Thursday, May 27, 2021
Greens are harshly critical
Vienna presents “Map of Islam”
In Austria, the Documentation Center for Political Islam is developing a “Map of Political Islam”. Among other things, it is intended to stimulate “content-related discourse beyond polemics”. Green and Muslim organizations, however, are outraged and criticize the approach.
A “Map of Political Islam” in Austria, created for the first time, is intended to enable objective and critical discussions with Muslim associations and mosques. “We want to initiate a substantive discourse that goes beyond polemics, resentment, emotionality and mutual accusations,” said the chairman of the scientific advisory board of the Political Islam Documentation Center, Mouhanad Khorchide, in Vienna. The urgent question arises as to how organizations such as the Turkish-Islamic umbrella organization Atib or the Islamic community Milli Görüs envision an Islam with a European character. The basic work met with international interest – also and especially in German politics, said Khorchide.
On the im Internet viewable map 623 Muslim organizations, associations and mosques are shown with their respective headquarters in Austria, plus information on the form of organization and content orientation. Integration Minister Susanne Raab of the ÖVP said the card does not differentiate between good and bad clubs, but rather makes a contribution to transparency in its diversity. “It is not about a general suspicion of the Muslims,” but it must be possible to ask important questions without the cover of tolerance. Sometimes misogynist, anti-Semitic, racist or anti-integration attitudes and positions occur, it said. Wherever the state has a handle because radical ideas are spread, it will intervene, said Raab.
It is not a question of pillorying all members of a movement, but of taking a closer look and inviting the organizations to debate, said Khorchide. Some of the Muslim organizations also made an important contribution to integration, according to the Islamic scholar Ednan Aslan from the University of Vienna. Public debates could help fuel reform efforts in the Muslim community. Political Islam is defined as a claim to rule that wants to enforce values that contradict democracy and the rule of law, according to Khorchide.
“Project is the opposite of integration policy”
Criticism of the project came from the Austrian Greens: According to the daily newspaper “Der Standard”, they complained that they had not been informed that the Political Islam Documentation Center would now be working on the digital overview. “This project is the opposite of what integration policy and dialogue should look like on an equal footing,” said integration spokeswoman Faika El-Nagashi Muslim communities through this list is massive and from our point of view not suitable to contribute to a better coexistence. “
The “map” met with outrage among Muslims. The interactive map shows the “intention of the government to stigmatize all Muslims living in Austria as a potential danger,” declared the Islamic Faith Community (IGGÖ). Tarafa Baghajati, chairman of the Muslim Austrian Initiative (IMÖ), was also outraged: “Can you imagine that such a map of Judaism or Christianity could be created in Austria?” He told ORF. It is a mixture of terrorism and a religion that is practiced by eight percent of Austria’s 8.9 million inhabitants.
The Documentation Center Political Islam was founded as an independent fund of the Republic in 2015 and started its work a year ago. A team of five to seven experts is headed independently by a director.
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