So-called ‘rooms of silence’ now exist at almost every university and are intended to give students, regardless of religion, denomination or gender, the opportunity to pray in everyday university life. At Aachen University of Applied Sciences, however, this is not possible due to radical Islamic students, who claim the Room of Silence exclusively for themselves.
On its website, Aachen University of Applied Sciences, which is actually known for its top ranking in degree programmes such as business informatics or business law, advertises ‘sustainability’ and ‘diversity and equal opportunities’. However, it remains questionable whether the university, which claims to offer ‘high-quality teaching’, can really speak of equal opportunities. For although the educational institution advertises itself as offering ‘study and employment conditions without discrimination, barriers or exclusion’ and claims to offer ‘protection against discrimination on the basis of gender’, there appears to be a blind spot at Aachen University in this regard: the so-called ‘room of silence’.
The so-called ‘rooms of silence’ have existed at German universities for many years – especially in the context of demographic change. They are intended to give students the opportunity to switch off, meditate or pray during the hectic university routine – regardless of religion, gender or origin. At Aachen University of Applied Sciences, however, silence does not seem to be granted to all students. There is a notice at the entrance to the Room of Silence that reads as follows:
‘Please wait outside if someone of the opposite sex is praying!!! Thank you!!!’
According to the students, the note was put up by devout Muslims who use the space for their own religious purposes – and who do not respect the religious practices of other religions, as officially intended.
Although it should be emphasised that there is no evidence that the notice was posted by Muslim students, it would not be the first time that a ‘Room of Silence’ has been hijacked by devout Muslims. Back in 2016, journalist Louisa Schmidt described in an article in the German magazine Spiegel that the Room of Silence at TU Dortmund University had to be temporarily closed after Muslims erected a wall separating men and women.
Even then, Schmidt describes in her article: ‘Muslim students spread out in the room with prayer mats and put up a wall to separate women and men. Other students began to avoid the room.’
However, the ‘rooms of silence’ have also caused problems at other universities. For example, Muslims at the University of Hanover have already demanded the separation of women and men during prayer on several occasions. At the Technical University of Berlin, problems arose because Muslims used the gym instead of the ‘Room of Silence’ for their Friday prayers, often bringing together several hundred people.
At Bochum University of Applied Sciences, the police and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution even had to intervene in 2012 because the Salafist and suspected bodyguard of Osama bin Laden, Sami A., was holding secret Islamist meetings in the ‘Room of Silence’. Here too, the university prayer room had to be temporarily closed and the then President of Bochum University of Applied Sciences, Prof Dr Martin Sternberg, had to admit to the press: ‘The experiment has failed’.
But things can be worse. At many universities, Muslims refuse to use the ‘Room of Silence’ at all due to the lack of gender segregation and switch to university libraries, for example, where they disturb others with their calls to prayer.
Last year, for example, a video of Muslims praying at the University of Essen went viral on social media, in which Muslim students prayed between library shelves without shoes and with prayer rugs spread out.
Even at Aachen University of Applied Sciences, the ‘Room of Silence’ does not seem to be sufficient for many Muslim students. Despite the notice calling for gender segregation, many Muslims pray under the stairs of the stairwell at the Eupener Straße campus. According to eyewitnesses, some were also shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ loudly.
However, although many students feel intimidated by the prayer practices of Muslim students at Aachen University of Applied Sciences, the university, which advertises ‘diversity’ on its website, strongly promotes the Muslim student body. Last year, for example, the university even organised a ‘Joint Breaking of the Fast’ during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which was sponsored by the Federal Foreign Office.
The General Students’ Committee (AStA) of Aachen University of Applied Sciences also sees no misconduct on the part of Muslim students. The student committee, which officially has the task of representing the interests of all students and campaigning for the improvement of study conditions, wrote in a statement on the issue of the use of the Room of Silence:
‘However, the claim is indirectly made that Muslim students would claim the premises of a Room of Silence exclusively for themselves. This never came up in the previous discussion and continues to show that Muslim students are ascribed negative behaviour across the board.’