The Muslim Brotherhood by Alison Pargeter

Author:Alison Pargeter
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780863567469
Publisher: Saqi Books
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Germany and the IGD

As in the UK, the first Ikhwani activity in Germany was begun in the 1950s by students from the Arab world. However, the first Ikhwani to establish a real base for the movement in Germany was Said Ramadan, who oversaw the building of a mosque and Islamic centre in Munich. The idea for the mosque did not come from Ramadan or the Brotherhood. The project was initiated by a group of Muslims who had fought with Germany against the Russians in the Second World War. They were led by Nurredine Nakibhodscha Namangani, an Uzbek who had been an imam for one of Hitler’s SS divisions, and they also had German backing for their plan. Then a group of Ikhwani students in Munich heard about the project and called in Said Ramadan. One of these brothers, Mohamed Ali al-Mahgary, referred to Ramadan as ‘a gifted orator’, noting, ‘we all respected him’.76 Ramadan was quick to seize the opportunity to take over the mosque building commission in a bid to oust Namangani, whose traditionalist Turkic Islam was anathema to the purist Islam promoted by the Ikhwan. Ramadan was in a charmed position thanks to his generous supply of Saudi wealth; he was able to contribute an initial 1,000 marks to the mosque building commission, far outweighing the contributions of the other interested parties.77

As part of his strategy to dominate Islamist activism in Germany, in 1959 Ramadan also organised a European Muslim Congress in Munich. The following year he took over full control of the mosque construction committee, completely sidelining Namangani.

The mosque, which was given tax-exempt status by the West German government, was finally opened in 1973, reportedly with the help of generous contributions from Saudi Arabia. When the mosque opened, the building commission changed its name to the Islamic Community of Southern Germany, indicating its desire to extend its influence beyond the city of Munich. By this time, however, Ramadan had left Munich and the running of the mosque and organisation had been given to the Syrian Ikhwani Ghaleb Himmat. Himmat had come to Germany as a student and had little interest in what was going on inside the country.

Under Himmat’s stewardship, the Munich mosque became a key centre for Ikhwani activity. This was not the only Brotherhood centre in Germany at this time. The town of Aachen, also known as Aix-la-Chapelle, had also become an important Ikhwani hub on account of the fact that it was home to Issam al-Attar. Al-Attar had tried to lead the Syrian organisation from his exile, but the impracticality of such a venture, added to the fact that he was embroiled in a deep conflict over the leadership of the Syrian Ikhwan, resulted in his breaking away to form his own organisation, al-Talia, which was focused on activities in Europe. By the time he settled in Aachen, al-Attar had come to represent a new current of thinking that was similar to the Ikhwan’s ideology but was largely independent from the Brotherhood. As such

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