German universities, once the centers for incubating and fostering the world's greatest geniuses---Einstein, Heisenberg, Schrodinger and others---are now becoming madrassas for training Muslim imams.


werner-heisenberg
 Warner Heisenberg

Whenever I think of Germay, pictures of two great scientists come to my mind. One is obviously of Professor Albert Einstein and the other of Professor Werner Heisenberg. These two scientists along with Professor Erwing Schrodinger are the founding fathers of modern quantum physics. I feel personally indebted to Prof Heisenberg, because I did my doctoral thesis on Heisenberg’s spin system. He is best known for asserting the uncertainty principle of quantum theory. In addition to that, he made important contributions to nuclear physics, quantum field theory, and particle physics and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1932.

It is needles to say much about Albert Einstein, because even a child knows that he has revolutionized science with his Special and General Theory of relativity.

Einstein

A German-Swiss Nobel laureate, he is often regarded as the father of modern physics.[He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for his idea in theoretical of services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect".

On the eve of World War II in 1939, he personally alerted President Franklin D. Roosevelt that Germany might be developing an atomic weapon, and recommended that the U.S. begin uranium procurement and nuclear research.

But a news report about Germany, the country that produced some of the greatest minds, created a pang in the hearts of the people of scientific community. The news is about German Universities, which nurtured great scientists and philosophers, are now training Imams to serve in German mosques. The news reminded me of the Islamic hordes in the olden days, who used to arrive at the gates of the world's many great centers of learning to pull them down.

Islam in Germany

German-Imams training in universities
Muslim Imams being trained
in German universities.

Historically Muslims first came to Germany as part of the diplomatic, military and economic relations between Germany and the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century.  Twenty Muslim soldiers served under Frederick William I of Prussia, at the beginning of the 18th 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, the Bosniak corps was established with about 1,000 men.

In 1798, a Muslim cemetery was established in Berlin. The cemetery, which moved in 1866, still exists.

Khadijah-Mosque Berlin
Khadija Mosque in Berlin of the Ahmadiyya
Muslim Community

The German section of the World Islamic Congress and the Islam Colloquium, the first German Muslim educational institution for children, were established in 1932.

At this time, there were only about 3,000 Muslims in Germany, 300 of whom were of German descent. The Islamic Institut Ma’ahad-ul-Islam was founded in 1942, during World War 2. (It is now known under the Name "Zentralinstitut Islam-Archiv-Deutschland")

After the West German Government invited foreign workers (g: "Gastarbeiter") in 1961, a deluge of Muslim workers mostly from Turkey sharply increased the German Muslim population, currently at 4.3 Million. They are sometimes called a "parallel society" within ethnic Germans. Of the 4.3 million Muslims in Germany (2009), some 5.4% of the total population, 1.9 million are German citizens (2.4%). In addition to that, there are ethnic German converts. As of 2006, about 15,000 converts are of German ancestry.

At present, Islam is the largest minority religion in the country, with the Protestant and Roman Catholic confessions being the majority religions. It is also important that the large majority of Muslims in Germany are of Turkish origin (63,2%), followed by smaller groups from Pakistan, countries of the former YugoslaviaArab countries, Iran and Afghanistan.

Mosque-in-Essen
A Mosque in Essen

A study has also shown that, most Muslims live in Berlin and the larger cities of former West Germany. However, unlike in most other European countries, sizeable Muslim communities exist in some rural regions of Germany, especially Baden-WürttembergHesse and parts of Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia. Owing to the lack of labour immigration before 1989, there are only very few Muslims in the former East Germany. The majority of Muslims in Germany are Sunnis, at 75%. There are some members of the Shia (7%) and mostly from Iran and some members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community (1%), most of whom are of Pakistani origin. Most Turkish Muslims are Sunnis

Ethnic Germans’ opinion about Islam

A Muslim author Faizal Kazi wrote an article “Islam in Germany” on June 1, 1998 to writes about what most of the people in Germany think about Islam. He categorically states his points as follows: 

1. Most people relate terrorism with Islam due to the media influence in general in the west. You never hear any positive thing about our religion, only the bad news.

2. Islam is considered to be very intolerant and a rigid religion here. Germans normally mind their own business i.e. nobody is really interested in any body else’s way of life. What I know of them they really enjoy their privacy and don’t allow any body to interfere in their affairs. They think that Islam gives detailed guidance into one’s life style from clothing to waking up time etc. This is in general not acceptable to them.

3. In general, Muslims are considered to be backward. When these Germans notice that the Muslim community (after 1400 years) is still busy deciding minute physical details like the lengths of their trousers, the type of beard, methods of cleaning etc. instead of trying to catch up with the new technical changes which are influencing the whole world and are changing the shape of the world with an immense speed, they are put off.

There are many Turkish people living here since the last 25 years but they still don’t speak any German. In general, their education is very poor.

4. It is generally seen that Islam is forced on the people. We have a large Turkish community in Germany and the young girls are forced to cover their heads although they don’t want to do so. Germans believe in doing things only if you want to do them. Only if it comes from one’s heart that is if you are totally convinced about it should one adopt it. This attitude of the Turkish community is considered to be against the basic human rights and brings hypocrisy in the characters of the people. As you also know, in our country – Pakistan -- most of the people have double personalities: one image for the society and one the real one which nobody gets to see. In Germany, we don’t have this problem. Every body is really the way you see him or her which makes life quite easy as you can really read the minds of the people. They have the courage to face what they do and not hide it. As a rule of Allah, the good is more powerful than the bad; So there is no need to impose it; if you are on the good side you don’t have to impose it on any body: the good emerges triumphant itself. So this is the basic difference in thinking. I also believe that we should present our religion in a way that the people themselves think it to be the best choice for them.

5. Another very strange state of affairs which faces us that if Islam is the best religion of the world why the present Muslim state of backwardness, lagging behind in every issue, suffering and being dependent on the west.

Actually, nothing is more convincing than success. If we manage to accelerate our people and country in the different fields of life, then the world will automatically become interested in our religion. Unfortunately, seeing our present situation, we are a nation which is only leading in corruption, debt, lack of education, human right abuses, money laundering, killings etc.

These facts sound rude, but facts are facts.

I think that the time to talk is over and we only have one choice and that is to prove our teachings by pure actions. Let’s do something and not talk. I think that in the earlier times, Islam spread in the world as at that time the Muslims were the most advanced and strong people. Much more educated as compared to the west. So let’s concentrate on real issues which we are already facing and which are destroying our society. I think this is our duty, and if we further fail in these matters our future generations will turn further away from our heritage and religion.”

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