Muslims Feel under Threat in Germany
One young woman, who wears a headscarf, told him that after the Paris shootings, a stranger hissed at her on the street that she "should be killed." Other congregants tell him they feel they have to answer for crimes they didn’t commit.
"We feel this pressure every day," Heider said. "The public wants the Muslims to explain themselves or say sorry."
While Germany has not seen the sort of retaliatory violence that left mosques in France charred, the latest terrorist attacks in Europe have surfaced undercurrents of hostility toward Muslims that make them feel like outsiders in their own homes.
"We have to open our mosques and talk to people to take the fear and prejudice away," says Heider, who posts his sermons on Facebook and welcomes anyone into his mosque who are curious to hear him preach.
"I’m not optimistic," of the current tension in German society, Heider added. “We are a global world. Everything in Syria and Iraq will have consequences in Europe."
The conflicts in Syria, Iraq and other Muslim countries have fueled tensions. Instability throughout the region has sent hundreds of thousands of refugees into Europe, with many of them settling in Germany.
Source: Islamicnews
