The Islamic Community of Germany (IGD; ) is an Islamic organization headquartered in Munich, Germany and that consists of a network of mosques, centers and associations in all major West German cities. The German government says the IGD is the central organization for Muslim Brotherhood followers in Germany. It is part of the umbrella organization

Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe The Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE) was founded by the Muslim Brotherhood in 1989. FIOE subsequently created the European Council for Fatwa and Research, a pan European Muslim Brotherhood organisation which provides guidance ...

which has its headquarters in Brussels.

History

The IGD had its origins in the Munich Mosque Construction Commission, a German organization established in the 1950s whose goal was the construction of a mosque in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

Said Ramadan Said Ramadan ( ar, سعيد رمضان; April 12, 1926 in Shibin Al Kawm, Al Minufiyah – August 4, 1995 in Geneva) was an Egyptian political activist and humanitarian, and one of the preeminent leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. He was the so ...

, the son-in-law of

Hassan al-Banna Sheikh Hassan Ahmed Abdel Rahman Muhammed al-Banna ( ar, حسن أحمد عبد الرحمن محمد البنا; 14 October 1906 – 12 February 1949), known as Hassan al-Banna ( ar, حسن البنا), was an Egyptian schoolteacher and imam, b ...

, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, took over control of the commission in 1958 and used his position to travel throughout the Muslim world with his Syrian assistant Ali Ghaleb Himmat. Ramadan was assisted significantly by the US

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

which allegedly paid for his travel and backed his efforts to take over the mosque although suspicions that Ramadan was a CIA operative have never been proven. By the mid-1960s, Ramadan was no longer in control of the Commission which was taken over by Himmat.http://www.hudson.org/content/researchattachments/attachment/1333/johnson_vol6.pdf During the 1960s, under Himmat's leadership and together with Egyptian businessman

Youssef Nada Youssef Moustafa Ali Nada ( ar, يوسف مصطفى علي ندا; born 17 May 1931, in Egypt) is a noted businessman and Muslim Brotherhood financial strategist. Nada is most famous for raising successful European human rights legal cases to def ...

the newly built Munich Mosque became the nucleus of a network of mosques, centers and associations in all major West German cities.http://www.fpri.org/docs/chapters/201303.west_and_the_muslim_brotherhood_after_the_arab_spring.chapter5.pdf In 1963, the Mosque Building Commission was renamed The Islamic Community of Southern Germany and in a 1982 meeting was renamed the Islamic Community of Germany (Islamische Gemeinschaft in Deutschland (IGD). In 1989, IGD founded the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated umbrella organisation

Ties To Muslim Brotherhood

The IGD has been called "the main representative of the Brotherhood in Germany" and the German Domestic Intelligence Agency (

Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (german: Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz or BfV, often ''Bundesverfassungsschutz'') is Germany's federal domestic intelligence agency. Together with the Landesämter für Verfassungss ...

) calls the IGD "the central organization for Muslim Brotherhood followers in Germany." while noting that links to the brotherhood are often publicly denied by its European organisations.

Previous names

The IGD has been known by these names: * 1958 - Ecclesiastical Administration of Moslem Refugees in the Federal Republic of Germany (Geistliche Verwaltung der mohammedanischen Flüchtlinge in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland). * 1960 - Mosque Construction Commission * 1963 - Islamic Community of Southern Germany * 1982 - Islamic Community of Germany (Islamische Gemeinschaft in Deutschland)

Notable Members

Directors: *

- 1958-1968 * Faizal i Yazdani - 1968-1973 * Ali Ghaleb Himmat - 1973-2002 * Ibrahim Faruk El-Zayat - 2002–present

References

{{Authority control Islamic organisations based in Germany Islamic organizations established in 1958 1958 establishments in Germany Muslim Brotherhood