Unity in Diversity
The current situation in Germany seems paradoxical. While both government institutions and Muslim organisations say they would like to begin a dialogue, the two sides still fail to get together.
In recent weeks, articles in the press have shown that the various Muslim organisations in Germany represent between them fewer than half the country's three million Muslims. With this statistic behind them, they can scarcely justify their claim to be the appropriate people for the government to talk to about Islam.
No representatives for the silent majority
These organisations do not represent the "silent majority" of Muslims. Practising Muslims demand equal treatment with the churches and the Jewish community and the right to speak to the government on the official level, but their demands are rejected on the grounds that they do not represent all three million Muslims. In rejecting their demands for this reason, the assumption is being made that all the Muslims belong to a single community of interests.
Assumptions about definitions of "Muslim identity" which are based on origin and not on religious conviction or religious practice need to be called into question.
According to the explanatory information published with the latest official estimate of the number of Muslims in Germany in 2000, the figure of between 2.8 and 3.2 million is based on the numbers coming from countries with mainly Muslim populations. The figures, in other words, are based on immigration statistics.
That means that what is decisive is the family or ethnic group into which one is born and not the religion or philosophical view of the world one has decided to adopt. In this way, "Muslim" describes a cultural-religious background which may have a greater or lesser influence on an individual's religious practice and way of life.
But when the authorities demand a single organisation to represent "the Muslims," the term is understood as meaning people who adhere to a certain religion. That is based on an assumption about religious affiliation which does not take account of the variety of interpretations of Islam, the possibility of conversion, changes in culture or even the rejection of religion.
Muslims as a coherent group
In public discourse, "Muslims" are represented increasingly as a coherent group whose behaviour is primarily based on the religion of Islam. Increasingly all people with a Muslim background are referred to as a single group and it is assumed that Islam plays the decisive role in their lives.
This can be seen in the current debates on forced marriages, "honour killings," and the poor educational achievement of young people with a Muslim background.
Immigrants from countries with Muslim majorities have been perceived for some time in almost all relevant contexts as "Muslims," and thus defined by their assumed beliefs. The complex causes which can lead to problems or even conflicts are often simplified and reduced to "Muslim identity." That prevents a clear view of how to solve the problems.
It is not just a matter of describing existing problems; there is a need to solve them on the basis of clear analysis. And it is not enough to find reasons in Islam. A variety of strategies is needed to bring about complete integration.
If people were to reject their Islamic religion it would by no means solve most of the existing problems. The assumption that such a step would help changes nothing in the social problems of the generation growing up in the German population nor would it would help the situation of disadvantaged women.
Rather - and the German Chancellor has recognised this with her initiative in calling an "integration summit" - the lines should not be drawn between Muslims and non-Muslims. Instead all those who seek to show commitment to the interests of society as a whole need to be brought together, whether Muslim or non-Muslim.
They should include all those working for better integration and for a better future for young people, those trying to stop young people from drifting into nihilist extremism, and those trying to prevent domestic violence.
The more organisations involved in this process the better. In addition, the participation of a wide variety of Muslim civil society initiatives can only be helpful. But the integration of people with a Muslim background - whether practising or not - can only succeed when civil society organisations and parties are open to them, and their social commitment is accepted and taken seriously.
The politicians are looking for someone to talk to
The demand for just one organisation with whom state-level authorities can speak has clear pragmatic reasons. The states in Germany - and not the federal government - are responsible for relations with religious organisations and there is a need for clarity on issues relating to the financial support of religious life, or matters of religious practice, or the representation of Muslims on ceremonial occasions. This clarity has so far been missing.
Currently it can happen that, in the middle of talks with one Muslim organisation on an issue like the introduction of Muslim religious education in schools, a competing organisation may turn up, demanding its own right to offer religious education.
The same applies to ceremonial events to which state or federal government may wish to invite the representatives of the largest religious groups in the country. If one person is selected to represent the Protestants, another the Catholics and a third the Jews, it is scarcely practical for the Muslims to have the large number of representatives which would match their religious and ethnic diversity.
If Muslims want to be treated equally with the Jewish and Christian communities, their organisations will have to be professional, permanent, transparent in their decision-making processes, and unified.
A number of Muslim umbrella organisations have recognised this fact, and, since February 2005, they have been discussing the establishment of a national representative body for Muslims.
They are trying to do what has been attempted with more or less success in some cases at the state level, with organisations in Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Hesse. The current plans are for a federal structure, starting from local level and moving up to state to federal level, with elections in every participating mosque.
All the same, a representative organisation for religious matters can only speak for those people with a Muslim background who consider themselves to be faithful Muslims and, in addition, consider such a representation to be of value.
It is estimated that no more than thirty percent of the three million people with Muslim backgrounds who live in Germany visit the mosque regularly. Perhaps the other 70% prefer to join choirs or sport-clubs and see themselves better represented by Amnesty International, German parties, women's groups or migrants' associations, than through any religious organisation.
Even practicing Muslims are in many ways too heterogeneous for there to be any basis for cooperation which is more than the relatively abstract concept of the world Muslim community (the umma).
They come from over sixty countries, they have different ethnic backgrounds, live under a wide variety of socio-economic conditions and have widely differing educational levels.
It will be very difficult to achieve any common grouping under these circumstances, but bridges will have to be built across cultural, linguistic and not least theological barriers. Just as in the case of European integration, it is a matter of unity in diversity.
Riem Spielhaus
© Qantara.de 2006
Riem Spielhaus is lecturer at the Humboldt University Berlin, Germany. She is also a founding member and deputy chair of the Muslim Academy in Germany.
Translated from the German by Michael Lawton
Qantara.de
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