4 - 2000

Islam in Germany

Living with Muslim Neighbours

A handbook published by the Evangelical Church in Germany

by K. Rüdiger Durth

During the last few decades German society has become multi-religious. For Christians, this means becoming involved with persons of other faiths as neighbours, and seeking possibilities for dialogue. In particular it means sharing daily life with Muslims, since they represent the largest religious minority in Germany.

Three million Muslims live in Germany. The trend is upward. What attitude should Protestant Christians adopt toward them? The great variety of positions taken by churches on this subject does not make things especially clear. But clarity is what has been sought, from the Islamic point of view as well, ever since the Roman Catholic Church, in 1965, made a statement of principle at the Second Vatican Council.

So the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) decided to appoint a commission, under the leadership of Professor Eberhard Busch of the University of G"ttingen, to write a brief guide, a handbook. This handbook has now been published, with the title "Living with Muslim Neighbours in Germany - planning for encounters between Christians and Muslims".

A desirable dialogue between Christians and Muslims takes place "in the tension between respect and debate". In their introduction, the authors of the handbook point out that within the EKD there are different views of the relation between the Christian and Muslim faiths, as well as of proper Christian conduct towards Muslims.

The spectrum of opinion reaches, at one end, the guide published by the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland in 1998, which speaks of the "one and the same God" before whom both Christians and Muslims stand, even though, "based on their experience of God", they "have different understandings of God". At the other end of the spectrum we find the declaration by the German branch of the Lausanne Committee’s Statement on "Christian Faith and Islam", in which the incompatibility of Christian faith with Islamic faith is emphasised, the latter being seem to be adverse to Christianity.

The contradiction between these two poles cannot be glossed over by the EKD handbook, which is certainly intended as a binding guide to getting along with Islam. It acknowledges that Islam itself is not monolithic: "The church’s encounter with it in different countries presents itself in various ways: in one way where Muslims represent the majority of the population, in another way where they are a minority; in one way where there is a long tradition of different faiths living together, in another, where this issue is being raised for the first time."

Secularisation also has had its effect on the Muslim population in Germany, according to the EKD handbook. It quotes estimates made by Muslims themselves: about two-thirds of Muslims living in Germany are regarded as practising their faith. However, they estimate that only about 12 per cent of youth have regular contact with the mosques of various orientations. And only seven per cent of youth and children attend Koran schools. Also, only 10 per cent of all Muslims living in Germany (principally Turks) belong to any of the Islamic associations (Islam does not have similar organisations to those of the churches). The EKD handbook says:
"Nonetheless, all available experience shows that only a very small percentage of the Muslim families from Turkey have no interest in their own religion. A very pronounced consciousness of belonging to the Islamic culture and tradition evidently remains even among non-practising Muslims. It must therefore be assumed that school is an important place for learning and formation not only of Christian but also of Muslim identity, and that for both Christian and Muslim pupils, school is a significant place to practice living together across religious and cultural boundaries."

The EKD’s study is addressed primarily to the members of its own churches, and there will no doubt be lively debates among them regarding its content. The most important chapter of the 127-page study is without doubt the one on theology.

The central theological statement in the handbook says: "Theological interpretation of non-Christian religions, as well as the basis and nature of encounters with them, must be rooted in the heart of Christian faith itself, in the very confession of the triune God." Belief in Jesus Christ, that which distinguish Christians from Muslims, does not truly separate Christians from them, but rather places us close to them. For, the text continues, in Christ God did not become a Christian, but rather a human being. In Christ, God loved the whole world and reconciled it to himself, not just the world of the churches. "So we Christians encounter Muslims in the awareness that God’s love and reconciliation are intended for them also." Then it becomes important that dialogue include mutual witnessing to one’s faith, rather than excluding it. "Dialogue is not the opposite of mission properly understood," says Professor Eberhard Busch.

The handbook refrains from the usual attempts at comparison of isolated Christian and Muslim statements. Instead, it respects each of the two religions as a whole, and develops on the basis of Christian understanding that which is important with regard to conversations and contacts with Muslims. That which brings the two sides together, and that which divides, is to be seen in the entire context of each side. Only in this way can we try to understand the difference and deepen each side’s respect for the other religion. - The handbook does not remain mired in generalities, but enters into very concrete problems, for example prayer. Muslims, of course, cannot pray in the name of Jesus, and Christians cannot say the obligatory Muslim prayers in ritual purity. This is because of different understandings of God and of humankind. Therefore the authors of the study believe we should not be in too much of a hurry to mingle in worship. The handbook argues in favour of so-called "multi-religious" prayer, in which Christians and Muslims offer prayers one after the other, each side according to its own rite. The sharing consists in each side’s silent, inward participation in the prayers of the other.

A helpful feature of the handbook "Living with Muslim Neighbours in Germany", besides the notes on legal rights and duties of Muslims (women teachers of the Muslim faith should not wear headscarves during general instruction; the Basic Law of Germany must be respected as a whole), is especially the section which considers points of encounter between Christians and Muslims. These include Protestant nursery schools, in which of course Christianity is not expected to be kept "hidden", and Protestant hospitals, where the Muslim understanding of what is healthy must be given more consideration, also with regard to diet, pork and alcoholic beverages being forbidden for Muslims.

There are useful pointers for Christian-Muslim marriages, and regarding Islamic religious instruction. Local quarrels are apt to flare up over the public calls to prayer from mosques. The handbook recommends amicable agreements worked out at local level, marked by mutual understanding for one another. The same should go for Islamic cemeteries, or for sections of church or municipal cemeteries reserved for Muslim burials, so that the rites prescribed by Islam may be carried out by believers.

The handbook "Living with Muslim Neighbours in Germany" is also a sort of reference work, providing answers to the most important theological, legal and practical questions in the encounter with Muslims, from a Protestant viewpoint. It will be an indispensable source of advice for any Christians who are concerned about Muslim-Christian relationships.

This article by K. Rüdiger Durth, pastor of the Evangelical Church in Rhineland and former editor of the Bonner Rundschau, was published on 19 September 2000 in the "™kumenische Information" service of the Catholic News Agency KNA GmbH. We present it here in slightly abridged form.