as-Sahaba mosque

as-Sahaba mosque in the peat street

The as-Sahaba mosque is a mosque in the Berlin district of Wedding . The Berlin Office for the Protection of the Constitution counts the as-Sahaba mosque, alongside the al-Nur mosque in Neukölln and the Ibrahim al-Chalil mosque in Tempelhof, as one of the three Berlin meeting places for Salafists .

Until the end of 2019, the mosque was located in a former shop in an old building at Weddinger Torfstrasse 15.

The mosque was founded in Ramadan 2010 by Reda Seyam , who is considered the highest-ranking German within the Islamic State and was responsible there, among other things, as "education minister" for the university in Mosul and for schools in the IS-controlled area. Seyam ran the mosque for some time while he was still in Germany, and it was also where his private mailbox was located . Among other things, Islam seminars with several hundred participants take place there. Reda Seyam, however, left the preaching there to the Palestinian Ahmad Amih alias Abul Baraa.

Due to suspicion of terrorist financing against Abul Baraa, the Berlin Public Prosecutor's Office had the mosque searched on December 18, 2018 in order to preserve evidence.

The Berlin Office for the Protection of the Constitution mentions the mosque in detail in its annual reports.

Visitors and sermons

The mosque generally refuses to deal with the press . A reporter from Deutschlandradio Kultur visited the mosque one evening in 2011 during the Islamic class and reported about 60 men, mostly around 20 years old, who had visited the mosque. They would have wore full beards, floor-length white robes and crocheted caps. On the same evening about 20 young women in black or dark brown full-body capes came to pray in a separate women's room. On Fridays, praying for women was not possible at this time, as the women's room was also needed for the numerous men who came. The sermon of Ahmad Armih , who appeared as Abul Baraa, that evening was directed against unbelievers, including the vast majority of Muslims who were westernized and would also end up in hell.

One of the guest preachers was Denis Cuspert , also known as Deso Dogg, who plays a leading role in IS and has already been declared dead several times, but never verifiable.

The sermons themselves are in German . On the one hand, many third-generation migrants speak German better than the language of their grandparents; on the other hand, German converts are an important target group for Salafists.

Florian L., who worked as a security guard on the construction site of the Berlin airport that was to be built , is said to have been a regular visitor to the mosque. Because of the employment of a Salafist in this position, the construction operator of the airport came under fire.

Discussion in public

The Office for the Protection of the Constitution said in writing at the request of Deutschlandradio 2011 about the mosque: “The predominantly young audience from all over Germany comes to Islam seminars. As a rule, the preachers make sure in their lectures that their statements do not constitute grounds for state sanctions. However, these seminars are problematic because they offer a suitable framework for group formation and the influencing of extremist ideas by the often charismatic speakers. "

In August 2012, on the last day of Ramadan, the right-wing extremist movement Pro Deutschland organized a day of protest in front of various Berlin mosques, including the al-Sahaba mosque. Around 70 party sympathizers came there, waving cartoons of Mohammed , among other things . The Berlin NPD state chairman Sebastian Schmidtke was among the demonstrators. They faced around 100 counter-demonstrators. These accused the organizers of primarily wanting to provoke violent clashes. The Islamic Council for the Federal Republic of Germany had advised its members for reasons of de-escalation, to ignore the action of Pro Germany and not to participate in the actions.

Termination of the rental agreement

As reported by Berliner Morgenpost and BZ at the beginning of July 2018, the lease for the premises at Torf-corner Sprengelstrasse was terminated on June 30, 2018. The mosque community announced via YouTube videos that they were looking for new, larger premises. Until the end of 2018, the mosque was still on the corner of Torf and Sprengelstrasse.