Cairo, June 24: Germany has more Muslims than it originally thought, with nearly half of them holding German citizenship and thus able to vote in elections, according to a government survey released Tuesday, which found Muslims were religious but tended to be less socially integrated.
Muslims make up five percent of Germany’s 80 million population, two percent more than most common estimates, according to the first survey of German Muslims.
Muslims in Germany are the largest minority in the country and Europe’s second largest after France. Despite immigrating to Germany since the 1960s, German Muslims continue to suffer from a catalogue of deprivations like unemployment, lack of education and political representation.
The vast majority are religiously observant, based on the percentages of those who pray daily and observe Islam’s dietary laws, but face barriers to social integration because of restrictions on mixing of the sexes and religious accommodation in school.
Data culled from 17,000 residents in 6,000 households showed 45 percent of Muslims were German nationals through birth or naturalization and therefore can vote in German elections.
The poll found that 91 percent of Sunnis refrained from eating pork and drinking wine, while the rate among Shiites was 60 percent and Alawites, on offshoot of Islam, 49 percent.
Lack of integration
The government began to focus on outreach to its Muslim citizenry in 2006 amid concerns of home-grown terrorism but found that they lacked basic information about the population, leading to the first ever national survey.
Although more than half of the Muslims polled were members of organizations like sports clubs and parents groups, this was not a strong enough indication of social integration as many Muslims found public schools in Germany a main concern.
Lack of religious accommodation in religion classes and gender mixing in main state schools were two of the main issues facing Muslim youth in Germany.
Ten percent of Muslim girls avoid extracurricular activities like swimming or overnight trips since schools do not segregate genders
The survey also found Muslims suffered from unemployment and low standards of education, especially among the Turkish youth who quit school to find work.
Seventy-five percent of parents polled said they preferred Islamic classes and objected to gender mixed dormitories and swimming pools.
Muslims have taken matters into their own hands to resolve lack of integration. The Buhara institute, the first Muslim school to train religious leaders in Germany, opened in the capital to offer training to Muslims combining principles of Islam with contemporary European culture.
Germany’s Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble recently sought for more social integration of Muslims, calling for more legal equality for Muslims in Germany and learning the German language as crucial factors to guarantee integration of the religious minority.
“[Muslims must have] the same rights because our state guarantees freedom of religion and is not limited to a singular world view,” Schaeuble said in a speech at Cairo University, adding that Muslims must accept democratic constitutions “without condition.”
–Agencies