Away from the German public, Muslim organisations of Turkish origin and officials of bodies close to the Muslim Brotherhood are taking further steps towards each other: at a conference organised by the Turkish religious authority Diyanet in Istanbul a few weeks ago, according to its final report, representatives of the Islamic Centre Aachen (IZA) were among the participants, in addition to well-known Muslim Brothers. This further promoted the rapprochement of the Diyanet, to which the DITIB is also subordinate, with the Muslim Brotherhood. Against the background of such activities, it becomes increasingly incomprehensible why the IZA has not been mentioned in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia’s report on the protection of the constitution for years.
At the end of September, a conference organised by the Turkish religious authority Diyanet took place in Istanbul, which ostensibly dealt with the arrangement of prayer times. Such conferences are first of all completely normal and legitimate for any religious society. However, the organisers and participants of this conference are dubious. It was organised in cooperation with the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR). The ECFR is considered by the German authorities for the protection of the constitution to be part of the Muslim Brotherhood. This alone makes this conference another cooperation between the Diyanet, to which the German mosque umbrella organisation DITIB also belongs, and the Muslim Brotherhood. This is the result of an analysis of the documents available on the internet concerning this conference.
This hallmark was also evident at the conference in the fact that well-known Muslim Brothers were present, such as the ECFR functionary Ali Al-Qaradaghi, who is also considered an important mastermind of the Muslim Brotherhood. Khaled Hanafy can also be seen in photos of the event. Hanafy is the chairman of the German branch of the ECFR and dean of the Frankfurt-based European Institute for Human Sciences (EIHW), which the Hessian Office for the Protection of the Constitution considers a cadre school of the Muslim Brotherhood.
It is also striking who participated in the conference apart from the organisers. In the document published on the official Diyanet website as a final report, some participating organisations are singled out by name. In addition to the Paris Mosque and the Muslim Council of France, the Islamic Community Milli Görüs (IGMG) and the Islamic Centre Aachen (IZA) are also listed. Since its foundation, the IZA has repeatedly attracted attention because of its links to various branches of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Although these links extend into the recent past, the IZA has not been listed in the North Rhine-Westphalian report on the protection of the constitution for years. Whether this is related to the IZA’s membership in the Central Council of Muslims (ZMD), which in turn is a cooperation partner of the North Rhine-Westphalian government, is still unknown. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is subordinate to the State Ministry of the Interior.
The conference in Istanbul is not the first event at which this group of participants has come together. The conference refers to an event that took place in 2016 at the Neuköllner Begegnungsstätte (NBS). The Berlin Office for the Protection of the Constitution had referred to this event in its report at the time. There, the German branch of the ECFR had constituted itself and had also made its first wider public appearance. According to information on the website of this German branch, the Fatwa Committee Germany, high-ranking representatives of the Diyanet, the IGMG and organisations close to the Muslim Brotherhood were already present. A symposium that is said to have taken place at the IZA in Aachen in 2018 is also mentioned in the Diyanet final report on the conference in Istanbul.
It also lists visits by an “observation team” to Berlin, Prague and Bolu (Turkey). Among other things, this could also refer to the events with Al-Qaradaghi in Berlin. One of these visits took place in 2017. According to the Diyanet final report, Khaled Hanafy is said to have worked as a member of a scientific committee in 2019 on the drafts of the recommended prayer times. Hanafy was a frequent participant in Al-Qaradaghi’s activities in Germany, but also in Turkey.
The result of the conference in Istanbul is that there are to be generally recommended prayer times, which are to be published on an internet page and probably an app. Imams and scholars, basically all Muslims, are called upon to “close ranks” in order to present a “civilised image” of Islam.
On a Facebook account belonging to the ICA, it said about the prayer times already in 2019: “Against the background that this method had to be further developed and improved, this responsible topic could be implemented through the formation of a new competence team within the ICA. With the support of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, the team around Abdullah Jaber, Salim Albogha and Harun Acaroglu was finally able to present the calculation of the new prayer times.” Jaber is also said to have already acted as moderator at the aforementioned event of the Fatwa Committee Germany. Beyond his religious activities, he is an entrepreneur in Aachen.
Event references to corresponding lectures by Abdullah Jaber at the IZA can be seen in connection with a statement on the Diyanet final report distributed by the Council of Imams and Scholars of Germany (RIGD) on its Facebook account as further evidence that everything has remained the same at the IZA. The RIGD is also classified by the Hessian Office for the Protection of the Constitution as part of the Muslim Brotherhood’s network of activities.
This makes it increasingly incomprehensible that the IZA, in contrast to the German Muslim Community (DMG, formerly Islamic Community in Germany, IGD), is not mentioned in the North Rhine-Westphalian report on the protection of the constitution. Or in that of the federal government, because the IZA also has links to a number of other institutions, which is ultimately just as much a network as that of the DMG. In the first years in which the IZA was no longer mentioned in the North Rhine-Westphalian report on the protection of the constitution, there was no participation in relevant international conferences. At that time, there were rather only individual visits to Aachen by known activists from the Muslim Brotherhood’s network of activities. Obviously, they now feel so safe from broader public perception and criticism that they feel they no longer have to remain silent.
https://hpd.de/artikel/islamischen-zentrums-aachen-konferenz-muslimbruedern-19865