Germany: Minaret Debate Turns Nasty

Spiegel says it's "far-right rhetoric" to acknowledge that Islam is the greatest threat that faces humanity at this point. That's a hard one to swallow when out leaders are warning us of impending attacks, and initializing plans to have security forces on hand in the event of a catastrophic attack on the Western world.

But, you know, Spiegel believes it's ok to live in la-la land, so we'll just let them.

From the la-la land dwellers:

A small Muslim community in a western German town would like to build a minaret on its mosque. But the plan has triggered passionate opposition from locals, many of whom rely on rhetoric from the extreme right in railing against the "symbol of Islam's quest for power."

"Willkommen," reads the stencilled print on the wall along the riverside boardwalk in the small town of Völklingen. Not content to just welcome its German guests, however, the message is translated into a number of languages. "Bienvenue ... bienvenidos ... velkommen," it reads. And "hosgeldiniz," a nod to the city's substantial Turkish population.

Elsewhere in the city -- particularly in the quarter known as Wehrden -- Muslim immigrants may not feel quite as welcome. A small mosque on the banks of the Saar River there has applied for a permit to build a small minaret on its roof -- triggering a wave of at-times vehement protest reminiscent of the fuss surrounding the November 2009 referendum in Switzerland to ban minarets in the country.

"I am against the Islamification of our fatherland!" reads a message, posted by "Tommy" on the Web site of the local paper Saarbrücker Zeitung. "Islam is the greatest threat facing humanity," he adds.

In a town meeting held on the subject in late January, a number of locals came out against the minaret plan. According to Berlin daily Die Tageszeitung, several expressed fears that Germany was being "infiltrated" by "the Turks."

The plan foresees a minaret stretching a mere eight meters (26 feet) above the roof. The head of the Turkish-Muslim community planning the minaret, Adnan Atakli, has assured locals that there are no plans to broadcast calls to prayer from the minaret and that he merely sees it as an "ornament."

Doesn't Shy Away from Far-Right Rhetoric

And not everyone has come out against the plans. Many have pointed out that such an adornment would only improve the not-terribly-attractive quarter where the mosque is located. Furthermore, almost 10 percent of the Völklingen population is made up of immigrants, many of them Muslims. Some say it only makes sense that they be allowed to build a small minaret.

Still, politesse has hardly characterized the debate in Völklingen. Indeed, the back and forth is reminiscent of the campaign in Cologne in 2008 to block the construction of a mosque there. The campaign was led by a group called Pro-Cologne, a group that doesn't shy away from far-right rhetoric. Similar debates have taken place in numerous European countries as the right wing seeks to tap into widespread skepticism toward Islam.

The Swiss referendum, which saw 57.5 percent of voters come out against the minaret ban, clearly showed just how anchored anti-Muslim sentiment may be in Europe. Indeed, a group called Pro-NRW (short for the German state North Rhine-Westphalia) now plans to cooperate with right-wing political parties in numerous European countries to organize a European Union-wide minaret referendum.

Islam's 'Quest for Power'

The debate in Völklingen is once again showing how quickly right-wing rhetoric can cross over into the mainstream when it comes to debates on Islam in Europe. Local right-wing extremists -- two of whom are in the Völklingen city council -- have argued that minarets are "symbols of Turkish dominance." They point to a speech given by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in February 2008 in Cologne. In it, he said that "mosques are our barracks, minarets our bayonets, the domes our helmets and the believers are our soldiers."

The Völklingen mosque belongs to the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB), which has close ties to Turkey. "We are being quietly infiltrated by the Turks!" said one participant at the late January town meeting, according to Die Tageszeitung.

The local news paper, however, has used the exact same rhetoric on its editorial pages. "This minaret should not be built," the Saarbrücker Zeitung wrote in late January. "It symbolizes Islam's quest for power and is nothing less than a provocation. In the course of the Muslim conquests, minarets were first used as watch towers and only subsequently as religious symbols. Following the violent seizure of new territories, minarets were built as manifestations of Muslim rule."

Minaret opponents are now looking into the possibility of holding a referendum on the issue in Völklingen. Yet another one.

I can't figure out why German people would be worried about Turkish invasions, unless maybe it has something to do with history. Let's look. Oh yes, here it is:

The Siege of Vienna in 1529 was the first attempt by the Ottoman Empire, led by Suleiman the Magnificent, to capture the city of Vienna, Austria. The siege signalled the pinnacle of the Ottoman Empire's power, the maximum extent of Ottoman expansion in central Europe (see Ottoman wars in Europe), and was the result of a long-lasting rivalry with Europe. Thereafter, 150 years of bitter military tension and reciprocal attacks ensued, culminating in the Battle of Vienna in 1683, which marked the start of the Great Turkish War by European powers to remove the Ottoman presence.

The Ottoman failure to capture Vienna in 1529 turned the tide against almost a century of unchecked conquest throughout eastern and central Europe, which had previously claimed Southeastern Hungary as a vassal state in the wake of the Battle of Mohács. According to Toynbee, "The failure of the first [siege of Vienna] brought to a standstill the tide of Ottoman conquest which had been flooding up the Danube Valley for a century past."^[5]

There is speculation by some historians that Suleiman's main objective in 1529 was in actuality to reassert Ottoman control over Hungary, the western part of which still held out as an independent monarchy known as Royal Hungary. The decision to attack Vienna after such a long interval in Suleiman's European campaign is viewed as an opportunistic manoeuvre after his decisive victory in Hungary. Other scholars theorize that the suppression of Hungary simply marked the prologue to a later, premeditated invasion of Europe.^[6]

Much of Europe was once under the control of Islam. Any European who knows a modicum of European history knows this. One must be very educated (read indoctrinated) in order to not understand the threat. Clearly, the people at Spiegel, who are our betters after all, are very, very educated.

A Chance For Moderate Swiss Muslims To Prove Me Wrong

With the referendum to ban minarets passing with 57% of the population in favor of it, the whole of the West has gone crazy.

"What are Muslims going to think?", "How can we do this to Muslims? Muslims are not going to be happy about this." "We are Europeans and this is against European values." Blah blah blah.

What about the responsibility of Muslims as citizens of Switzerland? Why is everyone so bent on making Muslims happy? How about Muslims compromise for a change?

These Muslims say they are citizens of Switzerland and so should be given equal rights (which they are). Now, because they are citizens of Switzerland, technically, they are Europeans and as Europeans they should respect the decision of the majority of the people in that country.

This is the time for Muslims in Switzerland to prove that they are Swiss and have European values, that they have assimilated. Muslims have a chance here to prove it loud and clear that they are moderate Muslims who have come to Europe to become Europeans and not to make Europe Muslim. Muslims need to shut up and accept this democratic decision. Muslims have to prove that their loyalty is to Europe and European idea of democracy, rather than to the long dead and awaited Islamic caliphate and Shariah law.

My eyes are on Muslims. Let's see how they react to this. They can prove me wrong this time by just shutting up and accepting this decision respectfully. I think they are going to make a fuss about it. I think they will complain. I think they will whine but if they don't then I will accept that there are moderate Muslims that we can count on while we fight Islamic terrorism. Right now, I think there isn't a single Muslim that I would be able to trust.

I hope they change my opinion. I am not very confident about it though.