Publication details
Importance of Experiencing Feasts for Inward Consolidation and Outwar Integration of Islamic Religious Groups in Germany
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2007 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | Sacrum et Pofanum II. |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Philosophy and religion |
| Keywords | Feasts; Consolidation; Integration; Islamic Religious Groups; Germany |
| Description | On the example of Turkish Muslims who live in present Germany it is possible to show the meaning of religion with regard to infiltration to the majority of the Muslim community. The modern European liberal community of the western type of which final countenance is also influenced by the historical Christian traditions, this could also be characterised by the inconsistent comprehension of the time where next to the everyday profane duties the citizen has a private space for living his religious life. The way he would fill this space is his matter of choice - for example to accept a certain sacral time for public divine service. This dichotomy of sacral and profane living space with its time characteristics has been developing together with the specification of the significance and contents of the concepts like: society, nation, authority or the citizen's position. From this point of view the Turkish Muslims in present German community have a harder position. In the first place the character of Islam shows the traditional way of seeing life as a whole experiencing temporality. The key to understanding is the word "Islam" alone - "self devotion" where the individual activity is not abolished but on the contrary uplifts the behaviour of men in his and God's interest. A Muslim is in this sense continually submitted to Allah and his prophet. The relationship to God can also be characterised by the concept of ímám -"faith". A Muslim acknowledges the commitment to submit to Allah and the mu'min (believer) in full trust and has no doubts about His commandments. Theoretically these concepts are quite interchangeable. However the concept of the word Muslim makes the concept of the word Islam distant from the word ímám. Here it is not so important whether somebody yields to Allah according to his own inner keenness, but whether he represents the Muslim community outwardly. This doesn't necessarily mean that it's done on the basis of faith. On the contrary ímán and mumín can not be separated from the inner conviction and be understood as pretending of faith. The unity of Islam and faith than becomes publicly a very hard ideal to achieve. If Islam is understood as a public conscience than not acknowledging it in this form corresponds to getting oneself on the very edge or to exclude oneself from the Muslim community which doesn't holds only for the traditional Muslim countries but also for the situation of Turks in present Germany. Subsequently there is no testifying value to differentiate between religious sincerity or hypocrisy. On the other hand not emphasising the inner conviction is an easier way of spreading Islam among great number of confessors. While giving attention to the significance of feasts and obligatory Islamic divine services for the inner consolidation of the religious community and its outer integration into the major nonmuslim society, it is necessary to uplift one more characteristic. The common experience of the uniqueness of feasts and the regularity of prayers can go along with strengthening the inner bonds with the religious community, personal identification of every single believer, and finally with Islam as such. A part of the long-lasting discussion is also how these processes influence the integration of the Turkish Muslims into the German society. Whether it is possible to understand the importance of religion as a sign of non-crossable otherness or just as other particular characteristics (besides ethnocity, way of behaviour etc.) of a particular group of people forming the part of modern Germany population. |