“Allahu Akbar” about Cologne – and soon all of Germany?
In Cologne mosques are now allowed to call to prayer every Friday afternoon. The model project is limited to two years, but the question already arises: Could the muezzin call in Cologne become a pilot project for all of Germany?
The fact is: In some cities the public call to Friday prayer is already allowed. Especially in North Rhine-Westphalia, minarets and muezzin calls have been part of the cityscape for decades.
In other words: cities such as Dortmund, Hamm, Siegen, Düren or Oldenburg have allowed mosque associations to broadcast the call to prayer over loudspeakers since the 1990s. As planned now in Cologne, the volume has to be coordinated with the neighborhood.
Reason: the exercise of religious freedom and respect for other cultures. The Lord Mayor of Cologne, Henriette Reker, also defended the pilot project as a “sign of respect”, since many Cologne residents are Muslims. “Cologne is the city of (religious) freedom and diversity. Those who arrive at the main station are greeted by the cathedral and accompanied by church bells, ”wrote Reker on Twitter.
But it is also clear: the comparison between church bells and Muslim calls to prayer is limping. What if the muezzin call resounded across the entire country in the Christian Federal Republic?
Wrong understanding of liberality and integration
Lawyer and CSU interior expert Michael Kuffer says: “That is of course out of the question here. That is a completely wrong understanding of liberality, of integration and, by the way – because the term respect has been used – also of respect for others, ”said Kuffer at BILD LIVE.
Sociologist Necla Kelek sees it that way too. She criticizes BILD LIVE for the fact that even people who grew up in an Islamic country would have no chance at all of living without this “terrible reputation”. Many people fled exactly from it. Reason: “They can no longer bear this intrusive form of religion that they have to live.”
Kelek even goes one step further: “Actually, the call ‘Allahu Akbar’ is now forbidden in our vocabulary. You are not allowed to use it at all because it is used by assassins, Islamists and terrorists. “
Background: When calling to prayer, the muezzin shouts, among other things, “Allahu akbar” (“Allah is great”) and the sentence “I testify that there is no god but Allah” – followed by the invitation to come to prayer.
Kelek considers the comparison between church bells and muezzin calls to be grossly wrong – because if people were called to prayer, ultimately only men would come together. “These men want to demonstrate a very specific social image. There are only men who have their wives at home and say that women are not allowed to have a place in public, ”says Kelek.
With a view to the model project in Cologne, the sociologist warns: “There they now call out every Friday that they want to demonstrate such a social model in Germany as well. Ironically, a woman as mayor confirms to these men that this image of society is in order – in the midst of us – and I should simply respect this form of image of society. “
Conclusion: The signal effect and the feeling that it would trigger in people in Germany is fatal.
Not just a call to prayer, but a battle cry too
CSU interior expert Kuffer shares Kelek’s view of “Allahu akbar”: “I mean, on the one hand that is the call to prayer, but on the other hand it is also a battle cry. Unfortunately, it has been misused to turn it into a slogan of violent Islamism. If you ask about the feelings, that’s what triggers it in most people and what you can’t get around. “
Kuffer says: “You just have to make a distinction between the practice of religion on the one hand and the cultural dimension that church bells have with us, for example. I think we’ll just let ourselves be fooled. “
After all: With the model project in Cologne, the surrounding neighborhood must be informed in advance by the mosque community by means of a flyer. In addition, a contact person must be named for each municipality who can answer questions or receive complaints. The call to prayer may only be made on Fridays between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. and for a maximum of five minutes. The volume of the call is also set with a different maximum limit depending on the location of the mosque.
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