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Muslim faith in Germany

Mosque in Duisburg

The number of Turks in Germany who define themselves as "very religious" quadrupled from 2000 to 2005. 83 percent considered themselves religious. (table 1)

At the same time, support for religious practices – praying, fasting, alms giving – increased significantly. (table 2)

Table 1: Attitudes to religion among Muslims in Germany[39]

	2000	2005
Very religious Quiet Religious Rather not religious Not at all religious	7.6 64.6 24.5 3.3	28.1 55.2 11.0 5.8

Table 2: Religious practices[40]

	2000	2005
Fasting during Ramadan Daily prayer Friday prayer Religious holiday prayer Zekat – Almsgiving	62.2 23.5 21.0 31.0 59.3	74.3 34.9 33.3 50.9 77.4

In 2000 some 27 percent of Turks in Germany believed that a Muslim woman should wear a headscarf in public. In 2005 the figure was 47 percent.

The number of Turks who think that girls and boys should not participate together in gym classes increased from 19 percent (2000) to 30 percent (2005).

90 percent of Turks in Germany favour Islamic religious education in German schools. 67 percent of Turks prefer such classes to be taught in Turkish.

[39] Faruk Sen/Martina Sauer, Islam in Deutschland - Einstellungen der türkischstämmigen Muslime - Religiöse Praxis und organisatorische Vertretung türkischstämmiger Muslime in Deutschland, Center for Studies on Turkey, 2006, p. 20.

[40] SO Faruk Şen/Martina Sauer, Islam in Deutschland - Einstellungen der türkischstämmigen Muslime - Religiöse Praxis und organisatorische Vertretung türkischstämmiger Muslime in Deutschland, Center for Studies on Turkey, 2006, p. 22f.