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Hugh Fitzgerald: Islam Classes In Germany (Part Five)

Nov 11, 2018 10:00 am By Hugh Fitzgerald

A further rationale for Islam classes is to “immunize” Muslim students from fundamentalism, as Protestant leader Heinrich Bedford-Strohm put it.

Of particular concern is radicalization that might lead to violence. Since 2013, more than 1,000 people have left Germany to fight with or support the Islamic State and other terrorist organizations, most of them under 30.

It is hard to see how Muslim students could be “immunized” against fundamentalism if they are never taught what those fundamentalists believe, and from what verses in the Qur’an,  and stories in the hadith, they derive their beliefs. If the students cannot learn about, and discuss, these verses and stories in a critical spirit — yes, to “immunize” them — how will they be able to withstand the polished presentations of the fundamentalists?

But some educators and politicians resist the notion that Islam has a place in German public schools.

“Besides the fact that we have much more important problems in schools, it can’t be true that a German bishop is promoting Islam,” Alexander Gauland, a leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, said after Bedford-Strohm voiced his proposal.

No studies have examined the effectiveness of Islam classes in preventing radicalization, according to Harry Harun Behr, a professor of Islam studies and pedagogy at Frankfurt’s Goethe University.

Still, he said, the classes are valuable because they show students their faith is as important as others taught in their schools and because they show Islam as a religion that is open to reflection and self-criticism.

In Mansur Seddiqzai’s class, how is Islam shown “as a religion that is open to reflection and self-criticism”? None of the verses that preach hatred of Infidels, making war on them, striking terror in them, are apparently being discussed. Can Professor Behr offer a single example of Islam being shown in these classes as open to “self-criticism”? Has there been any criticism — even any mention — of the verses expressing contempt for Infidels (“the most vile of created beings”) and telling Muslims not to take them as friends? The antisemitic and misogynistic verses apparently are also being completely overlooked, for had they been discussed, there would no doubt have been a comment in the article on how such dedicated teachers as Mansur Seddikzai have been “unafraid to tackle the most disturbing and divisive aspects of Islamic doctrine.” The only example of “reflection” that has been mentioned concerns the wearing of the hijab, and the Qur’anic ambiguity on the matter. That is not much.

At Seddiqzai’s school, where almost 95 percent of students are first- or second-generation immigrants, Islam class is highly popular. When he crosses the schoolyard, he can barely walk five steps without being stopped by a student wanting to tell him about grades, romances or plans for the future.

This conveys a soothing sense of normalcy — the schoolyard, the Muslim students who  are just normal kids, with the usual problems kids have “about grades, romances, or plans for the future.” There’s no real difference, it is being suggested, between young Muslims and young Germans. Forget about those disturbing passages in the Qur’an and hadith. Forget about those 30,000 attacks by Muslim terrorists. Don’t let the hatemongers, the seehofers and the sarrazins of this world, fill you with anxiety. Relax. We’re diverse, but we’re also all the same. Diversity is our strength!

“What Mr. Seddiqzai is teaching me is not really something you learn at mosque,” said 17-year-old Yusuf Akar. “How to interact with non-Muslims who may not be sure how to interact with us. Or who are scared of us.”

But it is more than that, too. “It shows me I’m welcome here,” Akar said. “Because the school no longer demands that we distance ourselves from our religion. They accept it and even create an opportunity to learn about it. And that gives me the feeling that I’m part of this society.”

Yusuf Akar is right. It’s not so much a course on Islam as it is a course in raising Muslim self-esteem, making Muslims feel better about themselves, assuring them that they’ve been accepted, they’ve arrived, they’re “part of this society.” Islam is now taught, by Muslims, and for Muslims, in 800 German schools. What could be better? And it’s not just a course on Islam, putting its best face forward. It’s also a course in public relations, teaching  Muslims “how to interact with non-Muslims,” how to put them at their ease, allay their groundless fears, let them see that Muslims are just like them, wanting only to be treated like all other German boys and girls. Who could object to that?

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Filed Under: Featured, Germany, immigration Tagged With: Mansur Seddiqzai


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Comments

  1. Michael Copeland says

    Nov 11, 2018 at 11:40 am

    “a student wanting to tell him about grades, romances …`’
    Romances?
    That couple in Pakistan, and others in Afghanistan were killed for their romance.
    Islam does not do romance.

    • vlad says

      Nov 12, 2018 at 3:56 am

      Le contraire, Monsieur.
      Islam romances Shaitan, Satan, Pope Dhimmi the First, Belzebub or whatever other names there are for the dark side.

    • Gwen says

      Nov 12, 2018 at 3:02 pm

      You will find the object of the romances are protestant and Catholic German girls. I used the word ‘object‘ deliberately.

  2. The European says

    Nov 11, 2018 at 12:55 pm

    Who are these teachers? Where did they study Islamic theology? Who were their professors? Which Islamic scholars do they quote? What are their textbooks like? Are they just consummate taqiyya-artist who teach Muslims that everything is okay with Islam -by avoiding to tackle the more unsavoury aspects of Islam or do they teach a kind of “liberal Islam.” All this remains quite uncclear.

    • gravenimage says

      Nov 11, 2018 at 7:32 pm

      Good questions.

  3. jewdog says

    Nov 11, 2018 at 3:34 pm

    Do those bureaucrats and piffling pedagogues really believe that they can accomplish in a few years what has been so vainly attempted by Muslim reformers over several centuries? At least they won’t lose their heads over the effort – yet. It’s the infidel do-gooders who need to be immunized against their insufferable conceit.

  4. gravenimage says

    Nov 11, 2018 at 7:33 pm

    Hugh Fitzgerald: Islam Classes In Germany (Part Five)

    A further rationale for Islam classes is to “immunize” Muslim students from fundamentalism, as Protestant leader Heinrich Bedford-Strohm put it.
    ………………………………………………

    Given that in part 1 it made clear that Muslims in these classes are taught to resent Infidels, this seems highly unlikely…

  5. KWJ says

    Nov 12, 2018 at 10:58 am

    It’s easier not to teach any religion in school except maybe one class that has an overview of different religions and it should also mention atheists and agnostics or else kids will think everyone believes in a God.

    A complaint I heard from Hefman teachers is how some Muslim kids were saying “salafist” things at school. Their parents, the mosque, the Muslim Brotherhood, often fill in the blanks they are not learning.

    Muslims are not supposed to criticize the Qur’an so to discuss the violent verses (over 200 of them) and the discrimination against non-Muslims, that women are less intelligent then men, that it tells Muslims not to be friends or allies with non-Muslins, etc. would entail criticizing and questioning Allah’s words. Muslims get good points for reading the Qur’an. When an ex-Muslim friend read the entire Qur’an 3x and once in Arabic, he was appalled. He told me about the story in the Cave chapter about the young boy being killed, so it sets up more of the dualism Muslims have. It’s a dishonest way of teaching. Religion should stay in private schools…Catholic schools, Islamic schools, etc. Are they teaching it every year? This takes up valuable time when they should be learning subjects they don’t learn elsewhere. So, students will feel part of society when they are all not learning religion in school.

    This is common sense, so clearly there’s more to it. People have repeatedly said that more young 1st and 2nd generation kids are more conservative than their parents. The young guys in Spain born there had been listening to Anwar al-Awkaki’s tapes and blew up a car in the city were turned onto his talks where he said things right out of the hadiths and Qur’an. Do counter terrorism “experts” know the hadiths? They call him extreme but it’s the books.

    Even in the US where young students are being taught religion and it’s far more than I ever was taught, it has reached the violation of church and state while they pretend it hasn’t. This is all a nuisance to me, but a serious one.

    Anyway, Muslim enclaves separate them from the rest of the society that is secular. They’re just biding their time until it’s not. All these encroaching steps are a win to them and how we are betraying our values.

  6. s says

    Nov 12, 2018 at 11:11 am

    same story used to put mind altering education in our schools now we have the likes of comrade cortez vapid minded parrot

  7. alex Reid says

    Nov 12, 2018 at 1:51 pm

    The German Government are wasting their money on this project. They’re NOT going to integrate. They’ve no intention of doing so. From Andre Servier, a French Algerian at the beginning of the 20th. Century put it succinctly: “……. the Arab has borrowed everything from other nations, literature, art, science & even his religious ideas. He has passed it through his narrow mind & being incapable of rising to high philosophical conceptions, he has distorted, mutilated & desiccated everything. This destructive influence explains the decadence of Musulman nations & their powerlessness to break away from barbarism……Islam is a doctrine of death.” L’islam et lapsychologie du musulman, London, 1924. On youtube.com to get an idea of the battle to get education into these kids, in Searchbox put: Islamic School Science Education Fail. (duration = 9mins:10secs). The Europoean Authorities are simply kidding themselves..

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