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Muslim population in Germany reached 3.4m

BERLIN: The Muslim population in Germany has now reached 3.4 million, as compared to 2.7 million in 1997. Of these, 310,000 carry German citizenship, and 11,000 are indigenous Germans.

According to a report circulated by the German Ministry of Interior, there are 2,578 Islamic organisations in Germany, looking after 2,200 prayer areas, and 56,000 Muslim children are taught Islam in mosques.

The report says the number of mosques in Germany has risen from 26 in 1997 to 66, and 30 more are under construction.

The report, which is a study by the Institute for Islamic Documents, situated in northwestern Germany, says the number of Muslim students studying at German schools has reached 850,000.

Arab and German Muslims set up the Institute for Islamic Documents in the 1830s, with the late Shakib Arsalan as one of the founder members. He had been expelled from Syria and Lebanon by the French Mandate Authorities, and was living in Germany at the time.

In another development, Germany's Ministry of Justice held a plebiscite among Germany Muslims, to find out if they favour the teaching of Islamic Studies at Germany's formal schools, and the result was that 97 percent of them supported the idea. In 1997, the figure was only 84 percent, and those who wanted Islamic Studies confined to mosques only was 2.3 percent.

The Ministry of Justice's report indicated that about 10 percent of German Muslims belong to one Islamic organisation or another. PPI