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MUSLIMS

"And hold fast, all together by the rope which God (stretches out for you), and be not divided among yourselves; and remember with gratitude God's favor on you; for you were enemies and He joined your hearts in love, so that by His grace you became brethren; and you were on the brink of the pit of fire, and He saved you from it. Thus does God make His signs clear to you: that you may be guided." (3:103)

The Arabic word "Islam" has the same root as the Arabic word "Salaam", which means peace. Really Islam does offer a good way to a peaceful coexistence. Unfortunately at present not much of this can be seen in practice.
Even I sometimes get tired of explaining over and over how Islam really is. Because over and over I get the same reply: "But my Moroccan neighbor does this entirely different." Or : "The Turkish students in my class tell me something else." And how can I refute this? The Islamic theory is quite clear and written down. But the Muslim practice is always good for a surprise. "They live here in the same way as back in their Anatolian village." It is true, that many times Muslim behavior rather reflects village customs than Islam. Just as not every Christian knows the contents of the Bible, also not every Muslim knows the contents of Qur'an. And just as Christian teachings throughout time have been mixed with cultural tradition, that don't have much to do with the Bible, also Qur'an teachings have been mixed throughout the centuries with cultural traditions, that today believers often describe as part of Islam, though in the sense of the revelation they are really not.

Take for example Christmas. We all like to remember the festive days, the cookies and the gifts brought by Santa Claus. It is almost impossible to imagine December without Christmas. It has its solid place in the church year, even though it is not mentioned in the Bible at all. The birthday of Jesus was neither celebrated in his lifetime nor by the early Christian communities. Who cares? We still enjoy the festivities. Even the churches put up Christmas trees and hand out presents.
Easter bunnies and Easter eggs stay also unmentioned in the Bible. And still we do decorate eggs every year with the nicest colors and paintings. By the way: eggs symbolize the fertile time of spring. That goes back long before Christianity. Up to the present days eggs have their place in Persian spring celebrations. Next to fresh green and other spring symbols.

And it's exactly the same way when Muslims celebrate the "Birthday of the Prophet Muhammad" in the mosque and hand out sweets to the children, or when a bride decorates her hands with henna paintings the night before the wedding. In principle, such traditions do not hurt anyone. It does become unpleasant though if for example a Turkish family mourns because the newborn child is "only" a girl. The prophet himself was left with "only" daughters after his sons had died in infancy. And he loved this daughters very much.
It also makes me mad when people talk naive students into spending a lot of money on lucky charms, that are supposed to protect them from evil.  On sale are things like blue stones or pendants in the shape of the "Hand of Fatima", the youngest daughter of the prophet. All nonsense! Every muslim prays five times a day : "Thee do we worship and Thine aid we seek" (1:5) Lucky charms aren't a part of Islamic teachings. Neither are horoscopes, fortune tellers or worship of "Saints". God alone is worthy of our worship. And even the prophet Muhammad is commanded in Qur'an:"Say: I have no power over any good or harm to myself except as God willeth. If I had knowledge of the unseen, I should have multiplied all good, and no evil should have touched me: I am but a warner, and a bringer of glad tidings to those who have faith." (7:188)

The Muslims in Germany come from all over the world. And from all over the world they have brought their traditional ideas. Mostly they don't even realize that these ideas have nothing to do with Islam. After all, it is taught also in the mosques.A mosque is for a foreign muslim a piece of home. While the Muslim feels not at home in the German environment, which is often perceived as hostile, the mosque is a place of peace. Here people speak the same language. Here people think in the same way. Arabs have their mosques, just as Turks, Bosnian Muslims or Iranians. The "owners" of the mosques are "cultural" associations. They are named "cultural" by the founders, as the term "Islamic" does still ring an alarm bell with German officials. But the term "cultural" actually is fitting for most of them.
One of my first experiences with mosques was, that people don't understand me. Especially the elder generation does hardly speak any German. Many times it is just enough for the question: "You husband Muslim?" Supported by a finger pointing at my wedding ring. What follows is the even here compulsory "Oh, I see..." Though it is a lot friendlier here, than I am used to, when hearing it from Non Muslims. In the Arabic mosque I am now "Egyptian", in the Turkish mosque "Turkish", or maybe still "Arabic"? After all, my husband is an Arab. Or... Well, in any case I am not "real" German anymore. Or am I ...? The fact, that I don't have an "Islamic" name confuses.
I myself don't feel Egyptian at all. And I don't feel like becoming Turkish, Arabic or anything else. And why should I change my name? It is true, that the prophet Muhammad in his times did rename some new Muslims. But that was mainly relevant for names, that have a bad or anti Islamic meaning. My name is neither anti Islamic nor does it have a bad meaning. So why shouldn't there be a Muslima named Anja?
Actually German Muslims usually are not easily integrated in existing Muslim communities. They are inconvenient, these Germans! Always they insist on Qur'an and Sunnah. One hundred and fifty percent Muslims! And everything they want to change. In the mosques they do German language Qur'an classes, help children with their home work and encourage girls to educate themselves instead of doing their domestic chores. In this way German influence enters even the last refuge. As if there were not enough Germans outside.
The reaction of German Muslims is often seclusion. They don't want to have anything to do with traditional or national clubs. But at the same time they do not really fit in with the German society anymore. So they come up with own clubs. Some revive the old Orient, men wearing wide pants, long shirt and turban, women crafting beduin tents and accessories as toys for their children, to teach them in this way about their "ancestors". Really the first Muslims were from Mecca, which was at that time a lively trade center, and not a beduin camp, but well, we don't have to be that accurate, do we?
So slowly the German Muslim community is forming an equivalent to the oriental communities, discusses Goethe and Islam, rewrites the lyrics of German folk songs and crafts "Ramadan Calendar" for the children, following the example of the Advent Calendar, where the child opens one little present every day.
These clubs all may have there justification. The framework of Islam is wide. And everybody has the right to speak his own language and live his own culture. But unfortunately in this way the idea of Islamic unity, of the "Ummah",  gets somewhat lost.
The Qur'an says: "And hold fast, all together by the rope which God (stretches out for you), and be not divided among yourselves; and remember with gratitude God's favor on you; for you were enemies and He joined your hearts in love, so that by His grace you became brethren; and you were on the brink of the pit of fire, and He saved you from it. Thus does God make His signs clear to you: that you may be guided." (3:103)
Islam is a religion constituting society. The goal is not, to be as exclusive as possible. Quite to the contrary. The goal is to reach the greatest possible consensus. Muslims have to work with each other, not against each other. God has clearly warned us in Qur'an: "be not like those who are divided among themselves and fall into disputations after receiving clear signs. ..." (3:105)
Of course, not every Muslim is the same. Not everybody dresses the same, cooks the same dishes or speaks the same language. And it should be this way! How could we otherwise learn from each other? Doesn't it say in Qur'an: "O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other. Verily the most honored of you in the sight of God is the most righteous of you. And God has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things)." (49:13)
There has always been variety in Islam. And we can learn so much from each other.  Without new impulses, without discussions, every  intellectual or social development comes to a standstill. This is also valid for the political discourse. The task of the Islamic community is to integrate the different opinions into society for the good of all.
Again the prophet Muhammad is an example for us. He learned from his companions and allowed discussions.
Muhammad Hussein Haikal describes in his book " The life of Muhammad (saaw)"  an incident that has taken place during the famous Battle at Badr, where it came to an open confrontation between the Muslims and a Meccan army, that was by far outnumbering the Muslims. The following happened when choosing a place for the camp: "When the Muslims reached the first well of Badr, Muhammad paused. Al Hubab Ibn Al Mundhir Ibn Al Dschamuh was familiar with the place; when he saw, where the prophet wanted to stay he asked: " O messenger of Allah, is this the place where Allah lets you get down to stay, so that we can not deviate from it forward or backward, or is it simply a question of personal opinion and war tactics?" Muhammad answered: "It is a question of personal opinion and war tactic." Then he said: "O messenger of Allah, this is not a campsite; move on with your men until you come to the well closest to the Quraish (the Meccans). There we will stop, then we will fill up the wells behind and build a reservoir which we fill with water. When we then fight the people, we can drink and they can not." Muhammad realized that the advice of Al Hubab was right. He got up together with his men and followed the suggestions of his companion. Through this behavior he made his people understand that he was just a man, like themselves, and that they should consult each other before coming to an opinion. Without hearing them he wouldn't make a decision. Yes, he even needed the advice of one of them."
In fact, even prominent representatives of the early Islamic community did not always agree with each other. The prophet once compared Abu Bakr Siddiq because of his gentleness and his readiness to forgive with the prophets Abraham and Jesus, and he compared Omar Ibn Al-Khattab because of his severity and consequent behavior with the prophets Noah and Moses. Despite of their different character Abu Bakr Siddiq as well as Omar Ibn Al-Khattab both hold outstanding positions in the Islamic community. And after the death of the prophet Muhammad both were the first to become Khalifa. This means, they followed after him in leading the Ummah, the Muslim community.
Back then when Muslims disagreed with each other, the problem was discussed, pros and cons brought up, and once a decision had been made, this decision was put into practice by all. Nobody would feel offended and withdraw himself, because the others didn't follow his opinion.
But nowadays villagers insist on a specific way to fold the hands in prayer or on a specific color for headscarfs and set up one club after the other. As if there wouldn't be any more important matters.

At the university we wanted to do this better. So we set up our own club...
It all started with the obligatory noon time prayer, which - obviously - is performed at noon time and consequently fell into class times at university. Of course, theoretically you can pray everywhere. But a little privacy couldn't hurt. So usually I picked out an empty lecture hall or prayed at the back side of the library. Always hoping, nobody would pass by. And so did the others. Until Ahmed and Yuksel solved the problem for all of us. Our institute was located in the top floor of an old building. From there the stairs led up to the elevator shaft. The two students had with permission of the director of our institute, equipped the almost never used landing at half level with two prayer rugs and performed their prayers there.
Soon the word spread and other students began to frequent the place. We prayed there alone or sometimes after lectures also in congregation - shoulder to shoulder, foot to foot. While we had to wait before prayer till the last one of us had finished his ritual washing, we got to know each other. Most Muslims at the institute were of Turkish origin. With some I became friends. Nurten had started her studies together with Heide and me. When we showed up in class with headscarfs, she was very pleased. She didn't wear a headscarf herself, but would have liked to change that: "I don't know, how to start. In my family this is not common. Not even my mother wears one. If I start to cover now, it is like telling her, she doesn't live Islam correctly." Nurten's parents had come to Germany a long time ago. All three children were born in Germany. The parents took religion seriously, but a headscarf was out of question. Except occasionally when visiting a mosque.
Nadja and Selda on the other hand did cover. They came from the mathematics and archeology department to hear the lectures of Professor Falaturi. Heide and I did already know Nadja from the Muslim women meetings. And Hulya had transferred to our institute. She appeared to be very modern. Sometimes her headscarf seemed to be out of place next to the carefully balanced cigarette between her fingers.
Then there was another German Muslim. Menem came from the Ruhr Valley, an old industrial area in Germany. He was dressed with combat boots and wore his hair really short. And he lived at the same student housings as Mohamed and me. And Ali, of course, who had as a teenager migrated from Turkey to Germany. He started his studies a year after me. He was engaged in his local Turkish community, playing soccer with the boys.
Though on the first glance we were all very different from each other, we still had a lot in common. We were about the same age and met each other nearly every day at university. We spoke the same language, and lived in the same world. It seemed that we had found a niche where "domestic" Muslims could exist. And this was including the foreign students as well, that had been living in Germany for such a long time, that they just couldn't identify themselves anymore with their original culture.
Actually these young migrants find themselves in a kind of vacuum in between the cultures - much like the German Muslims. The parent generation has tried hard to conserve the values of the "Islamic" home culture in the family. They used to retreat into their own world, meet only muslim compatriots, and avoid all kind of Western "temptations". Already the poor or missing knowledge of the German language made the interaction with the German environment difficult, if not impossible. That might have been a good strategy for the first generation. After all hardly anyone intended to spend the rest of his life in Germany. All planned to return back home.
But that is different in the second and third generation. Many teenagers spend more time at school than at home. They read German newspapers, watch German television and have German friends. They speak German better than their "home" language and don't even think about "returning" in a country, they don't know but from short vacation trips. These teenagers live in a world, that after all these years still is new to their parents. Symptomatic is the Arab father, who so proudly announced in the mosque, that his son had gotten an A in religious instructions. Until somebody told him, that that particular school doesn't even offer Islamic instructions as a subject. The child had participated at the Catholic class. And symptomatic is the Turkish girl, who in conformance with her parent's wish every morning leaves the house with headscarf, just to let it disappear in her bag at the bus stop. Or the Arab teenager, who once in a while smokes a cigarette with his friends, but would out of respect for his parents never dare to touch one at home.
Parents and children lack a common basis for communication. Parents just don't want to hear anything of the "outside" world. And "outside" the life of the parents seems so strange. So children start to separate their "German" world from the parent's world. They learn a "Two-World-Pattern". "At home" they speak different than "outside". And "at home" they think different than "outside". Islam in this pattern belongs clearly to the "home" world. Many times the children are not able, to describe even the simplest facts of their belief in the German language. That isn't really surprising, taken into consideration, that everything these children have ever learned about Islam, they have learned in their parent's language. And the teachers in the mosques often come right away from abroad. They don't have any idea of life in Europe. And they can't connect between Islam and the teenager's daily life in Germany. Yet Islam has never been meant for just one culture. It does come from the Orient, but so does Christianity, and its believers obviously also claim universal validity.
It is true that in the meanwhile German schools have started to offer Muslim religious classes besides the Christian classes. But these classes are also held in the "home" language of most of the Muslim students, and that's Turkish. And many times the teacher do also come right from Turkey. One or two Arabic children in the class, who don't understand a word, that doesn't really bother anyone. After all it has to come clearly across, what these classes are aiming at. That's to prepare the children for an easy return into their home country. That's where these children with their religion really belong.Would we be realistic, we would have to realize, that only an insignificant small percentage of those children will ever leave Germany. We are bringing up a whole new generation of European Muslims. And it is up to us, how they will turn out.
I have met teenagers, who have set up German language computer programs for Qur'an and Hadeeth with several search functions. From the U.K. we received the English language "Islamic Quiz", illustrated and in different levels covering subjects as religion, history and geography. During a youth meeting children presented German TV commercials on video, changed to Islamic contents: "My Islam, your Islam, Islam is for all of us!" They acted, sang and even a rap was presented. Those children are full of creativity and talent. For them Islam is not a flaw. Nor do they see it as a drag on their way in the future.
Unfortunately there are few German language events for Muslim children and teenager that help them to develop self confidence. Most children spend their life isolated in an environment, that believes Islam to be unnecessary and backward. So we Muslim students decided to do some German language Muslim Youth work in our community. We wanted to bring the children and teenagers together in the mosque. They should not have to experience the feeling, not to belong anywhere. The Imam of "our" mosque, the gentleman that had married Mohamed and me, did support us right away. He also had teenage children.

So we offered weekly meetings. We talked with the children, played, did little craft projects and of course also prayed together. And we offered help with the home work. The last point was gladly welcomed by the board of the mosque. That's a way German students can really be useful. Other than that the project was viewed in a rather skeptic way. But the fact, that along with Heide, Elizabeth, Ahmed and me, also Mohamed was involved in the project, did reassure the board quite a bit. At least one Arab taking part in the project! And after a firm invitation by the Imam the first children showed up at the weekly meetings. Not as many, as we had hoped, but at least they attended happily and regularly. Soon we became friends with "our" children. Heide took care of all kinds of school matters. As teacher she was predestinated for this job. Soon she was in contact with the teachers and principals of various schools. Naima started to wear a headscarf in class. Karima wanted to be excused from her swimming class. Yasmin, new in Germany, had difficulties with her 8th grade English class. At home in Morocco she had only studied French, which she spoke fluently. Her younger brother did even have problems to read his German history book or understand the tasks in his math book. It is so sad, how these children are deprived of the chance to successfully complete an education, on which they could base their future.
Fausia on the other hand just entered primary school that year. She didn't have any problems. And her younger brother would accompany her to mosque, sit next to her and copy her exercises. Rachida, 4th grader, once brought a "Bravo" magazine (a German teen's magazine). Her parents didn't even know of the existence of such a magazine, not to talk about the magazine belonging to their little daughter. ("Rachida is much too young to understand what is the 'period'.") We students tried to mediate for the children between home and school life. And the children themselves began to share and befriend each other. Then we started to get games, yes, even a table tennis set. Heide set up a small library, and her Christian mother held a sewing class during vacation time. Sometimes we took the children on trips, visited a museum, or an amusement park. And that year the mosque managed for the first time to rent a public swimming hall for two hours a week. So every other week Muslim women respectively men could go for a swim. And again it was Heide as sports teacher, who was in charge of swimming classes for the women and girls. She even managed to get recognition for her classes at schools so that some of the girls could get their obligatory credits with her instead of participating at the gender mixed school swimming.
The whole project turned out to be more and more time consuming, not only for Heide, but for all of us. There was hardly any time left for our studies, not even to think about our private lives. Heide, who had taken thing a little slower during her exams, once again got new life into the project, when she managed to get a state sponsorship as an unemployed teacher for her work in the mosque. This was granted for two years. So we had a full time worker. Heide started to offer additional German classes for housewives and the children now were able to get individual and qualified help with their studies. Heide recruited a couple of additional students to help for a few hours a week and even convinced the board to compensate some of them financially for their time. Unfortunately the group feeling got lost a little in the new system. Success at school was from the parents point of view of course more important than playing together. "The children can play at home. They don't need to go to the mosque to do this." So after a while the weekly meetings were given up. And when the two years period of Heide's sponsorship was over, also the classes came to an end.

In the meanwhile the Muslim students had become more active at university. Turkish Muslimas e.g. took turns in inviting the female Muslim students home. About twenty to thirty girls came to such meetings. We hardly got around to hold the planned lessons, but I got to know more and more Muslims. Girls from other cities came to visit, and also young women joined the group, that didn't have anything to do with the university. A nurse, an office clerk, a kindergarten teacher. Though we hadn't much else in common, we were joined by the fact that we all belonged to the Muslim minority. As a result of these meetings a lot of personal friendships developed. "Sisters" helped each other with their class assignments, met to ride their bikes along the river or even traveled together in vacation time. And one morning Nurten showed up in class wearing a headscarf. "When I left the house this morning, I suddenly remembered the headscarf. So I just put it on." Since that day I have never seen her again uncovered in public. As expected in the beginning some discussions on this matter took place in her family and among the neighbors. Dilek, Nurten's younger sister, told me later: "The neighbors right away thought, Nurten had married. They couldn't imagine, she would do this herself." The relatives on the other hand, as well in Germany as in Turkey, thought, the 22 years old Nurten was way too young for a headscarf. Dilek's comment: "They all think, they have plenty time for this later. When they are forty. Who tells them, that they will ever get that old?" Dilek herself does not wear a scarf, but her mother shortly after followed Nurten's example.
At university the Turkish girls had come up with the idea, to set up an own prayer room for women, as the stair's landing at the institute was just not sufficient. There was hardly room for more than 4 persons. So in crowded times as after the lectures of Professor Falaturi this caused some waiting in the corridor. What didn't really cause happiness in the institute. Standard question: "Do you all have to stand around in the corridor?"
At the end of the stairs half a floor up from the prayer landing was another landing. There was the entrance to the elevator shaft and a window to the roof. Nobody came up but the elevator service men. And when do those ever come? Soon the necessary steps had been discussed. So one day Nurten, Hulya, Selda and Nadja brought white paint and started work. The result was quite something. A pretty little corner with Islamic graphics put up at white walls. The floor covered with some carpet; prayer rugs carefully folded and stored, ready for use; And the girls even installed a lamp with the help of a long cable connecting to the institute electricity. Soon there were to be found some Islamic magazines to entertain oneself up there. And we began, to spend our free time on this "former" stair's landing. I wrote one of my assignments there. Other students met in Ramadan to break the fast together with German potato salad and Turkish Borek. But mostly we did actually come to pray. As well as the "brothers". Many time we prayed in congregation on the two landings, men and women.
But the joy of having our own corner didn't last long. Soon we were told by the director of the institute, that the usage of the landing in this form couldn't be allowed anymore. Why? We had become the subject of gossip. Among other matters we were told, our institute was getting famous in all of Germany for being a "mosque with an institute", a student had been forced, to cover (Nurten!), and the women had been secluded by fundamentalist men and sent into the last corner (our women's corner!). Non regarding of all these accusations we were told, that it was unacceptable that right in front of the institute foreigners meet, loudly talk in their languages and laugh. Nobody knows why. The professor suspected they might be laughing about him. Of course we protested. So the director told us, that we didn't have any rights to have a prayer location at the institute in the first place. Otherwise anybody could  ask for the same, e.g. Buddhists of Hindus or some other group. He added with a glance towards the secretary, who seemed to have been one of the complainers about our prayer place: "But to be realistic, I don't expect anyone else but you to ask for a prayer place." Still he insisted, that our "activities" had to stop immediately and our "furniture" had to disappear. The first landing though, that Ahmed and Yuksel had gotten the permission to use, should still be used as a place for prayer. On a trial basis. And only for prayer.

In the times of our work with the children and our congregational prayers at university the idea had come up to found a student association. A multinational, independent, democratic, German language and - most important - Islamic student association. We designed a nice invitation. "MUSLIMS" was spelled in bold letters. After all, this was the common element of the prospective members. Though there should be also Non Muslims accepted. Other than that the invitation was rather simple, business-like and not too pious. We mentioned, when and where we were going to meet to get to know each other and discuss the foundation of a Muslim student association. These invitations were copied and posted around the campus. During the next three days we kept posting, as the invitations were over and over torn down or covered up by other announcements.
The first meeting at the Arabic mosque was attended by about 60 people. The Imam had come as well. To my great surprise I learned, that he was still signed up as a student. I had never seen him at campus. He told us of a former Muslims student association, in "his times". They had even observed the congregational Friday prayer together. But that association had been given up once the active Muslim students had left the university. He offered to organize the new association for us or at least help us to do so. After all, he had some experience. And he did already have a quite explicit idea of what could be done.
This was not exactly what we had in mind, that the alumni would be in charge of creating the new association. But how can you tell this to an Imam in a nice way in "his" mosque? Menem, the German Muslim, who was the chairman of the meeting, gave me an example. He said: "Thank you brother for your good advice. We will surely take it into consideration. Does anybody else have anything to say?"
Thus that subject was closed. We did appoint on that day a committee to work out the statutes of the association. The statutes should protect our basic aims like independence, German language, and of course Islamic foundation. We also tried to exclude a possible future take-over by any other group. Mohamed thought the explicit paragraphs to be rather unnecessary. The association had to have statutes to be registered at the university, but: "The Germans always spend so much time thinking about problems, that probably won't ever occur." He isn't that wrong. "But what in case, let's just consider the theoretically possibility,..." is actually the beginning of a typical German questions. As well as we Germans like to repeat opinions, that have been stated already three times, a fourth time in our own words. A peculiarity, that probably goes back on the German grading system at school, where participation in class is accounted highly into the grades. But a peculiarity, that is rather time consuming and not really effective in discussions. Arabs are different. In their schools they don't discuss anything anyhow So they learn to keep their mouths shut unless they have something really important to say. But in spite of German participation we did finally come up with a draft for our statutes. Even Menem was satisfied: "And if the association should ever be taken over by atheists, I'd just have to leave and found a new association."
And then finally the big day of the official foundation of the association came up. We took suggestions for a name for the association and all three parts of the name were put separately to vote. And we elected our first board of five directors. Everybody could write down up to five persons of the present members. Then we counted. Elected were - some even with nearly all votes - the initiators of the association: Mohamed, Ahmed, Menem, Ali and I.
Afterwards we registered at university. The statutes had been changed twice due to the wish of some members. And the protocol of the founding meeting had been signed by about 30 founding members. So we became an official university association.
After the foundation of the student association the statutes did disappear in some drawer, as Mohamed had predicted. And also some of the members disappeared never to be seen again. Still we started our work.
The association met once a week on campus. We used a room of the "Akademisches Auslandsamt", the university institution responsible for foreign students and student exchange. They had a room reserved for events of foreign students. In this case it turned out an advantage, that so many of our members were foreigners. Mohamed and Ali went to the room schedule meeting, and secured us the room once a week. It was a large basement room with dirty white walls, furnished with some tables and chairs. Usually it was used as a party room. In comparison to the nice prayer room at the mosque it was really ugly. But it was sufficient.
The weekly meetings were attended regularly by about thirty students. We offered lectures on Islamic subjects as "Islam in Indonesia" (based on the Masters paper of one of the members), "Malcolm X" (inspired by the film) or "Islamic behavior" (very practical oriented according to Qur'an and Sunnah). Sometimes we had guest lecturers. Members of mosque associations introduced their work. German students presented their class assignments on the subject "foreign minorities in Germany". And students lectured on their home countries or vacation trips into Muslim countries. Over some snacks and juice we exchanged the latest news. We informed each other where to get affordable Muslim clothing, which mosque organized Muslim swimming at what times, or where one could attend a free Arabic class. Temporarily the association itself offered an Arabic class as well as a class on silk painting.We organized Muslim picnics, beneficial bazaars and the like. Up to one hundred people attended such events. Association members began to print our new logo on T-shirts "Yes, we are Muslims!" and sold them by auction to donate the proceeds for charity. Tasnim, my little daughter did as a baby own one of these T-shirts.
At the beginning of each term we set up an information desk to inform new students of our existence. And for a larger audience we organized in cooperation with another Muslim association a "Week of Islam" on campus. In the entrance hall of the lecture building we presented an exhibition on Islamic history in Germany, that we rented from the Islam Archives at Soest. And we held evening lectures or showed a movie ("The Message"). The public interest was surprisingly high. Our information desk was as well frequented as the exhibition and the other events. Vivid open discussions followed the scheduled lectures. Generally it was welcomed, to have a forum for Muslims and Non Muslims to meet and exchange ideas. Even the university administration sent us a letter... Asking us, to please stress the name of the organizing association a little more the next time. Some people had figured the Week of Islam to be an official university event.
From the very beginning we had tried to be not another association to be added to the long list of those who compete for the honor to be the "true" representative of Islam. So we had welcomed members from diverse Muslims organizations and views. We were "Islamic neutral". Maybe for the open-minded German the stress was a little too much on "Islamic". "We don't go out in the streets with covered women. We expected you to be more open-minded." That's what we were told by the representatives of several women's and human right's organizations, when they excluded us from their women's demonstration for the right's of Bosnian women.
But we were neutral enough, to be contacted by church people looking for lecturers on Islam or participants for discussions. Radio journalists in need of Muslim opinions came to us as well as student representatives of the Oriental Studies department, who wanted to organize a mosque visit. And we also got another chance to do something for the Bosnian refugees. In cooperation with a Bosnian humanitarian organization we collected clothes and money for the refugee program.

We were also neutral enough, to attract Muslim students from all over the world. Turks, Arabs, Germans, an Indonesian, an U.S. American and a Swiss girl, an Iranian, to name only a few coming to our meetings. Germans helped foreigners to find their way in German bureaucracy, and made the experience, that it isn't always easy to be a foreigner in Germany. And students born into a Muslim family for the first time thought about, what it might be like, to have a family, that - in the best case - isn't interested in Islam at all. Slowly we began to broaden our views.

Of course the cooperation of different people was a challenge for the members. From the beginning we had a persistent disagreement of representatives of the rather strict view of Islamic rules ("Why should I burden myself  unnecessarily with doubts and temptation?") and the representatives of the liberal wing ("After all, the most important is to have Islam in one's heart.").
In Qur'an Muslims are expected to be far from all extremes: "Thus have We made of you an Ummah justly balanced..." (2:143) But in some cases it isn't all that easy to find a balance in between different legitimate interests. For example the seat order turned out to be a problem: Should men and women sit together or separate? And if separate, what would be the appropriate distance? Or male students asked female students, to please dress decent. "Is this a Muslim association, or what?".
Of course we did want to be open for everyone. But on the other hand we were a Muslim association and wanted to show this as well. So we agreed, to sit in the same room, but at separate tables. And the women dressed as they liked.

Not everybody was happy with that solution. But nothing goes without compromise. That has to be accepted by those, who love their freedom more than anything else and have never learned to respect the feelings of others. And it has to be accepted by those, who set the borders of Islam rather narrow for themselves and others and see it as their duty to remind others to lead a more Islamic life. "Sisters" forbid "sisters" to have a short "male" hair cut and give recommendations for the daily life: "But you can't greet another sister on the streets with a kiss on her cheek! What if a brother sees you doing this?" And especially Arabs urge to learn Arabic: "Every Muslim has to learn Arabic. Or he can't even read Qur'an. Really, we should be speaking Arabic in the association. After all we are Muslims. And Arabic is the language of Muslims." They call for voluntary service: "The five daily prayers are only the absolute minimum. Of course you have to pray some more!" Also to observe the fast in the month of Ramadan is in some people's opinion not sufficient: "You actually don't fast every Monday and Thursday as the prophet did?"Always there is an accusation included - intended or not - of not living Islam properly. These people put an enormous pressure on themselves and others. Is that, what God meant, when he asked the believers: "Let there arise out of you a band of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong: they are the ones to attain felicity." (3:104)?
In Qur'an we also find: "... God intends every facility for you: He does not want to put you to difficulties. ..." (2:185) And the prophet Muhammad advised the Muslims accordingly: "Do make it easy for the people, don't make it hard for them." - "Only that has been prescribed on you, that you are able to fulfill. By God, you will get tired of the endless praying, before God does. The regular and moderate religious practice is the best before God."
Maybe we should lower our expectations a little bit. As long as we stay inside the Islamic frame work, there is no reason to make our lives hard. It isn't our task, to judge other people. No two fingers are alike, nor two persons. Qur'an reminds us: "And swell not thy cheek (for pride) at men, nor walk in insolence through the earth: for God loveth not any arrogant boaster." (31:18)

Islam proved to be a good basis. In spite of all our differences we learned to get along. Menem once explained to me, how he can bear even the greatest nuisances: "You just have to imagine them, how they prostrate in prayer and what else they do to serve God." He was right. In principal we all wanted the same. So in spite of our differences a group feeling soon developed. We began to understand, what Qur'an seems to mean with: "... and remember with gratitude God's favor on you; for you were enemies and He joined your hearts in love, so that by His grace you became brethren; ..." (3:103) I think that here lies the key for getting along. "Love" in this sense has nothing to do with friendship or agreement, yes, not even with sympathy. It is just the old new wisdom: "None of you is a believer, unless he wishes for his brother the same, as he wishes for himself." As the prophet put it.
So a truly caring atmosphere developed. Every Muslim was considered a brother, every Muslima a sister. And that was taken seriously. Once serving at our information desk I sent a Turkish student, whom I didn't know at that time, to Menem with the words: "Menem, this brother has a question." Years later, when that Turkish student was on the board of our association he told me, that I had been the first person ever to call him brother. Except his natural siblings, of course. That had left a great impression with him.
So really the "trivial" things, as choice of words, reach the hearts? Don't we need to be much more conscious and careful about what we say? "God, give us a remembering tongue!" a Muslim asks, knowing how fast gossip, insults and slander come over our tongues. And once it has been said it can't be taken back.
That's something I learned from Nurten's elder brother Yilmaz. I have never heard him talk in a negative way about anybody. He always said: "Everybody is responsible for his actions before God. If I talk about other people's mistakes, I will be hold responsible for my words. So why should I do so?" So Yilmaz didn't intermingle in other people's affairs. He was always friendly and got along with everyone. His friendliness didn't even come to a hold when a dirty tramp turned up at our nice Ramadan buffet on campus. Along with two other students I had asked Yilmaz  to take care of the problem and try to get rid of him. Yilmaz looked really surprised and asked: "Why? We do have enough food, don't we?" Then he walked over to the tramp, invited him to stay, and even handed him a plate and a fork and helped him at the buffet. I have rarely in my life felt that embarrassed.

Slowly I began to understand, what it means to be Muslim. In Qur'an we find: "It is not righteousness that you turn your faces towards east or west; but it is righteousness to believe in God and the Last Day, and the angels, and the book, and the messengers; to spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; to be steadfast in prayer, and practice regular charity, to fulfill the contracts which you have made; and to be firm and patient, in pain (or suffering) and adversity, and throughout all periods of panic. Such are the people of truth, the God-fearing." (2:177)
And in another verse the prophet Muhammad is asked to tell some Muslim desert dwelling Arabs: "You have no faith; but you (only) say, 'We have submitted our wills to God' for not yet has faith entered your hearts ... " (49:14)
I am not a believer because I pray, observe the fasting and wear a headscarf. Isn't God closer to me than my jugular vein? Doesn't He see, what is in my heart? "Verily, God knows (all) the hidden things of the heavens and the earth. Verily, He has full knowledge of all that is in (men's) hearts." (35:38) And the prophet Muhammad said: "None of you is a believer until your will is in accordance with the message I brought." "Iman", the faith, is a more than Islam. But Islam is the believing actions, resulting out of Iman. One is hardly thinkable without the other. You are either a true believer or non at all. But still God is most gracious, most merciful.

One of the contemporaries of the prophet, Anas Ibn Malik, reports: "I and the prophet just left the mosque when a man walked up to us and said: 'O messenger of God, when is the hour of judgment' The prophet asked him: 'How have you prepared yourself for that hour?' It looked to me, as if the man was alarmed. Then he said: 'O messenger of God, I haven't often fasted, and I have rarely prayed and given little alms. But I love God and His messenger.' The prophet said: 'You will be with those, whom you love.' "