“The Islam Conference is not a security conference,” says Interior Minister Faeser. Nevertheless, the participants also talk about radical Islamism. Faeser is convinced that the migration of Turkish preachers to Germany poses problems.
Combating hostility towards Muslims and promoting the training of Islamic preachers in Germany are among the priorities of Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser in the new phase of the German Islam Conference (DIK). The SPD politician said at a DIK kick-off event in Berlin that she wanted to “gradually reduce the state posting of imams to Germany with the aim of ending them.” Her ministry is already in contact with the Turkish religious authorities. State Secretary Juliane Seifert held talks on this in Ankara last week.
Faeser emphasized that German-speaking imams, who are also familiar with the reality of life in Germany, are also in the interests of the communities. The Turkish-Islamic Union of the Institute for Religion (DITIB) is now training some of its staff at its own center in the Eifel. The Islamkolleg Deutschland was founded at the end of 2019 as a facility for practical Islamic theological training in Osnabrück. Here, too, German-speaking imams and other religious support staff are to be trained – independently of the association.
The training of imams in Germany was already a focus of the DIK in recent years under the then Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer. The federal government has commissioned a major study on Muslim hostility that focuses on the situation of those affected. The first results are expected next summer. The spokesman for the Muslim Coordination Council, Eyup Kalyon, said he had not personally experienced any hostility towards Muslims. Muslim women who wear headscarves, in particular, often reported “experiences of exclusion,” added Kalyon, who is responsible for training imams at DITIB.
The director of the Center for Islamic Theology at the Westfälische-Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Mouhanad Khorchide, criticized the fact that the mosque associations are still organized according to countries of origin. To date, it has not happened that an imam from Morocco preaches in a DITIB mosque or a preacher with Turkish roots in a mosque founded by native Moroccans. The imam job must also become more attractive overall. The pay is usually bad, the dependency in the employment relationship is high.
Ever since the Islam Conference was set up in 2006, there have been constant arguments about who should represent the interests of Muslims there – the conservative umbrella organizations, liberal mosque communities or even secular Muslims. The Islamic associations have repeatedly criticized that the DIK focuses too much on security issues and radical Islamism.
Faeser emphasized: “The Islam Conference is not a security conference.” She told the participants of the event: “Our society needs you and your commitment.” This is extremely important at the moment when polarization in society is increasing. With around 300 members, the Liberal-Islamic Association is one of the smallest Islamic associations in Germany. First Chairwoman Odette Yilmaz said that in her association, which has been in existence for twelve years, six communities are now organized, to which people of different origins belonged.
