Every year the Muslim Ahmadiyya community meets for a peace conference. At the beginning of the meeting, the chairman also speaks about the political climate in Germany.
Up to 40,000 visitors are expected this weekend in Rhineland-Palatinate for the annual meeting of the Muslim community Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat. For three days, the Muslims will come together for prayers and speeches at the airfield in Mendig, Rhineland-Palatinate. According to a spokesperson, the event is the largest Islamic peace conference in Germany.
The federal chairman of the community, Abdullah Uwe Wagishauser, began by emphasizing the importance of faith and democracy. He explained that the term Sharia was being misused. The community had written beforehand: “Our Sharia is the basic law.” “It is simply the code of faith of the believers,” said the chairman. “Sharia tells us that in the country in which we live, under whose well-protected roof we live, we have to be loyal to this country. So we have to be good democrats.”
Even if the community is apolitical according to its chairman, the social and political climate in Germany plays a role there. “We also talk to the AfD,” said Wagishauser. It is necessary to engage in critical discourse with their supporters. “You can’t just demonize them,” he said. “But of course there are also people you can hardly talk to anymore.”
A highlight of the conference was supposed to be the speech by the global leader of the Ahmadiyya movement, Caliph Mirza Masroor Ahmad. However, he had to cancel the trip for health reasons. Due to the cancellation, the organizers are now expecting up to 40,000 visitors rather than the 50,000 originally hoped for.
Source: Stern
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