Ramadan 2023 , Date: 2023.03.22, format: Report, area: Featured Topics

Photography of a woman standing next to a wall. Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser. Source: Peter Jülich

A message for all Muslims in Germany:

My very best wishes for the start of Ramadan!

In the past three years, the COVID-19 pandemic has kept you from being able to celebrate this important holy month in the usual way. This year will be the first since 2019 in which you can observe Ramadan without pandemic-related restrictions. With vaccination campaigns and many other initiatives undertaken in your congregations and communities, you have helped to overcome the pandemic, and I would like to thank you once again for that.

For more than a year now, the war in Ukraine and its far-reaching impacts have shown us how precious peace, prosperity and social harmony are – and how they cannot be taken for granted, even in the heart of Europe. This makes it all the more important to maintain and strengthen social cohesion here in Germany. Hate, incitement and violence – which are often aimed at Muslims – do not belong in our country. That is what I stand for, and that is what this Federal Government stands for.

More than six weeks have now passed since the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria caused immeasurable suffering for countless men, women and children. Thousands of you, our fellow citizens here in Germany, who have close relatives in the disaster region, are mourning the death, injuries to body and soul, and lost homes of your friends and loved ones. Please be assured that even though images of the disaster are no longer being shown in the news every night, we still feel with you and mourn with you. We stand by you.

I hope that all Muslims will gain from their faith renewed strength and hope during this month of fasting, and I hope that, when you break the fast in the evening with your congregations, your families, friends and neighbours, you will take the time to appreciate these precious moments of being together. I wish you all a blessed time of prayer, reflection and – despite everything – joy!

Nancy Faeser