Muslims in Non Muslim Countries: Germany

Like most of the prescient European countries, Muslims moved to Germany as part of the diplomatic, military and economic relations between Germany and the Ottoman Empire in the 17-18th centuries. The first Muslims came to Germany as prisoners of war from the Siege of Vienna by the Ottomans (1683). The majority of these prisoners were in fact either baptized or returned to their homeland. Twenty Muslim soldiers are said to have served under Frederick William I of Prussia, at the beginning of the eighteenth century. In 1745, Frederick II of Prussia established a unit of Muslims in the Prussian army called the "Muslim Riders" and consisting mainly of Bosniaks, Albanians and Tatars. In 1760 a Bosniak corps was established with about 1,000 men. 

In 1798 a Muslim cemetery was established in Berlin. The Türkischer Friedhof Berlin cemetery, which moved in 1866, still exists today. In the First World War, the Ottoman Empire fought on Germany’s side and fallen Turkish soldiers were buried at the cemetery, since when it has also borne the name Şehitlik, meaning ‘martyrs’. The Şehitlik mosque directly beside it was built between 1999 and 2005 and took its name from the cemetery. 150 graves are still preserved today.

In the First World War the Ottoman Empire fought on the side of the Central Powers. Consequently, Muslim prisoners of war from the Allies on the one hand came to two internment camps in Wünsdorf and Zossen near Berlin, whilst the Ottoman armed services on the other hand came to Berlin. The first mosque to be erected on German soil was in the so-called "Halbmondlager" [Half Moon Camp] in Wünsdorf. The wooden domed structure with its 25-meter-high minaret, modeled on the Dome of the Rock, did not exist for long, however, and was demolished in 1930, having fallen into a state of disrepair.

The Wünsdorf Mosque [Photo]

It may be interesting for many to know that the presently rather abhorred word "Jihad" was used by Germany to its favour. During the First World War, German officials created a newspaper called “El Dschihad” (Jihad) to encourage Muslim soldiers from other countries to fight their “holy war”, according to the German Historical Museum in Berlin. Even the first mosque constructed in Germany was a part of this strategy, allowing prisoners to practice their religion, and then to teach them about the holy war in order to convince them to fight alongside Germany against the Allies. [1]

It was after the First World War that Muslims as students found their way into German colleges and universities. and thus the number of Muslims started to increase. However, the Muslims came to Germany en mass  with the signing of recruitment agreements with Muslim states, such as Turkey (1961), Morocco (1963), Tunisia (1965) and Yugoslavia (1968). A stop was put on recruitment during the economic crisis of 1973. 

Today, Germany ranks fifth in EU for relative Muslim population size. Between 2010 and 2016, the number of Muslims living in Germany rose from 3.3 million (4.1% of the population) to nearly 5 million (6.1%), while the rest of the population shrank modestly from 77.1 million to 76.5 million. Immigration has been a major factor in the growth of Germany’s Muslim population. But, even if there is no more immigration, Muslims will continue to increase as a share of Germany’s population in future decades because German Muslims, on average, are much younger and have more babies than Germans as a whole. [4]

Today Turks constitute a large majority of Muslims in Germany (63.2%), followed by smaller groups from Pakistan, countries of the former Yugoslavia, Arab countries, Iran and Afghanistan. The majority of Muslims in Germany are Sunnis, at 75%. There are Shia Muslims (7%) and mostly from Iran.

Turks, who constitute a major portion of the peaceful "parallel society" in Germany, are well established and are running major businesses across Germany, specially in provision of Halal meat. One can easily find number of famous Turkish "Donor Kebabs" shops which are a haven for all Muslims. Likewise, most of the mosques are owned by Turkey, followed by many by the Arabs and some by Pakistanis. 

A Turkish Kebab shop, Germany

There is a large number of students from Pakistan studying in universalities of Germany and then rendering useful hand in German industries and companies. My two sons are also in Germany and have done their Masters in IT and are employed in one of the leading companies of Germany. The Pakistan students' communities are well managed in all major cities which frequently hold national days of Pakistan, besides other cultural events

My wife poses with our son at the entrance of his university in Kiel, Germany

Generally, the Muslims are a useful part of German society and when I visited Germany in 2014, I found them practicing their religious obligations side by side their routine activities meshing perfectly well in the German society. The prayer halls and mosques are in abundance and are well organized and managed by local communities.

Herein under are impressions of a Pakistan living in Munich for quite sometimes: [7]

• Germans are generally very accommodating and don't do racial/religious jokes because of their own tragic history. International people also take a lot of care not to make any Nazi/Hitler joke with any German because it's a very sensitive topic. If a Muslim goes to bar and asks for non alcoholic drink, no one is surprised. Though in some cases Germans might ask you for the first time but if you tell them you are Muslim and don't drink alcohol then they won't ask you second time or make a joke of it. 
• One Pakistani living in Munich observes that: "Majority of Germans specially the young generation are very tolerant and don't care what media tells them. If they are curious then they will ask you instead of giving a verdict on what they came to know from media. This was really impressive and totally unlike how majority of Americans are brainwashed by Fox News about Muslims and Islam. I myself organized a vigil in Munich city center in response to the tragic attack by the terrorists in school in Peshawar back in Dec, 2014 in Pakistan. I was easily given permission for that and in fact, there were 2 policemen with us throughout for our safety. Many Germans stopped and took part in the prayers along with a big number of international community who specially came for the vigil."
• Overall, I believe life of Muslims is much more comfortable in Germany as compared to living in Italy, UK or France considering current scenario. Angela Merkel didn't take any anti-Islam stance after Charlie Hebdo attack unlike France and UK. Muslim families are encouraged to integrate with the society and learn German language but I haven't heard anyone complaining that any individual/organization forced to abstain from any religious practice. 

After the recent flux of the immigrants due to open door policy of Germany, many social issues have come up. While majority of the immigrants are peaceful and are trying to learn German language and seeking admission in colleges and universities to be a useful citizen of Germany, some foul incidents have been over magnified, like the incident of a "brutal killing" of a German man, allegedly at the hands of two Muslim refugees. [4] Although many murders do take place in Germany every day, but since it involved a Muslim and Germans, it seems the incident had been blown out of proportion. 

As per a Pew Research Center report: "In general, Germans express positive views of refugees, with most saying they make Germany stronger because of their hard work and talents (59%), rather than being a burden by taking jobs and social benefits (31%). Most Germans also see Muslims in their country in a positive light: Roughly two-thirds say they have a “very favorable” (10%) or “mostly favorable” (55%) view of Muslims, compared with about three-in-ten who express a mostly (23%) or very (6%) unfavorable opinion. At the same time, there is widespread uncertainty about integration. A majority of Germans (61%) believe most Muslims in Germany “want to be distinct from the larger German society,” rather than adopting “Germany’s customs and way of life.” [4]

There is yet another dimension to the thinking in Germany: To many non-Muslim Germans, the comparatively high significance that many Muslims attach to divine laws raises the question of to whom all the immigrants and refugees who have come to us in recent years would rather pledge allegiance and loyalty: the state that took them in, or Allah? The German minister for the interior, Horst Seehofer, addressed this fear with a sentence that was meant as a reassurance to voters: “Islam does not belong to Germany,” earlier this year.  [3]

As a fallout of growing anti Muslim sentiments, in 2017, Muslims and Islamic institutions were targeted by attacks 950 times, where houses are painted with Nazi symbols, hijab-wearing women are harassed, threatening letters are sent and 33 people were injured. In nearly all cases, the perpetrators were right-wing extremists. [2]

Thus today, Muslims live in Germany between a wide wedge of higher shade Love / acceptance and varying shades of hate / mistrust, trying to merge into the German society.

Here now watch a short but comprehensive documentary of Muslims in Germany from the beginning till date:

Photo (Header): Zentralmoschee Köln | References: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |

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Muslims in Non Muslim Countries: Hungary

I have covered many non Muslim countries so far where Islam has flourished in varying degree. But the case of Hungary has been quite different. It started feeling the presence of Muslims in the 11th century but were forcibly checked through very demeaning legislations to an extent that the small Muslim population either vanished or forced to convert to Christianity.

It were Turks who came and stood to their ground during the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century and made their presence felt and maintained it. The Turks entered Hungary after the Battle of Mohács in 1526. From 1541 they started to control the central part directly and organized five vilayets: Buda, Kanije, Eğri, Várad (Oradea) and Temesvár. In the 19th century, after the collapse of the revolution of 1848-9, more than 6,000 emigrated Poles and Hungarians followed General Josef Bem into Turkish exile.

However, till very late, Islam has never been recognized as a official religion in Hungary. Before throwing light on the modern laws, let me take youback to 11th century draconian laws to suppress Islam. In the 11th century, St. Ladislaus and later Coloman passed laws against the non-Christians (Synod of Szabolcs). These laws subdued Islam by coercing Muslims to eat pork, go to Church and intermarry and to forbid them from celebrating Friday. Some of Coloman's laws include:

• § 46 If someone catches Ismaelites in fasting or eating or on keeping away from pork or in ritual washing or in other false practices these Ismaelites have to be sent to the king and whoever sued them shall receive a share from their properties.
• § 47 We command all Ismaelite villages to build a church and finance it. After the church is built the half village should move and settle elsewhere in order to become similar to us in living together and also in Christ and in Church (i.e. become similar in faith).
• § 48 Ismaelites should not marry their daughters to their nation but only to our nation
• § 49 If an Ismaelite has guest, or he invites someone to his house to eat, he and his guests should all eat only pork.
• § 9 on the merchants called Ismaelites, if becomes evident from them then after their baptism they return their old laws based on circumcision they should leave their homes but if they prove innocent they should stay.

The laws against Muslims continued and Hungary's new "Law on the Right to Freedom of Conscience and Religion, and on Churches, Religions and Religious Communities" enacted 12 July 2011 which recognized only 14 religious groups - and Islam was not included in this list and Muslims have to apply to get official recognition under the new law. However, it was only on 27 February 2012, Hungary's parliament amended the country's controversial law on religious organizations and officially recognized the Hungarian Islamic Council. In 2013 Hungarian Islamic Council requested for the Grand Mufti of Bosnia and Herzegovina Husein Kavazović to also become Grand Mufti of Hungary.

According to the 2011 Hungarian census, there were 5,579 Muslims in Hungary, making up only about 0.057% of the total population. Of these, 4,097 (73.4%) declared themselves as Hungarian, while 2,369 (42.5%) as Arab by ethnicity. However, there is also a growing number of ethnic Hungarian converts to Islam. Since the influx of about 200,000 asylum seekers from 2014 onward, largely from the Muslim countries Afghanistan and Syria. the number of Muslims residing in Hungary rose to about 2% of the whole population.

However, as of today, the life of Muslims in Hungary is not very safe and they fear fallout from anti-Islam rhetoric now prevalent in the country. As per a report published in March 2018, Muslims attending prayers at Hungary’s largest mosque were physically abused, had their cars set alight and been the targets of anti-migration protests. The concerns are no more keenly felt than in this Budapest suburb where some 500 people gather for Friday prayers at the anonymous former offices of an executive toy maker that were converted into a mosque in 2011.

“The political rhetoric was focused against Muslims and that’s when the incidents increased and the beatings happened,” Mr Sultan Sulok, the president of the Organization of Muslims in Hungary, told The National in his office at the Mosque of Muslims in Hungary. 

A recent report says: It is a cultural crusade that has made Hungary the least refugee-friendly country in Europe." A government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs told Leonid Bershidsky, a reporter of Bloomberg,  in an interview: "We've been living next to Islam and with Islam for 500 years and we know it's not going to integrate. We treat it as a civilizational problem." According to a 2016 Pew Research study, 72 percent of Hungarians have a negative view of Muslims in their country, compared with the EU average of 43 percent. In 2017, a senior Hungarian officials said at a conference about anti-Semitism in Europe:  "The absence of violence against Jews in their country owed to its refusal to admit Muslim immigrants."

The life of Muslims has also been affected by Anti-Islamic feelings in Europe after the Paris attacks last November. Even those Muslim communities that are so small as to be barely perceived face discrimination. The case of Hungary's capital Budapest shows how such sentiment can be incited by the government as well as local populations – and how it affects those individuals concerned. A heading just caught my eye: "Unseen yet unaccepted: Budapest's Muslim Community."

However, the Muslims are not giving in and try their best to show it to the common Hungarian that Islam is far different and peaceful as against the general opinion. A walking tour to learn about Budapest’s Muslim community and its mosques has become popular with Hungarians as a way of overcoming fears and reservations amid a strident anti-immigrant campaign by the government. A tour operator has been quoted as saying: “Most people have never met a Muslim in their life and this ... together with what they hear every day in the media causes a lot of tension and stress in daily life. I think this is the main reason why people are coming now.”

General public has started to attend these walking tours and the feedback is positive. “I am very interested in everything multi-cultural and in cultures and religions that live among us,” said Nauszika, a psychologist who did not want to give her full name. “It is the best way to lose your fears if you start to ask the one who you (are) afraid of,” added tour leader Marianna Karman, an Africa expert who converted to Islam herself.

Jakovali Hassan Mosque in Pécs [Photo: © Martijn.Munneke / Flickr

The majority of Muslims in Hungary live in the capital. 60 % of them are of Arabic origin, 30% are from different backgrounds like Turkish, Persian or African Muslims and only around 10% are native Hungarian. The Hungarian Islamic church maintains four mosques across Hungary: two can be found in Budapest, one in Pécs and one in Szeged. More unofficial masjids can be found in residential buildings and offices, unrecognizable unless you’re looking for them. Those which do have their own building to function as a place of worship often don’t take on the traditional appearance of a mosque due to a number of factors, often related both to cost and to building legislation. The Jakovali Hassan Mosque in Pécs is the only one in Hungary used for prayer to have retained its original form and to feature a minaret.

Budapest Mosque [Photo]

Budapest Mosque, huge building opened in Ramadan 2011 with 3 floors is the central place for the Muslims of Budapest to converge and offer prayers. The maintainer of the Budapest Mosque is the Organization of Muslims in Hungary. About 500 people pray in the Budapest Mosque on every Friday. Beside religious events and prayers, Hungarian language is also taught for better merging into the Budapest crowd.

Watch a video of walking tour in Budapest of Muslims' places, mosques, centers and Halal shops:

When in Budapest looking for Halal meat and food, do visit Mughal Shahi Pakistani Restaurant for steaming biryani, nihari and other Pakistan food. In a review, Sara from UK writes: "I have never had such delicious Nihari, shami kebabs and naan outside my mothers kitchen! It has a wonderfully homely atmosphere, I think it is someones front room actually! I loved it but if this is not your thing then go somewhere fancier but I can guarantee you won't get the same standard of food."


Other eateries for Halal food are Turkish Titiz Turkish Restaurant, Baalbek Lebanese Restaurent, Al Amir, Darband Restaurant, Istanbul Turkish Restaurent, Antalya Kebab, and Pizza ITT All la to name a few.

About Minaret of Eger (head photo): The Eger minaret is an Ottoman era minaret tower located in Eger city, northern Hungary. It is the most northern minaret left from Ottoman rule in Europe. The minaret is 40 metres high and built from red sandstone. It was built in the early 17th century as part of the Djami of Kethuda mosque. Though the mosque no longer exist, the minaret survives as a preserved monument of Hungary and a major tourist attraction of Eger. There are 97 steps on the spiral staircase inside, which leads to a balcony at 26 meters from the ground offering unique views of the surrounding city.

Photo | References: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |

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