HAMBURG,
December 26 (IslamOnline.net) – At first glance one might reckon
that a kiosk standing on a street in this northern German city was
selling sweet or drinks. A closer look, however, reveals flyers and
pamphlets containing essential information about Islam.
Some
40 Muslim youths, aged 18-30, were busy distributing their
illustrative materials in central Hamburg among attentive and
enthusiastic passers-by on December 21 through 24, reported
Germany’s Die Zeit newspaper.
The
creative way of clearing stereotypes and misconceptions about Islam is
the brainchild of the Council of the Muslim Minority in Hamburg, which
was founded in 1999.
Muslim
volunteers used “Muslims Against Terror” as their mantra to
reinforce the fact that Muslims have nothing to do with terrorism.
They
further circulated photocopies of the “paper of principles”, which
was ratified by the Muslim council in April. The document outlines the
Muslim relation with society and the state.
It
further urged authorities to ban religious discrimination, allow
Muslims to build mosques and women to wear hijab in workplace.
The
government proposed in November an action plan to fight extremism and
promote Muslim integration into German society.
German
integration minister Marieluise Beck said that imams coming into
Germany should have a knowledge of the German language and society.
Appealing
 |
|
The
effort appealed to many non-Muslims who came to know more about
Islam
|
“The
idea has, in effect, appealed to a broad section of Hamburg
denizens,” Turkish-born Gülseren Özsoy, a 28-year-old
volunteer, told the German paper.
She
said that they listen attentively to the suggestions and ideas put
forward by their non-Muslim audience.
Her
colleague Jamal Sayaffi, of Indonesia origin, is proud of being a
patriotic German Muslim.
“We
were born here and will live here forever,” he said.
“As
far as Islam is concerned, we want to make clear that we are not
scholars but try our best in answering curious questions from
non-Muslims.”
Ahmad
Jacobi, a third volunteer, said the kiosk idea helps bridge the gap
between German Muslims and non-Muslims and open a constructive
dialogue between them.
“It
is high time now we took action following years of negligence and
hoary-old terror cliches that impeded Muslim integration into
society,” he said empathically.
Lisa
Grüning, an 82-year-old grandmother, said she is grateful to those
Muslim youths for informing her, for the first time in her life, about
Islam and the Muslim holy book.
Islam
comes third after Protestant and Catholic Christianity.
There
are some 3.4 million Muslims in Germany, including 220,000 in Berlin.
An estimated two thirds of them are of Turkish origin.
Germany’s
mass-circulation Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported in
July that Germans reverting to Islam have risen dramatically in the
past few years and are keen on leaving their
indelible
marks on
society.
