German Interest in Islam Has Risen Fourfold

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25 February, 2009

The number of conversions to Islam in Germany has risen four times compared to the previous year

The number of German Muslims has risen fourfold in the last year. The German magazine Spiegel has described how Germans fed up with and seeking an answer to the onslaught of global problems are finding it in submission to the Qur’an.

According to the magazine report, Kai Lühr, a GP, and his wife converted to Islam 2.5 years ago. Following their conversion they changed their names to Kai Ali Rashid and Katrin Aysha Lühr. The 43-year-old Kai Ali Rashid regularly attends the mosque in Frechen near Cologne for Friday prayers. There he prays with Moroccans, Palestinians and other German converts to Islam. Other German converts at the mosque include a former boxer and and engineeer. Lühn says, “You can see at least a few German converts in any mosque today.”

A study into Islamic life in Germany confirms the Cologne doctor’s words. Spiegel says the study’s findings are quite astonishing. According to the magazine, 4000 Germans converted to Islam between July 2004 and June 2005. According to a study by the German Muslim Archive Muslim Institute, sponsored by the Interior Ministry, the number of Germans converting to Islam has risen fourfold compared with the previous year.

Until three years ago an average of 300 people in Germany converted to Islam. Most of those converts were German women who had married Muslims. But now Germans are converting to Islam of their own free will. The numbers of women among the converts are still high, but they include many university graduates and members of the middle classes.

The Berlin imam Muhammed Herzog, a Protestant clergyman until his conversion in 1979, says, “The great majority of converts to Islam are Christians. They begin having doubts about their faith. There is a perceptible rise in the number of German-speaking converts in the mosque where I serve as imam.”

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German Interest in Islam Has Risen Fourfold