REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, YOGYAKARTA -- An academician at the George August University of Goettingen Germany, Fritz Schulze, said the Islamic Law should be made applicable to the Muslims in Germany. "I hope the Islamic Law can be made applicable to the Muslims in Germany," Schulze stated here on Friday at a general lecture on Islamic Law for Muslims in Germany.
According to him, Islam has been growing rapidly in the country, as reflected by the growing Muslim population, now at 3.7 million. Schulze noted that Muslims in Germany were mostly immigrants who came at the end of the 17th century when the Turkish people came to the country.
The Turkish Muslims, he added, attracted the local people as they built religious shrines. Although most Germans reject the idea of immigrants coming into their country, Muslims from Lebanon, Palestine, Afghanistan, Algeria, Iran and Bosnia keep coming into Germany. "At least 1.3 million Muslims have arrived in Germany after the government opened the border gates," Schulze disclosed.
He added that for ten years, Germany remained open to immigrants as the country adjusted its policy to face the impact of globalization which emphasized cultural diversity. The Islamic Law, or Sharia, deals with many topics, including crime, politics, marriage contracts, trade regulations, religious prescriptions, and economics, as well as personal matters such as sexual intercourse, hygiene, diet, prayer, everyday etiquette and fasting.
The law is based on two primary sources, the Glorious Alquran and hadiths (opinions and examples from the life of Prophet Muhammad).