Adeel Malik
Another world leader categorically showing his hatred towards Islam. Germany’s new interior minister has declared “Islam does not belong to Germany”, directly contradicting Chancellor Angela Merkel in the opening days of her fourth term as the country’s leader as reported by the Independent.
Horst Seehofer, Germany’s leading security official, made the comments to the Bild newspaper as Ms Merkel’s new coalition combats the rising challenge from the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, which entered the national parliament in last year’s elections.
Mr Seehofer said his message to Muslims was: “Live with us, not parallel to or against us.” He added:
“The Muslims who live with us are, of course, part of Germany”, going on to say Germany should not give up its own traditions or customs, which had Christianity at their heart.
His Bavaria-only Christian Social Union, which has always taken a harder line on migration than Ms Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union, faces a state election later this year.
Former Pro-Nazi Islamophobe German MP, Werner Klawun embraced Islam at the age of 75-years-old
The anti-Islam AfD is relatively strong in Bavaria and some of its legislators welcomed his comments.
Mr Seehofer also put himself at odds with former German president Christian Wulff, who fuelled a debate over immigration in 2010 by saying Islam was part of Germany.
When asked about the interior minister’s comments, Ms Merkel said she stood by her view that while Germany is shaped by its Judeo-Christian heritage, “now there are four million Muslims living in Germany”, a country of about 82 million people. She said:
“They can live their religion here too. These Muslims belong to Germany and in the same way their religion belongs to Germany, that is to say Islam.”
She added that Islam practised by Muslims in Germany would have to conform to the country’s constitution.
Leading anti-Islam German party member embraces Islam as he leaves the far-right party
The government estimates between 4.4 and 4.7 million Muslims are living in Germany. Many of them have a Turkish background and many of the more than a million migrants who have arrived in the country from the Middle East and elsewhere after Ms Merkel adopted an open-door policy in mid-2015 are also Muslims.
The far-left Linke and Greens condemned Mr Seehofer’s words, while the Social Democrats’ Natascha Kohnen told broadcaster n-tv:
“Saying that incites people against each other at a time when we really don’t need that. What we really need is politicians who bring people together.”
Such direct attacks upon Islam from another world leader shouldn’t be a surprise, should it. Allah says too in the Quran 61:8:
”They want to extinguish the light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah will perfect His light, although the disbelievers dislike it.”
