Ahmad Abu Laban

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Ahmad Abu Laban (* 1946 in Jaffa , Palestine , † February 1, 2007 in Copenhagen , Denmark ) was a leading Danish imam who became internationally known for his controversial role in the dispute over the Mohammed cartoons .

Life

Abu Laban's family fled from Palestine to Egypt , where he grew up , in 1948 after fighting during the founding of Israel . In 1969 he became a mechanical engineer and worked in Egypt, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Nigeria, where he studied Islamic theology with a number of Muslim scholars without completing any formal theological training. In 1982 he was expelled from the UAE.

In 1984 he came to Denmark and became an imam. Primarily he preached at the Tauba Mosque in Copenhagen and was the spiritual leader of the Islamisk Trossamfund (Islamic Faith Community) organization. As such, he often appeared in the media and was the best-known and longest-serving imam in Denmark. During the cartoon controversy , he never missed an opportunity to condemn the boycott of Danish goods against western media. On an Arab television channel, however, he could be seen confirming the boycott with joy on his face. In 2006 he was the most cited clergyman in Denmark. He was one of the leading Muslim debates in Denmark long before the “Mohammed Crisis” (as the cartoon dispute is called in Denmark), but it wasn't until the 2006 crisis that everyone was talking about him. Although he met with many Danish politicians, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen never received him.

Abu Laban called for greater integration of Muslims into Danish society, but he himself, who lived in Denmark for 23 years, never learned the Danish language , but preached in Arabic and English. He had a residence permit as a refugee in Denmark and a Palestinian ID.

Abu Laban married his cousin Inam in 1974. They had seven children together. In January 2007, Islamisk Trossamfund announced that its head had developed cancer. He died of lung cancer a few days later .

Controversy

  • Abu Laban was considered an Islamist who is said to have called Osama bin Laden a “freedom fighter” and who, in response to September 11, 2001, had “only dry tears” for the victims. He was also said to have close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood . As early as 1990 he is said to have hosted the blind Sheikh Umar Abd ar-Rahman .
  • According to Danmarks Radio , he was an undesirable person in the UAE and Egypt because of his "Islamic views".
  • Abu Laban was the representative of Islamisk Trossamfund in the Muslim delegation that toured the Middle East in late 2005 and early 2006 before the crisis peaked. This delegation came under fire because it showed cartoons that were not printed in the Jyllands-Posten and, together with Ahmed Akkari, distributed a dossier that was intended to further fuel the mood in Islamic countries. To this day, Abu Laban has been accused of provoking the international crisis.
  • On February 1, 2006, Abu Laban was accused by Danmarks Radio of “speaking with a forked tongue”, i. H. deliver opposing statements to Al-Jazeera and the Danish press regarding the Muhammad cartoons. While he asserted in the Danish press that he was using his influence against a boycott of Danish goods in Islamic countries, he expressed understanding in Al-Jazeera:

"We are against economic boycott and sincerely complain that this matter has come to this."

- Abu Laban : opposite the Berlingske Tidende

"When the Muslim countries decide to boycott and when Muslims feel that it is their duty to defend the Prophet, that is a cause for joy."

- Abu Laban : across from Al Jazeera
  • In a Friday sermon Abu Laban is said to have described the Danish Muslim politician Naser Khader as "third class" and the opponents in the cartoon dispute as "rats in their holes". Khader then unsuccessfully demanded the revocation of Islamisk Trossamfund's status as a recognized religious community .
  • According to Jyllands-Posten dated May 11, 2006, Abu Laben intended "to leave Denmark with his family for Gaza as soon as possible" because he felt that he had been treated unfairly in Denmark.
  • In the last paragraph of Jyllands Posten's obituary on February 1, 2007, the last paragraph emphasizes that Abu Laban has always advocated that Muslims in Denmark should better integrate, educate and get involved in society.

Some commentators see Abu Laban as an imam whose hate preaching and theological incompetence have contributed significantly to the escalation in the cartoon controversy. Other journalists, however, said that the influence of Danish imams in Islamic countries was overestimated. The regimes harassed by Islamists used the alleged “mockery of the prophet” only to draw attention to Denmark and to profile themselves as defenders of the faith.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Aldo Keel: In the power of tradition . , In: NZZ , December 11, 2006
  2. ↑ The multi-cultural dream is over . In: Die Welt , February 3, 2007
  3. ↑ Kristeligt Dagblad , December 28, 2006 (Danish)
  4. ↑ Imam Abu-Laban he syg af kræft . ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Det Islamiske Trossamfund, January 21, 2007 (Danish)
  5. ^ Religion.dk, September 19, 2001 ( memento of March 15, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Danish)
  6. ^ Danmarks Radio February 1, 2006 (Danish)
  7. ↑ Özlem Topcu: Imam's forgery fuels controversy . In: Welt am Sonntag , February 12, 2006
  8. ↑ Our approach was good . In: Die Welt , February 11, 2006; Interview with Abu Laban
  9. ↑ TV2, February 11, 2006 (Danish)
  10. ↑ Jyllands-Posten , February 1, 2007 ( Memento of February 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Danish)
personal data
SURNAME Laban, Ahmad Abu
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish imam
DATE OF BIRTH 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Jaffa , League of Nations Mandate for Palestine
DATE OF DEATH February 1, 2007
Place of death Copenhagen , Denmark