K N Pandita
In a swift and surprising move, German police officers clad in balaclavas descended on the Imam Ali mosque also known as the Blue Mosque in Hamburg, Germany tasked to confiscate cash and a black Audie Vehicle, reported the Telegraph on 25 July.
The paper reported that besides the Blue Mosque, German police also raided 53 more properties in eight German states. It was learnt from other sources that some more properties owned by the Islamic Centre, Hamburg (IZH) and its sub-organizations were also raided. The reason given for targeting the properties was that it was an “extremist” group.
At the same time Nancy Faeser, the German Interior Minister, announced that the government was banning the organization that runs the mosque, namely the Islamic Centre Hamburg (IZH) as it was “an extremist group.”
Germany’s federal police had raided the Islamic Centre on suspicions of support for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, accused of terrorism, in November 2023. Germany banned Hezbollah activities in 2020 reported the Iran Times on 24 July.
The interior ministry said at the time that the Khamenei-controlled IZH activities are “aimed at spreading the revolutionary concept of the Supreme (Iranian) leaders,” and that the centre allegedly undermines Germany’s “constitutional order.”
In addition to the Hamburg-based IZH, which includes one of the oldest mosques in Germany known for its turquoise exterior, its subgroups in Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin were also banned.
As a result, four Shiite mosques will be closed, said the ministry. Some German politicians issued statements expressing satisfaction that the government finally acted against IZH, reported Iran International on 24 July.
Germany’s domestic intelligence service has named Mohammad Hadi Mofatteh, 58, the head of the IZH. He says he reports directly to the Islam Republic, despite the group styling itself as non-political. He was previously arrested some months ago at Hamburg airport after a return flight from Tehran carrying “secret letters” he allegedly obtained there, reported Bild.
Kamikaze drones
Shortly before the Blue Mosque raid, Spanish police had dismantled a gang planning to make 1,000 Kamikaze drones, which they intended to sell to Hezbollah in Lebanon, reported the Telegraph. The Spanish operation appears to have been a joint effort with German authorities, which also arrested a suspect with alleged links to the drone programme in the northern city of Salzgitter.
The gang is alleged to have brought large quantities of drone components, which they intended to transfer to Lebanon, where Hezbollah is waging an ongoing conflict against Israel.
The Blue Mosque at the centre of Wednesday’s raid, is said to be one of the oldest in Germany. It was raised in Hamburg in the late 1950s by exiled Iranians and businessmen.
Andy Grote, a senior official in Hamburg told Bild newspaper: “The long arm of the Iranian regime in Germany has been severed today. It has been wiped out.” In her statement, Ms Faeser said that IZH was working to undermine women’s rights as well as the German state.”
Europe under radical Islamists’ sway
Not only that, but the entire Western Europe has been overrun by radical Islamic terrorists. In the third week of March 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin said for the first time that “radical Islamists” were behind last week’s attack on a concert hall outside Moscow but suggested Ukraine was also somehow involved. “We know that the crime was committed by the hands of radical Islamists, whose ideology the Islamic world itself has been fighting for centuries,” Putin said in a televised meeting. “Of course, it is necessary to answer the question, ‘Why after committing the crime the terrorists try to go to Ukraine?’ Who was waiting for them there?” Putin asked.
Writing on ‘Muslim Networks and Movements in Western Europe’, the Pew Research Centre opined in its publication of September 10, 2015: “The presence of some 25 million Muslims in the 28 countries of the European Union is currently sparking debate, controversy, fear and even hatred. Never before have we witnessed such a climate of mutual suspicion between Muslims and mainstream European societies. Public opinion surveys in Europe show increasing fear and opposition to European Muslims, who are perceived as a threat to national identity, domestic security and the social fabric. Muslims, on the other hand, are convinced that the majority of Europeans reject their presence and vilify and caricaturise their religion.
Such a misunderstanding is bothersome as it fuels dangerous Islamophobia, on the one hand, and radicalisation, on the other. European states are alarmed by these developments since they place harmonious cohabitation in jeopardy. Consequently, they have taken measures and enacted laws to combat extremist forces, curb radicalisation and improve Muslims’ integration into the receiving countries.
Islamic radicalism in Western Europe is generally associated with networks and cells affiliated with global jihadi organizations, such as al-Qaeda, whose ideology calls for the violent pursuit of a worldwide Islamic political order. By most accounts, support for radical extremist groups is relatively low among Muslims in Europe. Nevertheless, such groups have been central to the public discussion of Islam in Europe, especially in recent years. Dramatic and violent events perpetrated by jihadi cells, such as the Madrid bombings of 2004 and the attacks on the London transport system the following year, have fostered a growing fear of Islamic extremism among many Europeans and others in the West.
In terms of history
The phenomenon of labour migration is important in making an overall assessment of the situation. The first generation of immigrants to European countries rendered great service in rebuilding the war-torn infrastructure of Europe. The 1970 law allowing immigration of native spouses gave a sense of permanent settlement to the immigrants to Europe which led to the creation of a socio-political centrality for the immigrant communities. Thus began the enterprise of building the mosques and a rapid increase in population. The mosque ultimately became the epicentre of a vast immigrant population’s mouthpiece for social, political and economic rights. The last two or three decades of revolutionized communication system helped the immigrant populace establish digital connectivity with the Islamic organizations world over and with that the messianic concept of Islam as the choicest of religions bound to rule over the world vigorously propagated by politically oriented ecclesiastical Islam played its far-reaching role.
In conclusion, we cannot help endorsing the analysis of Open Mind bbva, which says: “There is no doubt that the situation is difficult to manage. On the one hand, in the face of the magnitude of the human tragedy, Europe cannot remain blind and deaf, with its arms crossed. On the other, it cannot leave its doors wide open to the misery of the world. This historical review clearly shows that through natural increase and new migration flows, in all their forms, the Muslim population is increasing rapidly in the European Union to the bewilderment of European states, caught off guard by the sheer numbers of refugees and asylum seekers.
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