United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister of Culture, Youth, and Social Development Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak al Nahyan has slammed the German government for having “lax” control over who preaches at mosques.
Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak al Nahyan said that Islamic radicalism and Islamist attacks in Germany were linked to the lack of regulation at mosques in Germany. “You can not just open a mosque and allow everyone to go there and preach. There must be a licence for this,” he said, Die Welt reports.
Al Nahjan blamed the lack of oversight in various European countries for the rise of radical Islam across the continent. “We have always offered our help, we have always offered to train people,” he said but added that no European countries had ever accepted the offer.
In the various emirates that comprise the UAE, all mosques are under the total control of the government which work with intelligence agencies to prevent radicalisation and the influence of groups like Islamic State.
Sheikh al Nahjan said that while many governments thought it was right to allow local Muslims to run their own mosques, the rise of radicalism has shown the need for direct government involvement.
While the German government has had little involvement in the workings of mosques across the country, many have accused the Turkish government of influencing Islamic organisations in the country. DITIB, the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs, even admitted that some of its imams spied on worshippers on behalf of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government.
German authorities have noted a huge rise in the number of radical Islamists over several years. A recent report claimed the number of violent jihadists to be in excess of 1,800 individuals – up 64 per cent in only a year.
Authorities have also shut down a number of radical mosques in the past year, some which were linked to last year’s Berlin Christmas Market terror attacker Anis Amri.