During a school enrolment ceremony at a primary school in Stadtallendorf, Hesse, an imam recited the first sura of the Quran, the ‘Al-Fatiha’, in front of the pupils. Apollo News research shows that this imam belongs to the local DITIB mosque.
‘In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate. All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, the Gracious, the Merciful, the Ruler on the Day of Judgement. You alone do we serve, and You alone do we ask for help. Guide us to the straight path,’ it says. Students listened to the imam while he sang the introduction to the Koran.
Following this public ceremony, there was a celebration for the Muslim pupils at the local DITIB mosque, according to Instagram posts from the community. The Nordschule did not initially respond to an Apollo News enquiry.
A legal dispute has broken out in Hesse over Islamic religious education, in which the mosque organisation DITIB (Turkish-Islamic Union of the Institute for Religion) is attempting to secure its influence over teaching in schools. DITIB, an organisation that is subordinate to the Turkish religious authority and therefore closely linked to Erdogan’s regime, wants to ensure that Hessian schoolchildren only attend their religious education classes and that state-organised, knowledge-oriented Islamic lessons are stopped.
The background to this conflict dates back to 2013, when Hesse ended its cooperation with DITIB. This decision was made due to constitutional concerns arising from the organisation’s close ties to the Turkish government. In 2019, the Hessian state government responded to this situation by introducing its own, secularised version of Islamic religious education. These lessons were intended to be politically neutral and were established as an alternative to the lessons offered by DITIB.
DITIB did not accept this decision and took the matter to court. In 2022, the Hessian Administrative Court ruled that the state of Hesse was not authorised to discontinue DITIB’s religious instruction, despite an expert opinion suggesting possible political influence by Turkey. However, the court ruled that cooperation could only be revoked if a concrete political instrumentalisation of DITIB Hessen could be proven.
Around 2,200 pupils are currently attending state Islamic classes at 20 primary schools and five secondary schools. These lessons are voluntary and are initially limited until the 2025/2026 school year. In comparison, the denominational religious education offered by DITIB in cooperation with the state attracts around 1,700 pupils.
Ditib-Imam singt Koran-Verse bei Einschulungsfeier – Apollo News (apollo-news.net)
