How does the Muslim Brotherhood network operate in Germany? An intelligence report answers
With steady steps, German authorities continue to uncover the workings of the Muslim Brotherhood network on their territory to establish a solid foundation for confrontation.
According to a report from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (German domestic intelligence), which was released a few days, the German Muslim community organization is part of the global Muslim Brotherhood network. The report points out that its main activities and affiliated organizations revolve around recruitment, youth activities, and educational initiatives rooted in the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The report highlights the so-called “Quran camps” organized by the German Muslim community in Germany, without specifying their nature. It further states, “In addition, through its work in public relations, the German Muslim community seeks to establish itself as a central point of contact for Muslim issues in Germany concerning politics and society.”
Influence strategy
The report continues, “The German Muslim community, formerly known as the Islamic Community Organization in Germany until 2018 before changing its name, is considered the most important central organization for supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Germany.” It emphasizes that one of the goals of the German Muslim community organization is to present itself to politicians, authorities, and civil society partners as a central contact point for a supposedly moderate global Islam.
According to the report, the organization “adopts a strategy to influence politics and society in Germany based on the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood.” However, it notes the deceptive strategy followed by the organization, stating that “it avoids acknowledging its affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood and making anti-constitutional statements in public.”
The report further indicates that numerous communications between senior officials of the German Muslim community and known leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood outside the country demonstrate that the organization active in Germany is part of the global Muslim Brotherhood network. This points to the monitoring of communications between the two parties by German authorities.
The report also highlights that the German Muslim community owns several directly affiliated organizations and mosque associations, coordinating its work with over 100 other Islamic organizations throughout Germany.
However, the number of leaders in the German Muslim community organization in Berlin has decreased to 350 individuals compared to 400 in 2021. In general, the number of leadership elements within the Muslim Brotherhood network in Germany is estimated to be 1,450 individuals, according to the same report.
The “most important” organization
In 1958, the Muslim Brotherhood established its most important organization in Germany, the Islamic Community Organization, on the ruins of the Islamic Center Building Committee in Munich. In 2018, it changed its name to the German Muslim community organization.
This organization, which is the most important and largest of the Muslim Brotherhood in Germany, has been led by prominent figures in the movement. Leaders such as Said Ramadan served from 1958 to 1968, and former guide Mohammed Mahdi Akef from 1984 to 1987, who also served as the imam of the Islamic Center in Munich.
To this day, the Islamic Center in Munich maintains links to the Muslim Brotherhood, despite the relocation of the German Islamic Community Organization’s headquarters from the city in southern Germany to Cologne in the west.
Currently, it collaborates with 50 smaller organizations throughout Germany, in addition to dozens of mosques and prayer rooms, according to German press reports.
