Islam critic Abdel-Samad leaves Islam Conference in Germany

BERLIN. The Islam critic Hamed Abdel-Samad has announced his withdrawal from the Islam Conference. As a reason he gave the uncritical attitude of the federal government towards the traditionalist Islamic associations. “The state is in favor of the representatives of political Islam in this conference and ignores all warnings and suggestions from the critical voices,” he wrote on Facebook. In addition, the government does not want to hear any criticism of the Islamic organizations.

Abdel-Samad continued: “When I was invited to this forum ten years ago, I had the hope of becoming part of an honest dialogue about Islam in Germany. Since then, however, the Islamic associations have been able to ban all critical issues that the critical voices have brought to the table, such as the issue of radicalization of young Muslims or the position of women Society as a whole would have no meaning.

He accused the associations of being all about money from the state anyway. On the other hand, its representatives have no idea what they want from the Islamic organizations.

Seehofer opens Islam conference
The Islam critic blamed the Islam Conference for the upgrading of the Turkish mosque association Ditib. This is about building a cult around the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and strengthening political Islam.

Abdel-Samad has been warning against the influence of orthodox Islamic groups in Germany for years. He is under police protection because of death threats.

Meanwhile, Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) opened this year's Islam Conference on Tuesday. He asked the imams in Germany to take part in the fight against Muslim fanatics. One of the topics this year is the training of German imams. In this context, he called on Turkey to send fewer preachers. There is no need for outside influence when Muslims make Europe their home,” said the politician, according to ARD. Nevertheless, the cooperation with Ditib will continue.

The German Islam Conference was launched in 2006 on the initiative of the then Federal Minister of the Interior, Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU). It should bring the state into a dialogue with the Muslims living in Germany.

Source: Junge Freiheit