German Author Wants to Read The Satanic Verses in Mosque

Günter Wallraff created quite a stir when he proposed the reading of Salman Rushdie's "Satanic Verses" in a mosque in his native Cologne. Peter Philipp spoke with Wallraff about Salman Rushdie, integration in Germany and the tolerance of German Muslims

Günter Wallraff (photo: AP)
The Turkish DITIB organisation said it is discussing Günter Wallraff's proposal and would respond to the request in due course

​​He couldn't understand all the commotion, says Cologne writer Günter Wallraff. Not even in his dreams had he thought of making an "affair" out of it. He had only made the proposal "quite spontaneously" during a radio discussion, namely of organizing a reading of "Satanic Verses" in the Cologne mosque of the Turkish-Islamic Union (DITIB) – two blocks away from Wallraff's apartment – and discussing it.

The DITIB may regret having provided the initial impulse itself: Wallraff had been invited to be a member of the advisory board for the planned mosque. As an alleged Turkish worker "Ali Levent," Wallraff created a furor in 1985 when he wrote about experiences in German companies.

He had put his profits into an integration project in Duisburg, and today Wallraff is one of the advocates of the controversial building of a new mosque by DITIB in Cologne.

"A hysterical debate"

"There where a makeshift mosque has stood for 20 years, there they have the right to place a respectable and presentable modern mosque. And here in Cologne where I live, this has – I find – taken on the form of a hysterical debate. Here the extreme right is attempting to mobilize the citizens against the mosque and has called forth the wrong discussion."

​​"But I am also someone who advocates for free speech," Wallraff continues, "someone who sheltered my friend and colleague Salman Rushdie when he was threatened with the fatwa, when his life was at stake, and he often lived with me as a guest."

Wallraff says he had long ago discussed the "Satanic Verses" with Turkish friends and neighbors, and they had a good laugh and did not perceive the text to be blasphemous at all:

"You can think what you want about the book. We can argue vehemently about it, in fact, we should argue. But no one should have to put his life at stake for expressing an opinion – especially not within a form of art.

The tolerance of German Muslims

He had not proposed holding the debate in the "holy area" of the mosque, but in the community center in Cologne-Ehrenfeld. Here such an event could be exemplary for other Muslim communities in Germany, although Wallraff clearly differentiates between intolerance elsewhere and attitudes in Germany:

Salman Rushdie (photo: AP)
Salman Rushdie's "Satanic Verses" are widely discussed, but hardly read

​​"In my opinion, Muslims living in Germany do not deserve to be identified with it. Because they are – as I know them – for the most part peace-loving people. Not fanatics. Those from the second, third generation can compare. They see the positive aspects of each culture. I see them as the people of the future. And I'd like to discuss a book like this with them, and I am confident that this will happen."

But nothing at all has been decided. DITIB is obviously embarrassed by the matter, and no decision will be made while the advisory board is on vacation. But what is already certain is that no matter what the association decides, new problems will arise.

If they reject it, they'll be subject to the accusation of insufficient liberality. If they approve it, they'll drive off a number of members – at a time in which they are embroiled in one controversy about the building of the mosque and in a second one about the tightening of the immigration law and their subsequent boycott of the German government's "integration summit."

"My whole work is for integration"

Wallraff regrets that German Muslims had not distanced themselves earlier from the fatwa issued against Rushdie, and he sees the fact that the DITIB has recently published a clear condemnation of the fatwa as the first success of his efforts. To accuse him of "colonialism," as writer Martin Walser has done, is utter nonsense:

"It is connected with myself: My whole work is for integration… I am someone who is friends with my neighbors here in Ehrenfeld – especially with my Turkish neighbors. Therefore I cannot be accused of interfering with something that I don't know anything about and that does not concern me."

Nor does Wallraff believe that DITIB will have problems with its own community. It should be made clear who belongs and who does not.

There are certainly people in the Muslim community who do not want to have a discussion about Rushdie because of the negative image and because they fear an open discussion. Just as there are alarming examples on the non-Muslim side, such as publicist Ralph Giordano, who not only opposes the building of the mosque, but also declared that if the discussion is held in the mosque, then it won't be as a result of an honest vote, but in order to keep up appearances.

Wallraff doesn't seem to see that he himself has become a prisoner of this idea. Turning back is not something he would consider, but if the debate is held, then he would also play a part in the mosque's advisory board, to do so he would not need "to become Muslim."

Peter Philipp

© Qantara.de 2007

Translated from the German by Nancy Joyce

Qantara.de

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