The Mullahs’ Mosque in Hamburg

Many thanks to Hellequin GB for translating this article from Die Welt:

Iran mosque in Hamburg is supposed to implement “Islamic revolution”

For years, the Islamic Center Hamburg (IZH) has staged itself as a non-political meeting place. New findings from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution show how tight the lines are to Iran’s regime — and to a terrorist organization.

At the Hamburg State Office for the Protection of the Constitution (LfV), there are new findings about the close links between the Islamic Center Hamburg (IZH) and the Iranian regime.

Current Iranian documents serve as evidence that the IZH is an “outpost of Tehran bound by instructions,” the LfV states in a multi-page report that Die Welt has evaluated. The aim is to “export” the Islamic revolution worldwide.

This is particularly relevant as IZH representatives have been denying allegations of political influence from Iran for years. In addition, the controversial mosque community still receives political backing from Hamburg’s red-green Senate. The new findings also concern connections between the IZH and the terrorist organization Hezbollah.

The director of IZH, Imam Mohammad Hadi Moffateh, affirmed months ago in an interview with Die Welt: “Neither before nor after the revolution did the Islamic Center Hamburg have any connections with the Iranian state.” At the same time, Moffateh confirmed that he was in personal contact with state leader Khamenei.

The LfV emphasizes that new documents even show that the IZH head is bound by instructions to the regime. In several letters addressed directly to Moffateh, he was described as an “honored representative of the Supreme Leader, Head of the Islamic Center Hamburg”. The IZH is the sponsoring association of the Blue Mosque on the Outer Alster.

“This is a quasi official confirmation that Mofatteh is to be regarded as the official deputy of Khomeini’s successor Ayatollah Khamenei”, confirms the LfV. Moffateh had received another letter from a well-known Holocaust denier.

“ACCORDING TO THE INTELLIGENCE OF THE OFFICE FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE CONSTITUTION, THE IZH CONTINUES TO STAND FOR AN ISLAMIST REGIME THAT IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE VALUES OF THE BASIC LAW.”

— STATE OFFICE FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE CONSTITUTION HAMBURG

The protection of the constitution accuses the IZH as a whole of unbelievable self-portrayal as an independent institution. “The newly acquired knowledge confirms that the IZH is one of the most important institutions of the Iranian regime in Europe”, LfV spokesman Marco Haase clarifies in an interview with Die Welt.

The special weight of the IZH as an “anti-constitutional endeavor” is that it does not appear clearly Islamist, “but rather presents itself as an intercultural and interreligious meeting place in order to be accepted as a discussion partner in politics, culture and society.”

The IZH regularly organizes commemorative and festive events on its premises, and also publishes a Muslim children’s magazine.

Connections to Hezbollah

The Hamburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution also reports on personal and ideological connections between the IZH and the terrorist organization Hezbollah. In May 2021, the Federal Ministry of the Interior banned three associations that are said to have collected donations for the group, which is banned in this country. The organization aims, among other things, to destroy Israel.

According to the findings of the LfV Hamburg, the IZH supports “local structures of the terrorist group” Hezbollah, which has been banned from operating.

For example, the deputy head of the IZH is said to have appeared as a speaker at an event organized by a banned Hezbollah association. In addition, “a high-ranking so-called Hizbullah traveler’s sheikh visited the IZH and held talks there with IZH leaders.”

Anti-Semitic stereotypes

Last but not least, according to the allegation of the LfV, the IZH publishes books in which anti-Semitic stereotypes are featured. “So it is said of the ‘Zionists and their backers’ that they intend to ‘bring the whole world under their rule.’”

Other books recommend that state action should be based on Islamic law — the Sharia. In this context, there is also talk of brutal “hadd” punishments. These include stoning and flogging, among others.

Die Welt addressed the role of the IZH and the connections to the Iranian regime in a TV documentary at the end of 2020. Christoph de Vries, CDU member of the Bundestag, considered a ban on associations for the IZH by Hamburg’s interior authorities to be “long overdue”.

Hamburg ‘s anti-Semitism officer Stefan Hensel recently also spoke out in favor of a ban. “They are representatives of a country that demands every other day that Israel disappear from the map,” said Hensel in Welt am Sonntag.

Despite warnings from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hamburg’s Senate has so far apparently seen no reason to question the State Treaty with the Council of Islamic Communities in Hamburg, known as “Shura” for short. The IZH is part of this shura.

Ekkehard Wysocki (SPD), spokesman for churches and religious communities, said at the end of 2020: “We are sticking to the contract with the Shura. We are also doing this with a view to a new state treaty in 2022/2023.”

3 thoughts on “The Mullahs’ Mosque in Hamburg

  1. Ladies and gentle men come to your senses. Access to violence and security from a demise by savage needed desperately. The numbers and ethnicity count matters.

  2. What could be the result if the German Federal Government began to think that relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran were no longer in the interest of democratic processes on planet Earth? Could Germany begin to re-think any relationship to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)?

    Are there other alternatives to guide the sharia supremacists toward the values of a non-imperial view of human life?

    • I can think of only one way to change the opinion of sharia supremacists towards democracy.
      But it is a one way ticket and contains a certain metal.

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