Soon Islamic religious services also in the Bundeswehr

2024-04-01 09:10:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Eva Högl is the chairperson of the Armed Forces Committee of the German Bundestag. Her job is to listen to the concerns and needs of German soldiers. In mid-March, Högl presented her third annual report as commissioner for military affairs. On the occasion of the presentation, she again called for the introduction of religious care for Muslims in the army.

Regardless of which party appointed the defense minister in Germany, the political explanation has always been: It doesn't work, there is a lack of people from the Muslim side. But this is no longer enough for the Social Democrat Högl. She is very critical. "The lack of equal religious care for soldiers of the Islamic faith is extremely unsatisfactory," she says. She therefore called on the Ministry of Defense to quickly establish religious care through the relevant personnel on the basis of the contract for services.

Högl recalls the German army's aid mission that lasted several weeks in southeastern Turkey after the devastating earthquake in February 2023. At that time, Muslim soldiers also participated in the rescue operation. However, religious care at the missions was provided by two non-Muslim military chaplains. A petition to the Armed Forces Commission shows that "members of the Bundeswehr of the Islamic faith have sometimes felt neglected in relation to their religious practice".

Soon Islamic religious services also in the Bundeswehr

3,000 Muslims in the armed forces

Asked by Deutsche Welle, the spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defense replied that according to a 2023 study, the number of soldiers of the Islamic religion in the Bundeswehr is estimated at 3,000 people.

Almost 25 years ago, the Center for Domestic Leadership, which also deals with the identity of the Bundeswehr, presented a paper entitled "Muslims in the Bundeswehr". The call for Islamic religious care has been heard for more than ten years.

Even the representatives of other religious communities operating within the army are committed to a qualified offer for the soldiers of the Islamic religion. Protestant military bishop Bernhard Felmberg tells DW that he and Protestant military chaplains have been approached by soldiers who talk about the need for religious care. He says that these needs must be taken into consideration.

According to Felmberg, religious observance guarantees constitutionally guaranteed religious freedom for soldiers performing military service. "Since Muslims are increasingly serving in the Bundeswehr, I strongly support proposals to give these soldiers the opportunity to receive pastoral care in their faith," he says. Similar statements have been made in recent months by Catholic and Jewish representatives within the military.

The USA and Canada, France and the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and Norway have meanwhile also introduced religious care services for soldiers of the Islamic religion. They have mainly engaged military imams. In Germany, on the other hand, there is no state contract for this, because there is no umbrella organization representing all strands of the Islamic faith. For comparison: The introduction of Jewish military care in 2019 was possible because the Central Council of Jews was created as an institution, which could negotiate on behalf of the various currents of this religion in Germany. It is generally assumed that there were as many as 500 Jewish members of the Bundeswehr at the time.

Pressure from the ruling parties

Soon Islamic religious services also in the Bundeswehr

But the three members of the ruling coalition in Berlin now see a different situation. The deputy leader of the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag Konstantin Kuhle, the deputy president of the Bundestag Aydan Özoguz (SPD) and Filis Polat, from the environmentalists, called on the federal government in May 2023 to establish Islamic military supervision in the Bundeswehr. Religious care for Muslims must have "a high priority for us," they said. All three recall that the first graduates of the Islamic College of Germany (Islamkolleg Deutschland - IKD) in Osnabrück completed their training for Islamic religious service in German language in February 2023.

Two months later, according to information from Deutsche Welle, the Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius also declared on this issue. He said that this topic is particularly important to him. That is why he has already approved the introduction of a suitable "religious offering" for Muslims in the German army. This, as he further said, should happen during the mandate of this government. According to the minister, the Ministry of Defense is in contact with the Islamic College regarding this matter.

The Islamic College, founded at the end of 2019, is not the only place in Germany where imams and Islamic religious staff are trained to serve in Germany. But the politicians think that this College is the most suitable.

"There are no second-class soldiers"

Soon Islamic religious services also in the Bundeswehr

"For years we have wanted the establishment of religious care for Muslims in the military," IKD director Buelent Ucara told Deutsche Welle. The Islamic religious educator is explicitly referring to the current growing religious concern about Jews in the military.

The Muslim side would like to have "the same or similar material and personnel resources as them". These issues do not necessarily need to be regulated by an international treaty, but they need to be clarified immediately. Muslim employees in the Bundeswehr "are not second- or third-class soldiers," warns Ucar, who was born in Oberhausen. The state, he says, must provide religious care for Muslims as well.

Since mid-March, a ministry expert has presented a special offer of religious care for Muslims in the Bundeswehr, a Defense Ministry spokeswoman told DW. This "fundamental beginning", as she said, aims to expand existing religious care./ DW