association. He remembers for his first mission. Sufis are followers of Sufi Islam, known for their distinctive music and spiritual dance. There are only a few such communities in Germany. Alamuddin succeeded in calming the mood among local politicians.
Initially, Hamdan was in charge of the project aimed at integrating Muslim youth and, with the support of the Robert Bosch Foundation, was available as a consultant to municipal authorities and decision-makers.
They usually turned to him with everyday questions, for example, when they found the minaret too high, or when they asked for information about the heads of Muslim communities.
How can Muslim youth be integrated, and how can the mosque community facilitate this? No comprehensive answer can be given to these questions. At the same time, you know exactly how high the minaret is, because it is regulated by the construction plan of your settlement. He knows from his own experience that where Muslim believers have lived for decades, a smoother relationship has developed with local governments.
Muslim from the Catholic Church
Hamdan has been working in the Catholic Church since 2012. He is the first Muslim of the Diocesan Academy of Rothenburg-Stuttgart. The number of Muslims in the state of Baden-Württemberg, numbering 11 million, is estimated at about 800,000. The first mosques in the province were built in the 1990s.
It enlightens Muslim communities about how local government procedures work and who they can turn to for help. A prerequisite for successful dialogue is that religious groups designate trusted spokespeople.
Almost half a hundred local authorities in Baden-Württemberg have used his advisory services to date. Sometimes the conversation will last an hour or two, and in other cases it may require two or three meetings to bring the views together. Hamdan does not come up with ready-made solutions, but offers “action proposals”.
He fully understands the concerns about mosque construction in Germany. Some see it as part of the “Islamization process”, others see it as a sign of a more open and cosmopolitan society.
The local government of a town of 8,000 residents rejected a plan to build a minaret, Hamdan said, but at least the dialogue between the local leadership and the Muslim community has not been interrupted.
critical questions
He informs the local authorities about the activities of radical Islamic groups that are monitored by the German constitutional protection authorities, but at the same time he warns against generalizing. Communities can even vary from city to city.
Dealing with critical issues is an element of honest dialogue
– confirms Hamdan, who recommends that representatives of local authorities and mosques meet more to exchange views.
“The prerequisite for this is to eat together, drink coffee together, party together” – this is where disagreements about living together can be worked out.
Baden-Württemberg’s Commissioner for Combating Anti-Semitism praised his efforts, “Hussein Hamdan proves that the coexistence of religions is the result of building from the bottom up.” According to Michael Bloom, this example should also be followed in those countries, such as France, where attempts to thwart religious gifts have so far been unsuccessful.
(Cover photo: Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement for the Spread of Islamic Knowledge [AAIIL] Berlin Mosque on April 21, 2015. Photo: Henry H. Herrmannullstein bild/Getty Images
