Dear Imam Taha Sabri,

Three months after a terrorist attacked a Berlin Christmas market, you stood in front of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church where the attack took place and said: „I refuse to categorize this incident of terror as Islamist or Islamic.“

It may sound hard, but your refusal doesn’t matter to me! It doesn’t matter how you or I categorize terror. For my part, I’d call the terrorists assholes. But, it’s not up to me. And it’s not up to you either. What the terrorists say and do is the problem!!

We can’t ignore the fact that the terrorists see themselves as Muslims. They even see themselves as true Muslims, who feel justified in murdering for Islam. They cut off heads, stone women, hang homosexuals, kill Jews, ignite bombs and drive trucks into crowds, all in the name of Islam. For anyone who believes that Islam means peace, those Muslims who wage war and kill people in the name of Allah must be much worse than all those who burn copies of the Koran or criticize Islam.

Every time, anywhere, someone criticizes Islam, lampoons Mohammed, or makes a silly film about Muslims, the outcry in the Islamic world is enormous. Worldwide, Muslims go to the barricades. If Islamists, referring to Allah, humiliate humanity with their deeds, the outcry in the Muslim World should be a lot louder!

I’m German. I’m very aware of the National Socialist era when Jews, homosexuals and many other people were murdered. At that time there were certainly some decent Germans, but from 1933 to 1945 the Nazis set the tone – and the Nazis were Germans! Not all Germans were guilty, but they were and are responsible for the Nazis! Not all Muslims are guilty, but all Muslims share responsibility for the Islamists!

Dear Imam,

Muslims’ problems aren’t cartoonists, critics, homosexuals, Jews and lampooners. Muslims have a problem with those who call themselves Muslim and spread hatred and violence in the name of Allah. Just as the Nazis are a German problem, today’s Islamists are a problem for Muslims! So, you, as an imam, should rather explain to the terrorists and their sympathizers the meaning of جهاد!

Don’t preach to law-abiding Muslims or to me what Islam means. Don’t waste time explaining Islam to those mourning the victims of terrorists. The survivors and their friends and families are certainly not worrying about the public image of Islam, and it’s definitely not their task to ensure that Islam is placed in a favorable light.

Please preach to the multitude of Muslims who use Islam to attack the values of modern society. Do not coerce me or terrorist victims to study Islamic texts. Just leave us alone. I want to live in a world where it’s of no importance what I think about the Koran. Don’t talk to me!

Talk to those who hate me in the name of the Koran.

Alles Liebe,
Gerd Buurmann