The German Muslim Community, described as the Muslim Brotherhood’s most dangerous affiliate in Germany
A designation issued by an Egyptian court has brought the German Muslim Community back into the spotlight, highlighting the alleged threat it poses as a major Muslim Brotherhood affiliate and a centre for coordinating its activities.
According to Egypt’s news agency, “the Second Circuit of the Cairo Criminal Court ordered 35 entities and 36 individuals to be placed on the lists of terrorist entities and terrorists for five years, in Case No. 11108 of 2026, registered with the Supreme State Security Prosecution”.
The listed entities include several Islamic institutions, associations, federations and councils operating in European countries. Among them are the Council of European Muslims and its various branches, Muslims of France, the Muslim Association of Britain, the League of Muslims in Switzerland, the Islamic Community of Germany—now known as the German Muslim Community—and Islamic associations in Sweden and Italy, alongside other organisations across Europe.
The list also includes Europe-based leaders, notably Hussein Mohamed Mohamed Mohamed Halawa, Anas Osama Tawfiq al-Tikriti, Khaled Mohamed Abdelwahed Hanafy and Ibrahim Farouk Mohamed al-Zayat.
What is the German Muslim Community?
During the first half of 2025, reports by the Offices for the Protection of the Constitution—Germany’s domestic intelligence services—in several federal states reaffirmed their assessment that the German Muslim Community was the country’s most important and most dangerous Muslim Brotherhood organisation. These included North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state.
In their descriptions of the organisation, the reports explain that it was known as the “Islamic Community of Germany” until 2018, when it changed its name to the “German Muslim Community”.
According to intelligence reports, the German Muslim Community is the leading central organisation for Muslim Brotherhood supporters in Germany.
It has numerous directly affiliated organisations and mosque associations and coordinates its activities with more than 100 other Islamic organisations nationwide.
According to domestic intelligence reports, this network is likely to influence several tens of thousands of Muslims through its sermons, religious programmes, lectures, educational institutions and other activities.
Establishment and activities
In 1958, the Muslim Brotherhood established its principal organisation in Germany, the Islamic Community of Germany, out of the committee responsible for building the Islamic Centre in Munich. In 2018, it adopted the name German Muslim Community, a change the article characterises as an attempt to distance its public image from its Brotherhood connections.
Prominent Muslim Brotherhood figures have successively led the organisation, described as the movement’s largest and most important structure in Germany. They include Said Ramadan, from 1958 to 1968, and former General Guide Mohamed Mahdi Akef, from 1984 to 1987, who also served as imam of the Islamic Centre in Munich.
The Munich centre continues to maintain links with the Muslim Brotherhood, despite the German Muslim Community moving its headquarters from the southern German city to Cologne in the west.
Because of the risks attributed to it, the organisation is monitored by domestic intelligence services across Germany’s 16 federal states.
What are its objectives?
One of the organisation’s objectives is to present itself to politicians, public authorities and civil society partners as an interlocutor representing a universal form of Islam that it describes as moderate.
According to the reports, it also pursues a strategy of influencing Germany’s political and social spheres based on “Muslim Brotherhood ideology”.
The reports describe a strategy of concealment: the organisation allegedly avoids publicly acknowledging affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood or making statements hostile to the constitutional order. However, numerous contacts between its senior officials and recognised Brotherhood leaders abroad are cited as evidence that it belongs to the movement’s global network.
A report published in 2026 by Lower Saxony’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution noted the growing influence of the German Muslim Community and its affiliates on society.
It attributed this, among other factors, to prominent activities extending beyond regional boundaries and a strong media presence. The organisation’s representatives seek, or already hold, influential positions in society and consequently often have extensive networks of contacts.
According to the report, officials in federations, associations and institutions affiliated with the German Muslim Community help spread Muslim Brotherhood ideology throughout German society.
A separate report published in 2026 by Brandenburg’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution stated that the Muslim Brotherhood operates covertly and across generations, seeking gradual changes in political and social conditions, as well as in individuals.
