TayoBlog

Continuing with my visit to mosques in Hamburg, I set out for a Pakisani mosque. After some asking around, I realized that the mosque had probably moved. I then headed to another mosque, near one that I attended previously (Masjid Nur).

At the time, I thought the this building in Pulverteich was representative of the Muslims in Germany. It was a divided along ethnic lines. The Arab mosque (Masjid Nur) was in the basement, the South Asian mosque on the first floor, and an Albanian mosque on the first floor.

But the divisions tells only one story. One has to go in to get some more. This is what happened when I found myself on the ground floor.

It was a small space, and when full, could not accommodate more than 150 people. It was smaller than most other places I had attended until now. In other places, the size and mass presence (especially on Friday) left one with a sense of space, size and fullness. For me, it was also  a bit over-empowering. This mosque was soon full.

I did not see any women, but they were present in some other unseen section of the mosque.

The sermon was presented in German by someone I had seen around at the University. Abu Ahmad attended many of the programmes on inter-religious education and dialogue. He seemed to continue this theme in the mosque.

Abu Ahmad spoke to those present in simple German, directly addressing them in a very personal and warm manner. He is a short, roundish man who could easily play the role of the friendly grocer in the neighbourhood. He was giving sensible advice, advice that seemed so natural.

He asked Muslims to consider the anxiety of Germans. They had not faced so many immigrants in their history, and they needed time to get used to it. Muslims needed to give them time! This was very interesting, since Germans who are sympathetic with the concerns of Muslims usually ask Germans to give Muslims time to settle down. Abu Ahmad had turned the table around!

Breaking the unified view of the Germans, he also related how a woman in one of his dialogue meetings told him that she was really ashamed of her people. What was significant about this meeting was the fact that it was given one week after the Swiss voted on a constitutional change to prohibited the building of new minarets. Abu Ahmad and this mosque was on a different wave-lenght. 

The mosque was not only remarkable for its sermon and its preacher. It consisted of highly mixed audience: Arabs, Turkish and Pakistani. There were also a large number of people of African descent. Ritually, the people followed different traditions.The German language, and also Islam of course, was the commong groun!

Abu Ahmad recognized me, and invited me for tea with some people. His wife and daugher joined, but also people from different backgrounds (Afghan, Syria, Libya, Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey). We first spoke Arabic, but had to turn to German.

I asked them about the history of the mosque, which soon led to a discussion on the divisions among Muslims. They lamented the inability of Muslims to be united, and asked me about South Africa.

Abu Ahmad who was himself from Libya made a short comment that left me with food for thought. He too lamented the division of Muslims, but suggested that the mosques with their distinctive languages provided a sense of home.For the most part, Muslims in Germany were workers fully engaged in the economy. Coming to mosque on Friday or participating in religious meetings in weekends was a way of expressing another aspect of their identities. Their overwhelming link with German society was ignored while focussing on their religous commitment for a few hours a week. 

The group was aware of the problem for younger Muslims who did not appreciate the same level of tension between public and private identities, and also between languages. However, introducing German into the mosques and private clubs could not happen until German could express the religous and spiritual values of Muslims. Clearly, the problem was more than a simply matter of language. 

What do mosques, then, offer Muslims? And why do Muslim go to mosques. A visit to this one mosque taught me a great deal. It seemed to highlight the fact that Muslims had accepted the differentiation of a society (religion, economy and society).

There was an ideology that declared a unified vision; but the vision was contradicted by the choices that Muslims made.  Some of these visions did go beyond the mosque walls. They clashed clearly with plural societies all over the globe. More importantly, we need to recognize how these visions disrupted the lives of Muslims who lived these divisions.