Religious and moral lifestyle instead of radicalism – FAU EZIRE project “Interactions” on sermons in German mosques
The “Interactions” project, based at the Research Center for Islam and Law in Europe at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) and led by Dr. Jörn Thielmann, has been examining issues surrounding the impact of social discourse on Islamism and radicalization on Muslim communities for more than two decades. The extent to which radical content is preached in German mosques was the subject of one of six subprojects.
Despite the widespread belief that sermons in German mosques are a source of radicalization, a long-term project led by FAU Islamic scholar Dr. Jörn Thielmann has come to different conclusions. Friday sermons, a central component of Islamic religious practice, mostly deal with everyday religious and moral topics, including interpersonal relationships, upbringing and education, spirituality, religious lifestyle, virtues, and morality. Neighborliness, environmental protection, support for those in need, and, in general, actions oriented toward the well-being of society are also addressed, according to “Wechselwirkungen” project leader Thielmann. In addition, socially and politically relevant topics are not overlooked. Extremism and radicalism are addressed in particular, but with a focus on problematizing and rejecting them, coupled with a call for moderation and social engagement. It is clear that the active social engagement emphatically demanded and promoted in the sermons is taken into account there, but not in politics and the media, and thus also not in the German public sphere.
The project data is based on digitally available sermons dating back to 2005 from the three major Muslim associations: the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB), Islamic Community Millî Görüş e.V. (IGMG), and Association of Islamic Cultural Centers e.V. (VIKZ), which are responsible for 1,500 of the 2,300 mosques and prayer rooms in Germany. These sermons were randomly sampled and examined for oral-written and linguistic differences (German/Turkish). The project is one of six sub-projects of “Wechselwirkungen” (Interactions), which ran from 2000 to 2024 and examined the effects of social discourse on Islamism and the consequences of measures against radicalization on Muslim communities.
Further Information:
Dr. Jörn Thielmann
Managing Director FAU Research Centre Islam and Law in Europe (FAU EZIRE)
Tel. 09131/85-22239
joern.thielmann@fau.de