Anyone who is surprised by this is naive. The Qur’an teaches that non-Muslims are the “most vile of created beings” (98:6) and that Muslims are the “best of people” (3:110). Did anyone really expect that the best of people would adopt the laws and mores of the most vile of created beings? Only the willfully ignorant could ever have accepted such a notion.
“Austria’s Mosques Work Against Muslim Integration,” by Soeren Kern, Focus On Western Islamism, March 23, 2023 (thanks to L.):
Viennese mosques are promoting Islamic separatism and actively obstructing the integration of Muslims into Austrian society, according to a new report about mosques and Islamic associations in the Austrian capital. The in-depth investigative study also reveals that foreign governments continue to exert enormous influence on the practice of Islam in Austria, even though a so-called Islam Law prohibits such meddling.
The research, which provides evidence of active support for jihadi and Islamist organizations at several of the most prominent and influential mosques in Austria, sheds light on the depth of the challenge posed by the encroachment of political Islam at mosques in the country. The report serves as an important wake-up call for Austria and other Western countries struggling with the integration of Muslim minorities.
The 113-page report — “Mosques in Vienna” (Moscheen in Wien) — was published on February 23 by the Austrian Integration Fund (Österreichischer Integrationsfonds, ÖIF), an agency tasked with integrating immigrants into Austrian society. The study evaluated randomly selected Friday sermons (khutbah) at 14 of Vienna’s most representative mosques to determine if they were encouraging or discouraging Muslim integration.
The study reveals that Turkish mosques are, collectively, by far the greatest obstacles to integrating Muslims into Austrian society. Most Turkish mosques “take a negative view of the social integration of their members,” according to the report, which adds that this is highly relevant to the integration process “because ethnic Turks comprise the largest subgroup of Muslims in Austria.” Not coincidentally, the Turkish government continues to try to expand its influence over the practice of Islam in Austria.
Nearly all Sunni Muslim mosques in Austria belong to the Islamic Religious Community in Austria (Islamischen Glaubensgemeinschaft in Österreich, IGGÖ), the state-recognized Muslim umbrella group that represents more than 250 mosques in the country. IGGÖ is effectively controlled by the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. IGGÖ’s current president, Türkiye-born Ümit Vural, is closely linked to the Turkish nationalist Milli Görüş movement and IGGÖ’s mufti, Türkiye-born Mustafa Mullaoǧlu, is tied to the Muslim Brotherhood. IGGÖ plays a “central role” in spreading the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood, according to Islamism expert Lorenzo Vidino. FWI reached out to IGGÖ for a comment on the report but did not receive a reply.
The report’s lead author, historian Heiko Heinisch, told FWI that “with the Milli Görüş movement, ATIB [the Turkish-Islamic Union for Cultural and Social Cooperation in Austria, which is part of the Turkish government’s Religious Affairs Directorate, known as Diyanet] and the Muslim Brotherhood, three major players of international Islamism are active in Austria.” He added that “our report shows that these major players are in part actively working against the integration of Muslims into society.”
Vienna’s single-most problematic mosque, the study shows, is the notorious Islamic Association of Austria (Islamische Vereinigung Österreich, IVÖ), commonly known as Al-Hidaya Mosque, which is controlled by IGGÖ and, by extension, the Muslim Brotherhood. All the evaluated sermons from this mosque were categorized as “extremist.” IVÖ “rejects, as a matter of principle, Austria and Austrian society, its values, its laws and its constitution,” the report says.
IVÖ, an Arabic-language mosque, has a long history of glorifying jihad and martyrdom and seeking to establish a parallel society in opposition to Austria’s liberal democratic order. IVÖ’s imam, 53-year-old Egypt-born Ibrahim al-Demerdash, is known for his support of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas. He has been accused of radicalizing a “new generation” of young Muslim males in the foundational doctrines, practices, and tactics of political Islam. FWI asked IVÖ for a comment but did not receive a reply.
Another subversive mosque is the Imam Ali Islamic Center (Islamischen Zentrum Imam Ali, IZIA), which cooperates closely with the Islamic Center of Hamburg (Islamischen Zentrum Hamburg, IZH), described by German intelligence officials as a leading “propaganda center” of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Europe. Both mosques are well known for spreading anti-Western, anti-Semitic, and anti-Israel extremist ideology.
On a more positive note, sermons delivered at the Arabic-language Islamic Center of Vienna (Islamisches Zentrum Wien) are described as “cosmopolitan” and “open to integration.” The mosque, the largest and oldest in Vienna, was built by Saudi Arabia in the late 1970s and is now jointly controlled by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Malaysia. “This mosque,” the report states, “scores in all categories as the most pro-democracy, the most open and the most tolerant.”
According to the report, none of the surveyed mosques — which cater to Muslims from Albania, Bosnia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye — openly identifies with Austrian society. With rare exceptions, sermons in Viennese mosques are not available in German, according to the study, and fully one-third of the evaluated mosques promote ethnic and religious segregation. Many of the mosques promote a dichotomous worldview that opposes ideological and religious pluralism and brands non-Muslims as enemies of Islam. They also appear to be directly or indirectly controlled by foreign governments….
Bushan mehra says
Europe has didn’t learn from history.what muslim did to Europe in Qordoba and Andalus,took Europe 700 years to kick them out and also during Ottoman Europe has expeirenced the brutality of islam.now in this moment every European country goes under.yet the take muslims in.it is matter time when they take over.India is suffering from them ,they openly say islam is here to rule the world.i think it is already too.late for Europe.god save world from this virus called islam.
tim gallagher says
Good description of islam, Bushan mehra, as a virus. islam certainly has nothing good to offer the human race, that’s for sure.
gravenimage says
All grimly true.
tim gallagher says
Sounds like basic islam to me. There is all that hatred for the non-believers in the Koran, so Muslims are always going to be the enemies of non-Muslims in all the societies they are allowed to invade. For a while, when their numbers are very small Muslims won’t create much trouble, but, once their numbers grow, then they will bare their fangs and begin to show that they are the enemy of the non-Muslim way of life. Almost everybody should know this after 1400 years of islam’s barbaric history.
gravenimage says
Yes–this is all orthodox Islam.
gravenimage says
Viennese mosques promote Islamic separatism and actively obstruct integration of Muslims into Austrian society
……………………………..
And this is not just true of Vienna and Austria; this is true everywhere.
James Lincoln says
Can’t help but thinking that the minaret looks like a V2 rocket…