A new mouthpiece for liberal Muslims in Germany has been founded in Duisburg. The "Liberal-Islamic Federation" wants to represent Muslims who are "open to mutually contradictory points of view". To our site welcomes the foundation.
"We welcome the initiative," said CIBEDO Director Dr. Peter Hunseler on Tuesday (08.06.2010). CIBEDO is the specialized agency of the German Bishops' Conference with the task of promoting interreligious dialogue between Christianity and Islam.According to Hunseler, the new association ensures that the "diversity of Islam is well represented": "With an association that puts the roots of Muslims in Germany and Europe in the foreground."Now it remains to be seen how the association will develop; for example, to what extent it will be possible to integrate mosque associations.
Not a countermovement, but an expansion According to its chairwoman, Lamya Kaddor, the LIB represents a "pluralistic view of society" and is committed to the free democratic basic order. "We want to give a voice to the silent majority of Muslims who do not hold fundamentalist positions, but rather the motto: live and let live," the Islamic scholar, who has become known through several book publications, told the Essen-based WAZ media group. The main concerns of the association, which sees itself not as a "counter-movement but as an extension" of the mostly traditional conservative Islamic associations in Germany, include a "dogma-free" interpretation of the Koran or "comprehensive gender justice".
Confession to the "one God LIB reportedly limits itself to requiring new members to confess "one God and believe in Muhammad as God's messenger". "In everything that goes beyond this core, dogmatic and cultural unity must be neither a goal nor a prerequisite," Kaddor stressed. The association speaks out in addition for the acceptance and equal treatment of extramarital and same-sex partnerships – thus the association in the Muslim association scene takes an exceptional position.