Europe News
Germany discovers it has more Muslims than suspected
Jun 23, 2009, 10:28 GMT
Berlin - Germany has discovered it has more Muslims than suspected, with a government survey concluding on Tuesday that about 5 per cent of the entire population was Islamic.
The poll was funded by the Interior Ministry for a series of conferences between officials and Muslim groups, after complaints that there was no reliable information on the Islamic population or their views.
The survey report, released in Berlin by the Interior Ministry, calculated that about 4 million people in the country were Muslim, well up from the past estimates of 3.1 to 3.4 million based on immigration data. Germany's overall population is around 80 million.
Pollsters phoned 6,000 households with 17,000 residents. To understand how observant they were, families were asked if they ate pork or drank alcohol. Among Sunni Muslims, 91 per cent said they followed Islamic food and drink practices.
The rate among Shiites was 60 per cent and among Alawites 49 per cent.
Berlin opened the talks in 2006 with a range of Muslim and secular Turkish groups amid concerns about home-grown terrorism, but officials soon found at the meetings that Muslims had concerns of their own, especially about German public schools.
Muslim parents are annoyed that Christian children receive doctrine classes at schools during school hours, whereas religion teachers for the Muslim children are rare. Of those polled, 75 per cent said all Muslim pupils should be offered Islam classes.
Some parents also object to daughters being compelled to don bathing gear for school swimming classes or sleep in dormitories with boys present.
The survey found 7 per cent of Muslim girls skipped swim class and 10 per cent did not take part in overnight class excursions, often with a polite excuse, because schools refuse to provide single-sex arrangements.
In a summary, the ministry said access for Muslims to well paid jobs remained a problem, with many Muslim young people, especially Turkish youths, leaving school without qualifications, but social integration was better than most Germans believed.
More than half of Muslims were members of German-run organizations such as sports clubs or parents' associations.
The survey also suggested that Muslims may have some weight in German elections, since 45 per cent of the minority are German nationals, either by birth or by naturalization. The rest have kept the nationality of their country of origin.

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Older Talkback
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sorry Jonesullah, but your slip is showing.
Jones aka Habibullah,
Indians , chinese and others are highly integrated and never ask for separate schools, favour etc. They contribute more than the national average and hardly use welfare benefit. While muslims form ghettoes, ask special privileges, try not to integrate and want sharia. They use welfare benefits, contribute lower than the national average. Contribute more in crimes and have a high percentage in prison than there population percentage. Plus 100 % terrorist attacks done by muslims.
Muslim parents teach their children to respect their teachers. From a very young age, we are taught that Islam teaches us that after our parents, our teachers are most deserving of respect.
It must be an extremely confusing time for the Muslim parent in Leytonstone, London. For up to 30 parents may face prosecution for withdrawing their children from school, disobeying the teachers in the school, simply to secure a decent moral upbringing for their children. The school had decided to have a week of lessons about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history. Part of this was a special adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet retitled Romeo and Julian as well as fairytales and stories changed to show men falling in love with men. Rather than filling the heads of impressionable boys and girls with fatuous drivel about gay penguins, schools should be ashamed of the fact that they are sending children out into the world barely able to read, write and add up properly. Muslim children are leaving schools without learning their cultural roots and linguistic skills.
The action was being taken against the parents as part of a policy of ' promoting tolerance'. So why not tolerate parents, who, for sincerely-held reasons, consider their children too young to be taught about gay relationships? This isn't education, its cultural fascism. A record numbers of pupils persistently played truant in 2006-07, with around 272,950 pupils persistently absent in 2007, missing more than 20% of school. We rarely see councils prosecute the parents of these persistent truants. Yet, the parents who removed their children as a one-off to protect their morality may be prosecuted!
If the local council does decide to go through with a prosecution, it would be in line with the government's approach to the Muslim community. Muslims who believe homosexuality is a sin would be labelled as extremists. Liberal totalitarianism is a growing phenomenon in Britain and the west in general but many people will be shocked that the school can override a parent's view of what's appropriate or inappropriate to teach their children.
This latest episode should be a wakeup call for Muslim parents. Muslim parents MUST explain our moral standards to schools and be prepared to take steps to protect our children’s morals and values from a growing agenda to impose liberal values upon them. This is an eye opening for those Muslim parents who keep on sending their children to state schools to be mis-educated and de-educated by non-Muslim monolingual teachers.
The solution of all the problems facing Muslim children is state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers. Those state schools where Muslim children are in majority may be designated as Muslim community schools. Bilingual Muslim children need state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods.
Iftikhar Ahmad
www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk
'The solution of all the problems facing Muslim children is state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers.'
I am afraid this is not the solution but the beginning of a bigger problem. Your suggestion would marginalize Muslims even more than they already are. The issue I have with multicultural society is that it is based on some fundamental misconceptions. There is the erroneous belief that all cultures have the same values, or if different, they are equally worthy of respect.
You refer to your Muslim moral values and these must 'be explained to the teachers'. Are these the moral values that treat women as second class objects by chance? In multicultural society, you are to equally respect other people's views on homosexuals - you decline, stating that your values are better.
Multiculturalism is a failed theory, one foolishly enshrined in law by Labour. A better option would be to have a policy of Integration with the majority. Thus, if as an Englishman I chose to live in Saudia Arabia or Pakistan, I must abide by the rules of those societies and integrate. I must not commit homosexual acts or drink alcohol and my wife must not go topless on the beach. You would probably accept that - they fit with your moral values.
As a Muslim in Britain, if you choose to live here, you can do what you like in the privacy of your own home, but don't start telling the majority of indigenous people that they MUST offer different schooling BECAUSE you are Muslim. You should integrate and accept that it is YOU who must conform to the rules of the indigenous British society.
If I found I could not live in Saudi Arabia or Pakistan because, to my values I found the Muslim values too restrictive, I would leave and return home. Do I need say more?
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RajeshJun 23rd, 2009 - 16:24:35
I don't understand why Muslims stay in Europe anyway. If they cannot adapt to the lifestyle there why cant they LEAVE???? Somebody ought to force these people to leave. Give incentives to leave and disincentives to stay... Pakistan or Afghanistan ought to be comfortable for them
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