Across Europe, elected officials, business leaders, school superintendents, sports team owners—even Christian and Jewish clergy—are going out of their way to celebrate Ramadan, the month-long commemoration of the time when Muslims believe the Qur’an was first revealed to Muhammad.
Practicing Muslims observe Ramadan by praying and fasting. They abstain from food and drink from dawn to sunset and break the fast with the evening meal known as iftar, an often elaborate, multi-course banquet enjoyed with family and friends at festive gatherings. It is the iftar that most non-Muslims promote and participate in during Ramadan.
Much of the non-Muslim support for Ramadan is coming from well-meaning individuals and organizations from across the political spectrum—left, right, and center—and is usually portrayed as part of an effort to promote freedom of religion, inclusion, and tolerance.
Ramadan’s Spiritual Significance
The iftar is much more than a meal; it has great spiritual significance. The signal for Muslims that they may begin the iftar is the Adhan (the Islamic call to prayer) at sunset. The Adhan repeats four times that Allah is “the greatest” of all gods, two times that there is “no god but Allah,” another two times that Allah is “the greatest,” and concludes with the assertion that “there is no god but Allah.” The Adhan falsely declares that Allah is greater than Yahweh, the God of the Bible.
The Adhan at sunset, the fourth of five daily Islamic prayers, is known as the Maghrib prayer, which requires Muslims to acknowledge the sovereignty of Allah. In the prayer, Muslims recite Surah al-Fatiha, the first chapter of the Qur’an, which states that Allah is the “Lord of all worlds,” the “Master of the Day of Judgment,” and emphatically declares, “You alone we worship.”
After breaking the fast (iftar), practicing Muslims recite a prayer known as dua, which states: “O Allah, for you I have fasted and by your provision I have broken my fast.” Muslims then make personal supplications to Allah.
In essence, Ramadan is a festival that celebrates the giving of the Qur’an, a book that elevates a deity called Allah above the God of the Bible and denies the divinity of Jesus Christ. The iftar is a ceremonial meal dedicated to Allah and falsely establishes him as the one true God. This is the theology that non-Muslims endorse when they promote Ramadan and participate in the iftar. The are, in effect, denying the God of the Judeo-Christian Bible.
Ramadan’s Political Significance
Beyond its spiritual significance, Ramadan has great political importance. Many analysts of Islam in the West warn that Islamists (those who seek to reorder Western countries and societies according to the principles of Islam) are “ideologically instrumentalizing” Ramadan to further their aims of Islamizing the West.
Mouhanad Khorchide, head of the Center for Islamic Theology at the University of Münster, notes that the significance of Ramadan in Europe is shifting from religious to political and that Islam is increasingly becoming a principle source of identity. “Religious rituals or visible symbols are increasingly taking their place; not primarily as expressions of inner piety, but as markers of belonging,” he says.
Seyran Ates, founder of the Ibn Rushd-Goethe Mosque in Berlin, adds: “From my perspective, there is unfortunately an instrumentalization of Ramadan by political Islam in Germany at present, which everyone should warn against. In particular, when politicians are invited to the breaking of the fast, they should better examine which organizations are behind it.”
Ates notes that many of the Islamist groups promoting Ramadan in Germany are being surveilled by intelligence agencies due to the threat they pose to the liberal democratic order.
Ramadan Controversies
Austria
Teachers in Vienna, the Austrian capital, are reporting a “worrying dynamic” in classrooms where students are facing “massive” peer pressure to comply with Ramadan fasting rules. Thomas Krebs, a teachers’ union representative, said “surveillance groups” are “meticulously ensuring” that classmates not only abstain from food, but also adhere to “appropriate” dress and behavior during Ramadan. “It cannot be that individual students put themselves above others,” Krebs warned in a special report aired on Austrian television.
Krebs also revealed that lessons are being disrupted by students who spontaneously unroll prayer rugs during class and begin praying. Others are warning that social media acts as a “digital morality police” that is “massively increasing” social control over young people. An Austrian commentator noted: “One has to let this sink in: underage students are establishing a system of social control in European classrooms that resembles a religious morality police.”
Germany
In Göttingen, a city with nearly 125,000 inhabitants, the Adhan was recited publicly for the first time in the city’s history. The occasion was the breaking of the Ramadan fast on February 24. Mayor Petra Broistedt described the public call to prayer as a “moving moment” and “an expression of a pluralistic society.”
The call to prayer on rang out from the city’s Königsstieg Mosque, which is closely linked to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, an Islamist opposed to the assimilation of the Turkish diaspora in Germany. The mosque is well known for promoting Islamism and antisemitism. In 2021, the then-chairman Mustafa Keskin was forced to resign after he spread antisemitic content on social media. In several posts, he claimed, among other things, that Jews were cursed and controlled world politics. He also referred to Armenians as “bastard dogs.”
In an interview with the Göttinger Tageblatt, the current leader of the mosque, Ali Serkan Sabhaz, revealed that the public call to prayer was not a one-off event but a trial run for regular calls to prayer. He said he is discussions with the city hall to obtain permission to sound a call to prayer once a month on Friday at noon. The long-term objective appears to be calls to prayer five times a day.
In a press release, the center-left Mayor Broistedt said the public call to prayer “is not a political symbol, but rather the rule of law in practice.” She added: “We consciously prioritize dialogue, respect, and the protection of our shared freedom.”
Center-right politicians like Hendrik Wüst praised the public call to prayer as a “contribution to integration.” But Islam experts like Ahmad Mansour warns that it is a “demonstration of power by political Islam.”
German commentator Heinz Steiner described the public call to prayer as “acoustic capitulation” to political Islam. “While the mosque publicly presents itself as liberal and open to dialogue, internally it often preaches a hardline, anti-Western, and Islamist agenda. The fact that a German mayor granted this very association permission to broadcast its message through loudspeakers in public spaces demonstrates a shocking level of political naiveté.”
The Alternative for Germany (AfD), a civilizationalist party, stated: “The public call to prayer is not merely an exercise of religious freedom, but an acoustic marking of public space that disturbs and excludes large parts of the non-Muslim neighborhood. We see this as an ideological shift in boundaries that does not fit with our understanding of a secular and tolerant coexistence.”
Also in Germany, primary school children at the Joseph Beuys Comprehensive School in Kleve, North Rhine-Westphalia, were required to eat lunch in secret because doing so might “provoke” their fasting Muslim classmates. The move came after Muslim students began bullying their non-Muslim classmates and ordered them to “fast now” and “throw your food in the trash can.”
A spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group, Götz Frömming, commented: “The events at the comprehensive school in Kleve show that tolerance in many places has long since turned into preemptive submission. Our free and democratic legal order, which rests on a Christian-Roman cultural heritage, not Islam, must be the guiding principle for everyday school life.”
AfD Member of Parliament Birgit Bessin added: “The Ramadan rules of conduct in Kleve further relativizes the Christian identity of our country and reflects the gradual Islamization of everyday school life. It is urgently necessary to push back these Islamization tendencies and demand unconditional respect for German core values.”
Spain
In Barcelona, the City Council’s Office of Religious Affairs issued Ramadan procedures for the city’s schools in order “to create a climate of respect and overcome the stigma, ignorance, and Islamophobia that permeates much of the Western imagination.” The handbook, “Guidelines for Educational Centers on Ramadan,” states that “understanding Ramadan helps avoid stereotypes, prevent discrimination, and ensure equal treatment for all students.”
Among other advice, the guide recommends that schools avoid extracurricular activities such as music or dance, which may be considered “inappropriate” by Muslims during Ramadan, “since it is a month dedicated to spirituality, during which it is especially important to maintain a pious attitude.” Therefore, it would be “advisable to take this sensitivity into account when planning activities or offering alternative options.”
The Barcelona City Council has a long history of mocking Christians during Christmas by setting up “secular” nativity scenes in which Jesus, Mary, and Joseph are represented by empty chairs. Gonzalo de Oro, a spokesman for Vox, a Spanish civilizationist party, said the guide “is further proof of the surrender of the Socialist Party and the mayor of Barcelona to Islam.” He added:
“It’s a surrender that began many years ago with the Ramadan greetings, which then continued with the lack of Christmas greetings, with hiding the Nativity scene, and now they’ve finally dropped the mask. They’re banning pork in public schools, meaning our Christian children cannot eat pork in public schools, which is outrageous, and on top of that they presume to tell us how we should behave during Ramadan.”
De Oro concluded: “What this City Council wants is for Barcelona to become like Marrakesh or Algiers. We at VOX will not normalize these guides or these attitudes that are against our civilization.”
The Netherlands
Lawmakers Diederik van Dijk and André Flach expressed concern that Dutch politicians are fully embracing the Islamic iftar, while increasingly erasing the Judeo-Christian tradition. In an op-ed article published by De Telegraaf, the largest Dutch daily morning newspaper, they wrote:
“The large numbers of politicians and administrators attending iftar celebrations may seem sympathetic at first glance. And we understand the purpose: to connect all groups in society. An important task. But one thing is overlooked: the Netherlands has a Judeo-Christian tradition, and the religion they champion is inherently anti-Jewish and anti-Christian. Therefore, it is at the very least questionable to attend iftars where exclusion is preached, under the guise of inclusion.
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there. Many governments in the Netherlands go a step further. They organize or subsidize iftars themselves. At taxpayer expense, imams are thus given the opportunity to spread the message to municipalities, ministries, or the National Police that no god may be worshiped but Allah. Conversely, we have yet to encounter a pastor who is allowed to lead prayers at a ministry’s Christmas reception or Easter breakfast in a town hall. In fact, the terms “Christmas reception” and “Easter breakfast” have often long since been abandoned. This is a double standard, and it flies in the face of the neutrality our government claims to uphold.
“And that brings us to the crux of the matter. In the Netherlands, we are seeing two developments: Islam is gaining an increasingly dominant position; and Christianity is increasingly being pushed to the background, while the Netherlands has Christian roots.”
Van Dijk and Flach concluded: “We stand for freedom of religion, but oppose preferential treatment of Islam. Anyone who cuts off their own history and roots to make room for another religion or ideology uproots themselves and ultimately offers no one else a foundation to stand on.”
Other Ramadan Controversies
Other Ramadan-related controversies and disputes in Europe this year include:
Austria. A 17-year-old non-Muslim student at a boarding school in Saint Pölten was suspended after complaining about Muslim roommates waking up at 3 AM daily to eat Sahur (a pre-dawn meal consumed by Muslims before fasting during Ramadan) amid loud music. The Deputy Governor of Lower Austria, Udo Landbauer, was indignant: “Our children are being suspended so that others can behave badly? Integration means adapting, accepting our rules, and respecting our local culture.”
Austria. A major restaurant chain offered special Ramadan menus that are only available after 5 PM. Kronen Zeitung, Austria’s largest newspaper, reported that the issue is “polarizing” for many people because the company does not offer unique menus for Christians or kosher products for Jews.
Belgium. Almost ten years to the day after 32 people were killed and more than 300 were injured in jihadist attacks at the airport and metro in Brussels, authorities at Brussels Airport hosted an elaborate daily iftar buffet.
Britain. At least six professional football matches were paused mid-game so that Muslim athletes could break their fast. This follows a formal agreement reached in 2021 to accede to Islamic demands to accommodate fasting during Ramadan. “It is interesting to observe this latest concession to Islamic demands for provision to accommodate fasting during Ramadan,” notes Tim Dieppe of Christian Concern. “Other recent accommodations to Islam include rescheduling exams to avoid Ramadan, Ramadan lights in London, an Iftar in Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium, provision of Muslim prayer rooms, halal food in many workplaces, and so much more.” According to Dieppe, it is “part of a much bigger trend towards the Islamization of Britain.”
Germany. In Berlin-Reinickendorf, Emine Demirbüken-Wegner, the Turkish-born mayor, invited representatives of hardcore Islamist mosques and organizations in the borough to participate in an iftar at the city hall at taxpayer expense. The guest list included members of the Turkish-Islamic Union for Islamic Affairs (Türkisch-Islamische Union der Anstalt für Religion, DITIB), the largest Islamic umbrella organization in Germany. DITIB, which is a part of the Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs (known in Turkish as Diyanet), an organization described as the “extended arm” of the Turkish state, is directly subordinate to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a tireless propagator of political Islam in Europe.
Italy. A classroom at the University of Brescia was converted into a mosque, with rugs on the floor and partitions to separate prayer spaces for males and females during Ramadan. The walls were covered with flyers in Arabic calling for invocations to Allah. The university said the move was conceived as “a special opportunity to come together as a community, share profound reflection, and experience together the emotion of breaking the fast during Ramadan.” Silvia Sardone, a Milan City Councilor, noted: “Far from integration, Islamists are now demanding dedicated spaces within Italian universities.”
Italy. In Cremona, a city in Lombardy, a high school student on a public bus was physically assaulted by two Muslim girls for eating a sandwich during Ramadan. “We’re not eating, it’s Ramadan,” they said. When the 52-year-old bus driver ordered the girls to get off the bus, they assaulted him too and he ended up in the emergency room. Silvia Sardone, a Milan City Councilor, described the incident as “truly alarming” and warned: “We’re at the point of total delirium. Yet there are still some on the left who continue to bow to the growing Islamization, closing schools for Ramadan and even allowing the niqab to be worn in classes. What will be next?”
Sweden. IKEA showcased a “Ramadan Musthaves” collection ranging from kitchen essentials to table settings. IKEA also offered a “festive Ramadan menu” at their in-store restaurants. Charlie Weimers, a Swedish Member of the European Parliament, noted that while Muslims are “perfectly free and open” to observe Ramadan, he also drew attention to the fact that Christians in Europe are being attacked by Muslim mobs for openly displaying their faith during Ramadan. “With that as a starting point, we can certainly discuss whether Ramadan has its natural home in Sweden or not,” he wrote.
Soeren Kern is a fellow at the Ideological Defense Institute.
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