Dear Tun Dr. Mahathir, dear guests - as-salamu´alaikum

It is a great pleasure and honour to have the opportunity of greeting you all here.

We are particularly pleased to have been able to get you here again - Tun Dr. Mahathir - for one of your lectures which we so highly appreciate. I – and all of us here - are eagerly awaiting what you have to say to us. We are thus continuing the exciting discussion about the role of Eurasia, and the role of the Muslims, which we have already begun in our Eurasian Encounters in January 2007 in Istanbul.  

When we look anew at the question of Europe, Islam and Nihilism, then to us it can be nothing other than the question of who we ourselves are as a gestalt. We are speaking today as European Muslims, about our own experience on that meaningful borderline which separates nihilism from Islam.

The theme of this short talk is what happens when Islam comes into contact with nihilism. I hope that we will see how we can say that Islam is an invitation to step out of the zone of nihilism, without negating thought or intellect.  

Is Germany systematically opposed to Islam? Of course Germany is a constitutional state under the rule of law, or Rechtsstaat as the Germans call it, with a functional system for the protection of minorities, with a free press and all the concomitant possibilities for the free formation of opinion. And yet to understand the true state of a society it always pays to revisit its declared fringes and examine the true situation of the minorities in it.  

1. Why did you choose the Muslim religion?

As a Muslim it would be perhaps more fitting to say that it was Islam that chose me. My encounter with Islam and the Muslims came as quite a surprise. Although I was brought up as a christian I had broken off any connection with religions. I was more interested at the time in existential literature and read Albert Camus.

2. How did you chose the Muslim religion?

Initially I met some Germans – later also European Muslims – at the University in Freiburg.  

(gm) Sometimes historical events open up whole new areas of thinking. The current conflict in Georgia has brought significant changes to our intellectual landscape. In view of the deep geopolitical rift over Central Asia, absolute emphasis on the “War on Terror” seems frankly outdated. It is clear that this is a fundamental dispute between East and West – and this time without the direct involvement of Islam.

The possibility of a new Cold War has caused considerable anxiety, especially in Germany.  

A short talk given at Wolfsburg Islamic Centre on Sunday 2nd September 2007 to mark the occasion of the Mosque’s one-year anniversary.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Of course, if I undertake to present the relationship between the German poets and Islam in the space of 20 minutes, I am bound to fail. But this implies at least that such a relationship exists – and that it is much too complex and too multi-faceted to sum up in just a few minutes.

There is no doubt that the dialogue between poetry, thought and belief is once again taking on a deeper importance.  

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Whenever today we discuss globalisation - its problems and Islam, then the impression is often conveyed that it is the Muslims who are part of the problem but not part of the solution. People are fond of conveying the impression that we Muslims are against globalisation and that we feel threatened. This is a paradox. De facto Islam has always been a global phenomenon and our traders have always been interested in global networking.  

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am very glad to be able to speak to you here today in this venerable and historic place. I remember when, as a fifteen-year-old on holiday in what was then Yugoslavia, I first entered a mosque in Mostar with my father. The friendly Imam took me up the minaret and, to my astonishment, performed the call to prayer. Of course, I could know nothing then of how close Islam and the Balkans would come to me – just as little as the city knew then of the troubled times that lay ahead.

Now I know of course how enormously important this region is to me and to Islam.  

There is little doubt that the mass murder of 11 September represents a turning--point in recent political discourse. Since the fall of communism, only democratic culture and its big brother capitalism have really remained to unfold across the planet – from a Western point of view at least. Political rivalry on a world scale has run out of rivals, political dialectics has no more adversaries. The democratic culture, which by definition is without alternative, has now arrived in its own totality.  

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am very glad to be able to speak to you here today in this venerable and historic city. I remember when, as a fifteen-year-old on holiday in what was then Yugoslavia, I first entered a mosque with my father. The friendly Imam took me up the minaret and, to my astonishment, performed the call to prayer. Of course, I could know nothing then of how close Islam and Bosnia would come to me – just as little as the city knew then of the troubled times that lay ahead.

Now I know how enormously important this region is to me and to Islam.  

A mobile phone rings with birdsong in the auditorium. Jean-Christophe Rufin smiles at this prelude to the world of ‘Globalia’. The 53 year-old chairman of ‘Campaign Against Hunger’ has written a novel about a future world. It could be set once upon a time in the future-present. While LitCologne (a limited liability company) hopes to present him as a literary figure and aesthete – asks him to give readings of what he calls the descriptive passages – the author would rather speak about the political theses of his book.  

When, from the Muslim point of view, we speak about the situation in the world today, we often encounter statements—including from the Muslims—in which it is hard to tell whether the position is a moral, a political or a legal one. It is in the nature of the Muslims’ situation that current world affairs are usually interpreted politically or morally. This is especially dubious when Islam itself is interpreted only politically, but not in accord with the stipulations of Islamic Law.  

Muslim Affairs: How may Muslims are there today in Europe?

It is estimated that up to 20 million Muslims live today in Europe. Over 3 million Muslims live in each of the two central lands of the European continent, namely, France and Germany. The new generation often speaks the European language of the country they live in better than the language of their old homelands.  

Ladies and Gentlemen

It is a great pleasure to be permitted to deliver a short talk about European Muslims in this most special of places. When I came to Granada for the first time 13 years ago I could hardly have imagined that my life was about to take such a dramatic turn. Here I not only had a fateful encounter with al Andalus but was also a guest – one might also say at home – in the Spanish community.

The hospitality, history and landscape of the Spanish Muslims have of course contributed a inestimable role in the Islam of many Europeans who became Muslim here.  

A dramatic change of climate has certainly taken place regarding the presence of 16 million Muslims in Europe. It is precisely this general political climate in Europe which is of such great significance for the future legal situation of the Muslims. Without a positive climate with respect to Islam and the Muslims, inner political conflicts and discrimination will threaten one of the largest minorities of Europe. The dangers in this are obvious.

It is beyond doubt that after the collapse of communism Islam has come to the fore in the external and inner political debate.