1 - 2004
Religious diversity in Germany
Head Scarf Debate
A Statement of Muslim Organisations
Central Council of Muslims in Germany (ZMD): "Scarf only out of one’s own free will” – a ban of the suppression.
... The signing organizations agree therein that the wearing or not-wearing of a head scarf does not decide whether a person is a Muslim or not. The compliance of the Islamic commandment may as well not be a measurement for the evaluation of ethic and moral, the readiness to integrate and by no means for the loyalty of a Muslim to the German constitution.
Nevertheless the Islam commands according to all judicial schools of Islam the compliance of certain rules for clothing, be it for men or for women. The woman is commanded to be fully dressed except for her hands, feet and face, and it is unanimously agreed that her hairs have to be covered as well.
It is not the purpose of this commandment to suppress the woman in any way. For the signing Islamic organizations in Germany, the scarf is only a religious commandment, and no political or religious symbol. ...
In any case, according to our conviction, women should wear a head scarf only out of her own free will. We reject discrimination because a woman is not wearing a head scarf as well as discrimination because she chooses to wear a head scarf out of her free will. ...
The German Federal Constitutional Court repeatedly has emphasized that each rule of law has to treat the different religious denominations equally. That means that no one-sided privileges are allowed to be given to a certain denomination. A general ban of religious references in the school would therefor refer not only to Islam, but as well to Christianity and Judaism and that would be the beginning of a laizist society which now as ever is being rejected by a majority of the people. ...
What matters is to form wise and sustainable politics that live up to the diversity and plurality of our society in which the Muslims as well are accepted as an enrichment.
Joint Statement of almost all Islamic organizations in Germany on the "head scarf debate”. Signed by 64 Muslim organizations, April 22nd, 2004 (excerpts).