Germany brings out the intelligence against “Islamophobia”

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Imam Dr Abduljalil Sajid, one of the members of the Runnymede Trust’s Commission on British Muslims and Islamphobia argues in his report on Islamphobia that: “Hostility towards Islam and Muslims has been a feature of European societies since the eighth century of the Common Era. It has taken different forms, however, at different times and has fulfilled a variety of functions”.For example, the hostility in Spain in the fifteenth century was not the same as the hostility that had been expressed and mobilized in the Crusades. Nor was the hostility during the time of the Ottoman Empire or that which was prevalent throughout the age of empires and colonialism.It may be more apt to speak of ‘Islamophobias’ rather than of a single phenomenon. Each version of Islamophobia has its own features as well as similarities with, and borrowings from, other versions.In a positive development, the German daily newspaper Der Spiegel reported on Wednesday 28 Sep that “Islamophobes” could be placed under surveillance by the BfV, the German equivalent of Britain’s MI-5. There are concerns that the anti-Muslim scene is becoming increasingly dangerous, and some intelligence officials want it to be subject to greater scrutiny, despite stringent German privacy laws.The subject will be discussed at a meeting on Thursday 29 Sep between the president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Heinz Fromm, and the agency’s leaders in the 16 German states.Officials in Bavaria are considering putting right-wing populists under observation as a new form of extremism, while Hamburg has declared it is watching an internet discussion forum similar to anti-Islamic website “Politically Incorrect” (PI).A spokesman from the North Rhine-Westphalia interior ministry told the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper that PI was not currently under observation by intelligence agents, but that the blog was being read closely and that the opinions and comments published on it were “undemocratic.” The xenophobic comments were calculated to “incite young people”, the spokesman added.Most states are reluctant, however, and the federal interior ministry has also not yet committed itself on the matter. In essence, the question is whether the hatred of Muslims is enough to endanger freedom of religion and international understanding – or whether it is a radical but legitimate expression of opinion by individual authors within the limits of the constitution.Islamophobia is the fear and/or hatred of Islam, Muslims or Islamic culture. Islamophobia can be characterized by the belief that all or most Muslims are religious fanatics, have violent tendencies towards non-Muslims, and reject as directly opposed to Islam such concepts as equality, tolerance, and democracy.It is viewed as a new form of racism whereby Muslims, an ethno-religious group, not a race, are nevertheless constructed as a race. A set of negative assumptions are made of the entire group to the detriment of members of that group.During the 1990′s many sociologists and cultural analysts observed a shift in forms of prejudice from ones based on skin color to ones based on notions of cultural superiority and otherness.Owing to labor migration in the 1960s and several waves of political refugees since the 1970s, Islam has become a visible religion in Germany. As of 2009, there are 4.3 million Muslims (5.4% of the population). Of these, 1.9 million are German citizens (2.4%). As of 2006, about 15,000 converts are of German ancestry.Islam is the largest minority religion in the country, with the Protestant and Roman Catholic confessions being the majority religions. The large majority of Muslims in Germany are of Turkish origin (63, 2%), followed by smaller groups from Pakistan, countries of the former Yugoslavia, Arab countries, Iran and Afghanistan.Most Muslims live in Berlin and the larger cities of former West Germany. However, unlike in most other European countries, sizeable Muslim communities exist in some rural regions of Germany, especially Baden-Württemberg, Hesse and parts of Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia./129