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Free Koran project sparks outcry in Germany

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So much for peaceful.

Salafists in the City: Free Koran Distributions Have Germany Concerned - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International


Free Koran Distributions Have Germany Concerned

Salafist Muslims have been handing out free Korans across Germany in recent weeks. But the group's radicalism has many politicians concerned -- as does a recent video posted on YouTube that allegedly threatened journalists who wrote critical reports on the religious offensive.

At first glance, the project appears relatively harmless. A Muslim group in Germany has set as its goal the distribution of millions of free Korans, so that the holy book of Islam finds its place in "every household in Germany, Austria and Switzerland," as the project website (German language only) states.

For months -- though most noticeably during the recent Easter holidays -- followers of the Salafist imam Ibrahim Abou Nagie have been handing out copies at information stands in city centers across Germany. The group, which calls itself "The True Religion," claims that 300,000 copies have already been distributed.
Increasingly, though, skepticism of the project is mounting among leading politicians in Germany, not least because of Nagie's own radical interpretation of Islam. Indeed, last autumn Nagie was indicted for public incitement to commit criminal offenses and for disturbing the religious peace.

And on Thursday, daily Die Welt reports that a video made a brief appearance on YouTube this week apparently targeting journalists that reported critically on the Koran distribution project. "We now have detailed information on the monkeys and pigs who published false reports about the (Frankfurt Salafist group) DawaFFM and many other brothers and sisters," the video, which has since been taken down, intoned, according to Die Welt.

"We possess a lot of information, for example, we know where you live, we know what football team you root for, we have your mobile phone numbers," it continues. The video names reporters from the dailies Frankfurter Rundschau and Tagesspiegel. Die Welt reports that the producer of the video has worked for Nagie in the past.

Growing Political Debate

Separate from those revelations, the Ulm-based publishing house Ebner & Spiegel (which is not connected to SPIEGEL magazine), which is printing the Korans being handed out across the country, has suspended deliveries and is now examining possibilities for backing out of the contract.

The move was a reaction to the growing political debate in Germany focused on the Koran distributions. Although the Salafist info-stands have been making appearances in pedestrian zones of German towns for months, it is only now that politicians of all stripes have begun addressing Nagie's mission.

In particular, as many make clear, it is the Salafist movement itself that most find objectionable. Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), the country's domestic intelligence agency, estimates that there are between 3,000 and 5,000 Salafists in Germany. The Berlin office of the BfV warns that the Salafist ideology is almost identical to that of the al-Qaida terrorist network. More concerning, the group has a growing number of followers in Germany. Furthermore, Arid U., the man who was sentenced to life in prison in February for shooting to death two American servicemen at Frankfurt Airport in 2011, reportedly had ties to Salafism.

Disturbing the Religious Peace

Günter Krings, a senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, told the Rheinische Post that "wherever possible, this aggressive action must be stopped. While the distribution of religious writings is in principle unobjectionable … the aggressive actions of the radical Salafists have disturbed the religious peace in our country."
Green Party co-leader Cem Özdemir was likewise clear in his condemnation of the Salafists. "I have a problem with all religious groups that place their world view above the constitution and above human rights. That applies as well to those Salafists who invoke violence and whose ideology fuels Islamist terrorism," he told Die Welt.

Spokespersons from other political parties have also expressed concern about the Koran distributions, though the business-friendly Free Democrats, Merkel's junior coalition partner, said that they doubt whether the project could be banned. Some leading German Muslim groups have also criticized the Salafists out of concern that the group is seeking to portray itself as the only true representative of Islam in the country.

Don't get afraid. Radicalism of some random group wouldn't change the meaning of the holy text.
 
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I'll tell one incident from bihar India.

a man found a paperhag made of koran. next day it was friday. the city was on boil for few days.

My dad once told me about an incident in his chennai branch office. The trash from the shredder was taken out and the muncipality workers refused to take the trash away because they saw some papers were written in Arabic and thought it was the Koran. They protest against the company and the police came and checked it over and it tuned out to be an Urdu newspaper.
 
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This was a Salafist's idea... This should bring nothing but good on Christians and Muslims, obviously.
Salafists are known for their liberal interpretations of Islam.
 
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wait for it...and in a few years.. there will be an outcry in Europe and USA on "Muslims walking on their streets"
 
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No you are not. Your intentional (mis) spelling of Bhagavad Geeta does not help your troll bait cause either :coffee:

What made you think it was intentional misspelling? I just tried to follow the quoted poster's spelling (yes according to his spelling it should have been 'bhagavad' instead of 'bhagabad'). In Bengali it's pronounced as 'shreemodbhagabat geeta'. Ask any Beangali poster.
 
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How is this jihadist recruiting?

I don't know about Germany but almost every hotel room in the US has a free Bible. All sorts of religious groups disseminate literate, so what's wrong with distributing the Qur'an?
because there are no bible in the hotels in Europe
USA is very religious, not Europe
 
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How is this jihadist recruiting?

I don't know about Germany but almost every hotel room in the US has a free Bible. All sorts of religious groups disseminate literate, so what's wrong with distributing the Qur'an?

Umm.. its in Germany? A Christian, non-Islamic country? How's that for a start?
 
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remember if it was given to christians they will abuse the quran. then it will be a shirk by the muslims to give the true book to kafirs.
 
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Angela Markel should read one, maybe she will integrate better with them Muslims in Germany. :)
 
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I have read bible so many times, mostly in bits in piecees. Heck I read mormon stuff all the time. The latter day folks hand'em out almost everywhere.

People need to read the book to get it straight from the Horses mouth.
 
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I have read bible so many times, mostly in bits in piecees. Heck I read mormon stuff all the time. The latter day folks hand'em out almost everywhere.

People need to read the book to get it straight from the Horses mouth.

Well, you stay in a non-Muslim country duh! But you can choose to discard it. See, it goes like this; the day your countries allow distribution of non-Muslim texts and conversion of Muslims into non-Muslims, you can rightfully demand the reverse from Europeans or any other non-Muslim. :)

Fair game right?
 
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I wonder what would be the reaction if someone said free p_rn?? The western world is becoming advodate of dajjal forbidding everything good and promoting everything evil.
 
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