Ibn Rushd-Goethe Mosque

The Ibn Rushd-Goethe Mosque (German: Ibn-Rushd-Goethe-Moschee) is the only self-described liberal mosque in Germany. It was inaugurated in June 2017, and is named after medieval Andalusian-Arabic polymath Ibn Rushd and German writer and statesman Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The mosque was founded by Seyran Ateş, a German lawyer and Muslim feminist of Kurdish descent.^[1] The mosque is characterised as liberal; it bans face-covering, it allows women and men to pray together, and it accepts LGBT worshippers.

مسجد ابن رشد - جوته Ibn Rushd-Goethe Mosque
Ibn-Rushd-Goethe-Moschee
The mosque was located in a part of the building of the Johanniskirche in Berlin-Moabit between June 2017 and October 2020 before it was relocated.
Religion
Affiliation	Islam
Branch/tradition	Liberal Islam
District	Mitte
Location
Municipality	Berlin
State	Berlin
Country	Germany
Geographic coordinates	52°31′33″N 13°20′7″E / 52.52583°N 13.33528°E / 52.52583; 13.33528
Architecture
Date established	June 16, 2017 (2017-06-16)
Website
www.ibn-rushd-goethe-moschee.de

Background

The mosque is open to Sunni, Shia and other Muslims. Full-face veils as burqas or niqabs are not allowed. Men and women pray together in the mosque and women are not obligated to wear a headscarf. Furthermore, gay and lesbian Muslims are allowed to enter the mosque and can pray as well. It is the first mosque of its kind in Germany and one of the first in Europe as well as the entire world.^[2][3][4]

Founder Seyran Ateş said "We need a historical-critical exegesis of the Quran" and "A scripture from the 7th century one may not and cannot take literally. We stand for a reading of the Quran which is oriented to mercifulness, love of God and most of all to peace".^[5] The mosque is a "place for all those people who do not meet the rules and regulations of conservative Muslims".^[6]

History

The mosque was founded by Seyran Ateş, a German lawyer and feminist of Turkish and Kurdish descent, on 16 June 2017.^[7] It was named after the Andalusian-Arabic polymath Ibn Rushd (also known as Averroes) and the German writer and statesman Goethe.^[8]

Ateş told news magazine Der Spiegel that “no one will be let in with a niqab or burqa veil. This is for security reasons and also it is our belief that full-face veils have nothing to do with religion, but rather are a political statement.” She told the journalists that she was inspired by Wolfgang Schäuble, the German Minister of Finance, who told her that liberal Muslims should band together.^[9][10]

In July 2022, the mosque became the first in Germany to raise a rainbow flag, in support of the LGBT community.^[11][12]

Reactions

Following massive threats after the opening, the founders of the mosque commented on the immense intimidation that liberal Muslims faced. They asked for tolerance and respect with regard to their reading of the Quran.^[13] The personal security for founder Ateş had to be increased significantly after evaluation by the State Criminal Police Office of Berlin. In July 2017, Ateş, reported that she had received about 100 death threats since the mosque's opening.^[14]

Turkish mass media displayed the Rushd-Goethe mosque as part of the Gülen movement, a claim denied by Ercan Karakoyun, chairman of the Gülen-affiliated foundation in Germany Stiftung Dialog und Bildung.^[15] The claim has also been denied by the mosque itself.^[16] Turkish media have been critical, and Ateş has been at the receiving end of threats and hostility, both from radical and enemies and critics of Islam, both in Germany and abroad.^[17]

The fatwa institution in Egypt, the Egyptian Fatwa Council at the Al-Azhar University, labelled the mosque an attack on Islam,^[18] and a fatwa against the mosque was declared.^[8] The Turkish religious authority and the Egyptian authority condemned her project and she has received death threats.^[19][8] The fatwa encompassed all present and future liberal mosques. The Al-Azhar University is opposed to liberal reform of Islam and issued the fatwa because of the mosque's ban on face-covering veils such as burqa and niqab on its premises, allowing women and men to pray together and accepting homosexuals.^[8]

References

1. Eddy, Melissa (2018), "By Taking a Bullet, a Muslim Woman Finds Her Calling", The New York Times, retrieved 29 March 2021, Born in Istanbul to a Turkish mother and a Kurdish father, she emigrated with her parents to what was then West Berlin in the late 1960s, part of the first large wave of Muslim immigrants who came to fill the blue-collar jobs needed to rebuild the German economy after World War II. Ms. Ates was 6 when she and her four siblings moved into a one-room apartment with their parents.
2. Breyton, Ricarda (2017-06-23). "Die meisten liberalen Muslime haben Angst". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 2017-06-25.
3. "Der Islam gehört nicht den Fanatikern" (in German). Retrieved 2017-06-16.
4. . Berliner Zeitung (in German). Archived from the original on 2019-02-08. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
5. "Ich will in der Moschee Mensch sein". www.rbb-online.de (in German). Retrieved 2017-06-16.^{[permanent dead link]}
6. "Berlin's First 'Liberal Mosque' Fights Extremism, Death Threats With 'Modern Islam'". nbcchicago.com. Retrieved 2017-07-13.
7. Ateş, Seyran (2017-06-17). "Islam: Grüß Gott, Frau Imamin!". Die Zeit (in German). ISSN 0044-2070. Retrieved 2017-06-26.
8. Oltermann, Philip (2017-06-25). "Liberal Berlin mosque to stay open despite fatwa from Egypt". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
9. "A 'liberal' mosque where burqas are banned has opened in Germany". The Independent. 2017-06-16. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
10. Ateş, Seyran (2017-06-17). "Islam: Grüß Gott, Frau Imamin!". Die Zeit (in German). ISSN 0044-2070. Retrieved 2017-06-18.
11. Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "Berlin mosque flies rainbow flag in support of LGBTQ community | DW | 01.07.2022". DW.COM. Retrieved 2022-07-27.
12. "Berlin mosque becomes 'first in Germany' to fly LGBTQ+ Pride flag". GAY TIMES. 2022-07-06. Retrieved 2022-07-27.
13. NDR. "Seyran Ateş zur Kritik an liberaler Berliner Moschee". www.ndr.de (in German). Retrieved 2017-06-22.
14. Lutz, Martin (1 July 2017). "100 Morddrohungen gegen liberale Moschee-Gründerin". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 1 July 2017.
15. . Deutsch Türkische News | DTJ ONLINE (in German). 2017-06-19. Archived from the original on 2017-07-13. Retrieved 2017-06-20.
16. tagesschau.de. "Diyanet wettert gegen neue Berliner Moschee". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 2017-06-22.
17. Germany, SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg (20 June 2017). "Berlin: Türkische Medien hetzen gegen liberale Moschee von Seyran Ates - Spiegel Online - Politik". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 2017-06-20.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
18. "Fatwa-Behörde kritisiert liberale Moschee in Berlin scharf - WELT". DIE WELT. 21 June 2017. Retrieved 2017-06-21.
19. Germany, WeltN24 (23 June 2017). "Liberal Moschee in Berlin: "Die meisten liberalen Muslime haben Angst" - WeltN24 - Deutschland". Die Welt. Retrieved 2017-06-24.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

Further reading

• Strack, Christoph (17 June 2018). "Berlin's liberal mosque marks 1-year anniversary". DW.
• Eddy, Melissa (22 June 2018). "By Taking a Bullet, a Muslim Woman Finds Her Calling". New York Times.