The Islamic Center Munich (IZM) in the Freimann district has suspended its imam. On October 7th – the day of Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israeli civilians – Mohamed Ibrahim posted the sentence in Arabic on Facebook: “Everyone has their own way of celebrating October” and decorated it with a laughing smiley. On its homepage, the IZM board “clearly distances itself from the private, now deleted post of its prayer leader: “In a special meeting of the board, it was decided to immediately suspend our imam until the allegations have been clarified.”
Mohamed Ibrahim, who says he grew up as the son of a Bedouin family in Sinai, which was then occupied by Israel, spoke of misunderstandings in a statement: “This post was created in the dynamics of social media, here Facebook.” On October 7th, he read from some Arabic-speaking Facebook friends “that the Palestinians had achieved something big against Israel.” He then wrote the “funny” and “sarcastic” sentence, which was meant as an allusion to an Egyptian national holiday. On October 6, Egypt celebrates Armed Forces Day in memory of the Yom Kippur War against Israel 50 years ago.
At that point, he was neither “fully aware” of the events of October 7th nor their significance, the imam wrote on Facebook. “I therefore apologize deeply that my post has led to any misunderstandings.” Mocking the civilian victims of October 7 is not compatible with his ethical Islamic values, said Mohamed Ibrahim. The imam also writes that he stands in solidarity with the Palestinians “because injustice has been happening to them for decades and because the images and reports that are currently reaching us from there are very terrible and sad.” Two of his relatives from the Gaza Strip were killed in Israeli attacks.
“Under no circumstances should we as a German Muslim community and as a society allow hatred and violence from the Middle East to be transferred to Jews and Muslims in Germany,” is how the IZM explains the prayer leader’s suspension. According to its own statements, the IZM wants to “help the Muslims living here practice their religion, deepen their awareness of their faith and their willingness to serve their fellow human beings, but also contribute to a better understanding of Islam and Muslims.” It is one of the outstanding Muslim institutions in Germany and has an impact far beyond the Munich area.
The Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution sees it similarly, albeit under negative circumstances. He attributes the IZM to the German Muslim Community and thus to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. In a sermon, for example, a recently deceased ideologist from the Muslim Brotherhood was remembered, according to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution for 2022. Hamas is also considered an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. The process is particularly explosive because the IZM is a member of the Munich Muslim Council, which wanted to hold a religious peace prayer on Monday evening. The event was canceled at short notice after massive criticism, particularly of the role of the IZM.