Germany Offers Unprecedented Police Protection to Woman Behind ‘Liberal Mosque’

By Published on July 2, 2017

The founder of a liberal mosque in Berlin has been granted around-the-clock police protection after receiving more than 100 death threats in recent weeks.

Seyran Ates, a Turkish-born lawyer, opened the Ruschd-Goethe mosque in June to promote a liberal version of Islam. The mosque has banned the burqa and lets men and women pray side by side. The Koran is interpreted “historically and critically” and gays are welcome.

Ates says she has received about 3,000 hate emails per day, and more than 100 death threats since the mosque launched. Germany’s National Criminal Police Office (LKA) is now offering an unusual level of protection.

“I have received so many death threats on social media because of the establishment of the mosque that the LKA has reached the point of protecting me around the clock,” Ates told newspaper Welt am Sonntag Sunday.

Several Muslim governments have condemned the mosque. Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah, Egypt’s state-run Islamic organization, said the practice of men and women praying together is incompatible with Islam. Turkey’s religious authority, Diyanet, also criticized the mosque after instructions from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“This shows once again what a spirited child Erdogan is,” Ates told Welt. “[He] has never understood democracy and never wanted it. Erdogan does not have any personal freedoms.”

 

Follow Jacob on Twitter

Copyright 2017 The Daily Caller News Foundation

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Like the article? Share it with your friends! And use our social media pages to join or start the conversation! Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, MeWe and Gab.

Inspiration
Military Photo of the Day: Standing Guard on USS New York
Tom Sileo
More from The Stream
Connect with Us