Nina Mühe

Young, of German background, a cultural anthropologist and an enthusiastic convert to Islam. Currently working within an EU-project on Tolerance called “ACCEPT Pluralism” for the university Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder) near to Berlin. She is currently busy preparing for her PHD in the field of Muslims in Germany. Over the last years she has been working as a freelance researcher for the Open Society Foundations in London within the project called “At Home in Europe – Muslims in EU Cities”. She has previously contributed a study on Muslims in Berlin, which you can find here: BERLIN MUSLIMS.
She is also a trainer for religious diversity, a homeopath and a free time hobby photographer.

As a child she had chosen and grown with Christianity as a religion, because her parents had left it open for her to chose. Since then she has always been searching to get closer to God and to find her own spiritual path. In the end of her studies as cultural anthropologist she went to Guinea for about a year, where she lived with a Muslim family. Both the family’s hospitality and spirituality, (which was lived in everyday life by each member of the family in a different way), made a good impression with her. She decided to start trying some of Islamic practices with them, praying now and then and fasting some days in Ramadan.

“It just felt natural to me…” she recalls, as she found harmony with her own religious feelings and concepts.
When she started to read more about Islam, its beliefs and concepts she realised, that it actually was very close to beliefs at the time.
She found that Muslims honour Jesus [Issa] (peace be upon him) very much, and that it was not such an alien religion afterall but rather an extension to what she already believed to be true.

After her heart was drawn close to Islam with the Guinean family she began reading books on Islam and speaking to many people too. Consequentially she realised that Mohammad (peace be upon him) is a messenger too, sent by God (SWT), and that she felt that Jesus would have wanted her to follow the prophet Mohammad’s (peace be upon him) teachings and examples too.

That was the moment she realised, that there was no other way for her other than to be Muslim.
Please meet Anthropologist, photographer and convert to Islam – Nina Mühe.

1- What were your thoughts about Muslims in Germany before you came to Islam and during your childhood etc?

To be honest, I never thought about Muslims very much. The public debate about Islam was not at all comparable with what we have today, and so I just did not have a real opinion about Islam or Muslims. I just had some general ideas about Islam allowing polygamy and being ’spread with the sword’ and some kind of male domination. All these points seemed to me incompatible with my image of God as loving and just and so I never thought of Islam as a religion coming from the same God, that I prayed to. But the bad image was also not as profound as what we have today after massive waves of negative media coverage of Islam and Muslims. I remember, that there were some children from Turkey in my school – in Bavaria – , but they were completely separated from us, all taught in one class, marked by a T (for Turkish) speaking only Turkish to a Turkish teacher. They grew up beside us, their parents working in the porcelain factories in our town, and we hardly had any contact at all…incredible to imagine this today, but this was the way, how labour migration to Germany was intentionally organised as a parallel society in the beginning.

Pigeon in the ancient Masjid Al-Qara’un in Cairo, Egypt

2- Can you tell us about why you chose Guinea for your studies?

I was studying cultural anthropology at a Berlin university and when I had to take a course in field research, the trip to Guinea, was the only one offered. This trip however gave me the opportunity to visit Africa for the first time and to gain some insight into the life of an African capital. It all impressed me very much as I realised, that we don’t have any idea in Germany, how people live there, that we are full of stereotypes, and I wanted to do something with this impression. So back home I applied for a scholarship and came back for one year in order to make a documentary, learn a Guinean language and do research. The field that had struck me was the music tourism around drums playing and dancing, which seemed to give great opportunities to Guinean youth, who otherwise had very limited to no future perspectives. So this issue became the focus of both my thesis and a documentary. The thesis is published, but the documentary was unfortunately never finished.

Minaret of ancient desert mosque in Oasis Bahariya, Egypt

3- Have you visited any other places and did they leave an impression with you too?

After finishing school I travelled around New Zealand with a friend where I was impressed by the wideness of the landscape, the impressive nature, that still impacted very directly on people’s lives. But I was also struck by European culture of this far away country and by the Maori people, who had been there before, being quite oppressed and pushed into an inferior position.
During my studies I have been to Mexico and Guatemala, where I was most impressed by the region of Chiapas, where the revolutionary uprising of the Zapatistas was still ongoing, indigenous people fighting for their rights and against neoliberalism.
After being Muslim I visited some Arab countries, among which Egypt impressed me the most as it combines great opportunities to study Arabic and Islam with the possibility to lead a self-determined life as a Muslim female foreigner. Both strong religious commitment and self determined life also for women are combined there in a way, which appeals to me a lot. I found wonderful friends there too and I pray, that their revolution will lead to the best and not be destroyed.

Watching the tumultuous street life of Cairo

4- What happened when you first started wearing Hijab? (How did your family react and how did your friends react?)

It was not easy at all. I was prepared, that many people would find it weird, but I was not prepared for the hostility, that certain people would show me, let alone the German state passing laws against women with hijab in certain professions! This all showed me a very ugly side of our country, which I had not perceived in the same way before. The hijab was also the most difficult part of my religion for some friends and family members. While they could somehow live with me being a Muslim, the hijab caused some severe conflict with some of my dearest friends. My family always somehow accepted me as I was, even if they would have liked me to not change my looks so drastically I guess, but they got used to it and always try their best to fulfil all my dietary and other religious needs and wishes, when I visit them.

Prayer in the White Desert of Egypt

5- Have you found a difference within yourself from then (before Islam) to now in the way you approach things and deal with society in general? Can you compare and contrast the two periods of time?

I have always tried to struggle in one way or the other for a better and more just society, but was very often confronted with the ‘reality’, that many things seem to become rather worse than better in terms of social justice, the environment or other issues, which sometimes let me doubt in the sense of these struggles. When I became Muslim, I understood, that these struggles make sense, whether we can change anything or not. Even if we do not seem to win anything in this world sometimes, we will be rewarded for any good deed and even any good intention by God in this world or the next. This gave me a lot of strength to carry on with trying to improve things in this society – and in myself.
Generally I could say, I am the same person as before Islam, but every little thing in life – the good and the less good – makes sense in a very different way now, there is a meaning to everything, which helps to bear difficult situations better but also to appreciate all the details of life much more. I look at nature differently, as it is Gods great creation, and I look at my family and friends around me differently as some of the most precious gifts of Allah.

Muslim woman taking a rest in an Egyptian mosque

6- Do you try to apply your scholastic background to Islam? If so in what way, and what would you like to achieve from this?

As anthropologist I always wanted to work as a kind of mediator between different cultures and societies and to bridge between different understandings and ways to perceive life. As a Muslim in Germany, being born as a non-Muslim I am now using the opportunity to try and bridge between Muslims and non-Muslims and to improve the understanding of Muslims by researching into their needs and concerns and making them known to the majority. But this does not work as black and white as it sounds. There are also many sub-groups among Muslims and ‘non-Muslims’, who need to understand each other better, and I myself need to understand many more things about others. So somehow I combined my general interest in different people and societies with my works as an anthropologist and with my role as a Muslim in Germany.

Painter beside a church in Florence

7- How does photography play a part in your everyday life?

I simply love to capture images, that pass through my life – be it beautiful moments with dear friends and family, be it something that catches my eye in my town, in nature or anywhere around me. Most of the time we ignore the special moments and the small impressive details, because we don’t have an eye for them. Going around with the camera makes me see things differently and pay more attention to these details and sometimes gives me a different view on things. The photography I love the most, is the one that manages to capture the atmosphere, the energy or the hidden meaning of something or someone, more than the outer beauty.

Night at the bosporus

8- Do you think photography can bring about a better cultural understanding of so called “western” Muslims to our “eastern” brothers and sisters and to non-Muslims alike?

Why not? Photography can be a good means to show not only reality but also emotions. And emotions are much more important for us and are much more guiding us, than we often think, or want to think as we perceive ourselves as mainly rational beings. You can see this in the revolution of the Arab countries. Some pictures of veiled Muslim women in Egypt laughing and fighting alongside the men changed more in the perception of many Europeans about Muslim women, than many articles and speeches could have done. It surely can also work the other way round and in many other directions.

Minaret of Masjid al Qara’un, Egypt

9- Studying anthropology, being a photographer and a participating sister in Islam: shouldn’t there be books coming from you?

Well, I try my best… I wrote a book, an analyses of my research for the Open Society Institute about Muslims in Berlin, which was published last year, and I am actually working on another project, which will inshAllah result in my PhD thesis. I am however not convinced yet, that writing scientific books is the best way to reach people, so I try to do other things as well, like for example diversity trainings about religions and world views, where people with different views and backgrounds meet each other and work together for some days and often change their preconceived ideas about each other just by real human contact.

Dawn in the desert

10- What do you see for yourself in regards to combining your skills for future projects?

I would love to do an exhibition once about Hajj or another Muslim event or issue, where people do not only see pictures and read texts, but interactively participate by different means and are enabled to somehow dive into the experience. I have seen this in big anthropological museums in the Netherlands, where the exhibition really manages somehow to change your perception of the place or culture it is portraying. But for the moment I am quite busy with my research about tolerance and pluralism, which I do for an EU-project with 14 other countries and with the diversity trainings I am doing now and then.

Al Azhar mosque, Cairo

Thank you Sister Nina for taking time with us.
May Allah SWT forgive your sins, answer your prayers and grant you Janna.
Mashallah Sister Nina has been a busy and active individual with many publications and contributions to various papers and issues. Below is the list of all things concerning Nina Mühe.
Current EU-project she is working in: ACCEPT Pluralism
Belieforama project – Diversity Training for Religions and World Views – she is working as a trainer
Website about Women, Society and Islam, that she runs with two sisters (in German): http://www.nafisa.de
Publications (most of them with online links):
• Nina Mühe and Andreas Hieronymus (2011) Has Multiculturalism completely failed in Germany?, in: Michael Emerson, Tufyal Choudhury (ed.) Interculturalism, Emerging Societal Models for Europe and its Muslims, Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Brussels
• Nina Mühe (2010) Muslims in Berlin, Open Society Foundation (ed.) At Home in Europe Project, New York-London-Budapest; online: http://www.soros.org/initiatives/home/articles_publications/publications/berlin-muslims-report-20100427
• Liz Fekete (ed.) with Naima Bouteldja and Nina Mühe (2010) Alternative Voices on Integration, in Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, Institute of Race Relations, London; online: http://www.irr.org.uk/alternative_voices/
• Nina Mühe (2008) Musiktourismus in Guinea, Ökonomische Strategien von Jugendlichen und Möglichkeiten zur Arbeitsmigration (Music Tourism in Guinea, Economical Strategies of Young People and Possibilities for Labour Migration), VDM, Saarbrücken
• Nina Mühe (2007) Muslims in EU-Cities Background Report – Germany, Open Society Institute, online-publication: http://www.soros.org/initiatives/home/articles_publications/publications/museucities_20080101/museucitiesger_20080101.pdf
and last but least Nina on Flikr
Interview by Abu Bassam Perry.
All images contained in this article are copyrighted to Nina Mühe ©.
No form of reproduction, including copying or saving of digital image files, or the alteration or manipulation of said image files, is authorized unless written usage rights have been specifically negotiated and issued by Nina Mühe.
For information regarding the use of the images, please contact Nina Mühe directly.
Content other than images owned by Nina Mühe are copyright shared between this site’s author (Stuart Perry [Abu Bassam) muslim-photographer.com ©) and Nina Mühe and permissions for republication can be had from either author or interviewee at their relevant websites.
(Please quote URL on enquiry).
muslim-photographer.com © 2011

So endete ein Artikel bei Zeit online über den Prozess und die Urteilsverkündung im Mordfall von Marwa El-Sherbini am 11. November. Die deutsche, wie auch die ägyptische Presse waren zurecht voll des Lobes für den gerechten Urteilsspruch der deutschen Justiz, der – wenn er auch das Leid nicht mildern konnte – zumindest die Schwere der Tat herausstellte und entsprechend ahndete. Und tatsächlich hatten sich sehr viele Menschen in dem ganzen Verlauf des Falles offensichtlich sehr gut und gerecht verhalten, angefangen von den Umstehenden auf dem Spielplatz, auf dem Marwa und ihr kleiner Sohn von dem späteren Mörder beleidigt worden waren – sie redeten auf den Beleidiger ein und unterstützten die Beleidigte in dem Bestreben, sich zu wehren, indem sie ihr Handy zur Verfügung stellten um die Polizei zu rufen – über die Polizisten, die den Fall nicht verharmlosten – wie es Opfer in anderen Fällen immer wieder beklagen – sondern ihn aufnahmen und verfolgten, bis zum Gericht, das angesichts der fehlenden Einsicht des Beklagten, immer höhere Geldstrafen verhängte, und ebenfalls die Schwere seiner Beleidigungen und deren gefährlich-hasserfüllten Hintergrund herausstellte.

Aber dennoch bleibt ein eigenartiger Geschmack, angesichts einer scheinbar völligen Abwesenheit von Selbstkritik eines Gerichts, in dem es einem auffälligen jungen Mann, der schon schriftliche Drohgebärden an eben dieses Gericht gesandt hatte und, der schon in der ersten Verhandlung seine potentielle Gewaltbereitschaft zur Schau gestellt hatte, möglich gewesen war, ein langes Küchenmesser im Rucksack in den Gerichtssaal zu bringen und – unbehelligt durch jegliche Wachleute – 16 mal damit vor aller Augen auf sein wehrloses Opfer einzustechen. Gegen den Richter sowie gegen den Polizisten, der irrtümlich den Mann des Opfers anschoss und nicht den Täter, laufen längst Verfahren, in denen sie sich für ihre Entscheidungen verantworten müssen, aber das Gericht lässt auch hier keinerlei Selbstkritik aufkommen, wie eine Prozessbeobachterin in Dresden berichtet. ((Eine befreundete Anti-Diskriminierungs-Aktivistin war für die Urteilsverkündung nach Dresden gefahren, hatte von der zweistündigen Urteilsbegründung detailliert berichtet und damit Anlass für diesen Kommentar gegeben.))

Schon vor dem Verfahren in der ersten Instanz hatte dem Gericht ein Schreiben des späteren Mörders vorgelegen, in dem er seinen Hass nochmals schriftlich zum Ausdruck brachte und u.a. äußerte, niemand könne von ihm erwarten, ’seine Feinde in seiner Nähe zu dulden’ und das Kopftuch hätte ihn und Deutschland als ‘Zeichen der Unterwerfung unter den Satangott’ beleidigt. Auch schon ganz zu Beginn der Begegnung mit Marwa und ihrem Sohn auf dem Spielplatz hatte er beide wohl schon indirekt bedroht, indem er Marwa und ihr Kind als potentielle Terroristen bezeichnete und drohte, wenn ihr Kind schaukele, schaukele es bis zum Tod ((Auf der Internetseite des Zentralrats der Muslime wird das Zitat anders wiedergegeben: “Das Kind darf nicht mehr hier auf dem Spielplatz spielen – wenn es doch kommt, werde ich bis zu seinem Tode hier schaukeln.”, was aber ebenfalls als Drohung verstanden werde kann.)) . Und schließlich hatte er bei seiner ersten Vernehmung ausgesagt: “Wenn ich Waffen oder Sprengstoff gehabt hätte, hätte ich die mit hierher gebracht” ((http://www.dradio.de/dlf/sendungen/kommentar/1068421/)). Die zuständige Amtsrichterin für das erste Verfahren hatte bereits erwogen Wachschutz einzubestellen, sich aber dagegen entschlossen, weil der Angeklagte nicht gefährlich gewirkt hätte. ((http://www.zeit.de/2009/47/Prozess-Dresden)) Man ließ sich also durch den völlig subjektiven persönlichen Eindruck, den der Angeklagte auf die Entscheidungsträger machte, von einer bereits vorhandenen Befürchtung für die Sicherheit der Zeugin abbringen. Ein menschliches Versagen, wie es vielleicht noch nachvollziehbar gewesen wäre, dessen Rechtfertigung durch das Gericht allerdings nicht zu der ansonsten doch gewissenhaften und gründlichen Aufklärungsarbeit der Richterin bei diesem Prozess passen mag.

Auch die Frage, die aufkommen könnte, warum man nicht einfach vorsichtshalber – trotz des angeblich harmlosen Äußeren des Beklagten – Wachschutz in den Saal bestellt hätte, wird – wie eine Prozessbeobachterin ebenfalls erzählt – vom Gericht schon vorsorglich damit beantwortet, dass dieses Gericht eben Volksnähe vermitteln wolle.
Auch hier wird ein vielleicht nachvollziehbarer menschlicher Fehler erst durch die Rechtfertigung des Gerichts zu einer unangemessenen und unentschuldbaren Verharmlosung des Beklagten und Gefährdung der Zeugin, verstärkt durch den gar nicht volksnahen Eindruck, den der immense Umbau des Gerichtsgebäudes sowie dessen 2,5-wöchige Abschottung und das kollossale Polizeiaufgebot zum Schutz des Täters beim Prozess hinterlassen.

Und schließlich ist da der Polizist, der das Opfer anschoss, nicht den Täter, und den sicherlich auch keine besondere individuelle rassistische Einstellung zu dieser fatalen Wahl führte. Aber auch sein Handeln wird von der Richterin gerechtfertigt mit der Aussage, er hätte nur auf das Bein geschossen, das ihm am nächsten gewesen sei, und das obwohl das diesbezügliche Verfahren noch nicht beendet ist.
Sicherlich musste der unerwartet zu einem solchen Horrorszenario herbeigerufene Polizist sich innerhalb von Sekundenbruchteilen entscheiden, auf wen er schoss, aber die Tatsache, dass es eben der Ägypter, nicht der Russlanddeutsche war, für den er sich entschied, kann nicht einfach mit dem Argument beiseite gewischt werden, auch der Täter hätte kein typisch deutsches Aussehen gehabt – er sei ja Russlanddeutscher – und deshalb könne Rassismus hier nicht zu der Fehlentscheidung beigetragen haben und schon gar nicht ausschließlich mit dem Argument, das eine Bein sei eben näher gewesen als das andere.

Der Rassismus und die Islamfeindlichkeit sind hier sicherlich nicht den Individuen anzulasten, die tatsächlich wohl zum größten Teil sehr vorbildhaft gehandelt haben, aber er sollte sehr wohl als gesellschaftliche Kraft stärker unter die Lupe genommen werden, und zwar nicht nur in ihrer absoluten Extremform im Fall von Alex W., sondern gerade in den – manchmal kaum merklichen – Einflüssen, die unsere Verhaltensmuster durchziehen und mitbestimmen.

Dann würde einem vielleicht doch auffallen, dass der Polizist – zu dessen beruflichem Alltag es gehört, Menschen aufgrund einer spezifischen Gruppenzugehörigkeit stärker zu verdächtigen als Andere – sich in dem Moment, in dem er nicht mehr überlegen konnte, möglicherweise nicht zufällig für den Ägypter als vermeintlichen Täter entschied.
Und es würde einem vielleicht auch auffallen, dass alle Beteiligten des Berufungsverfahrens den Angeklagten, trotz dessen gegenteiliger mündlicher und schriftlicher Äußerungen für harmlos hielten – weil er so ein ‘weiches Kindergesicht’ hatte – während das gesamte Gerichtsgebäude für sicherheitstechnische Maßnahmen umgebaut wurde, weil ein ägyptischer Dorfimam, den niemand kennt und niemand außer einigen deutschen Medien beachtet, zur Ermordung des Angeklagten aufgerufen hatte.

Das gerechte Urteil, das alle mit Erleichterung aufnahmen, hätte durch ein wenig Selbstkritik noch sehr viel tiefgreifender bezüglich der Ursachen für dezidiert islamophobe Attacken wie diese wirken können, weil dann möglicherweise – zusätzlich zu der Beteuerung der Gerechtigkeit der deutschen Justiz – auch ein Fokus auf die leider in diesem Land schon sehr weit verbreiteten islamfeindlichen Einstellungen und deren mögliche Ursachen geworfen worden wäre.