Ramadan in Germany

At a mosque in Germany's northern-most state of Schleswig-Holstein, the men's eyes sparkle for a moment as they watch pictures on Turkish television of thousands of people ending the Ramadan fast for the day in Istanbul. It's a far cry from the bustle and excitement of that great iftar, the Muslim evening meal that breaks the month of day-long fasting.

Two dozen men have gathered to eat a more modest iftar meal. The group, mostly Turkish-born but with a Pakistani and Bosnian among them, serve themselves meat dishes and fragrant rice with sliced almonds. They wait for the moment of sunset on the day's Ramadan calendar and then each eats the customary date to start the meal.

It does not take long for the ground-floor room to empty as they finish eating. Some move away quietly to pray and others go out to chat in the social room. Outside, most of the population is not even aware that the annual fasting month is happening.

This is a part of Germany, said one man, where the locals keep to themselves and consider themselves sociable if they greet a neighbor and say nothing else all day.

Bringing Ramadan to Germany

The television coverage from Turkey has invoked a feeling of yearning in some of the men to feel "at home," to be among up to 15,000 guests breaking their fast in great tents in Istanbul that are set up every year by rich benefactors and open to all comers, every evening of Ramadan.

At Ramadan night prayers, the car park is full as 80 men and boys gather in a capacious loft that has been converted into the mosque's main prayer room. The leaders of the community, affiliated to the semi-official Turkish religious body Ditib, are proud of the center that opened in 1991 with the mosque, a shop, travel agency and social center on a 4,000-square-meter (43,000-square-feet) site with a big garden next to a wooded stream.

Mehmet Demirbilek, a courier driver who was born near the Black Sea coast of Turkey and came to Germany in 1972, said the official membership list of only 140 at the center belies its true influence in this area of Germany.

Continuing the tradition

The mosque is located in Norderstedt, a town of Schleswig-Holstein state that is mainly a dormitory for the big nearby city of Hamburg. If the outlying areas of Hamburg are included, an estimated 1,400 Turks live in the area. With Arab and other Muslims included, perhaps the number is 2,000, and this mosque is open to all of them, he said.

No one knows how many of these are observing the Ramadan fast and ending the day with an iftar in the privacy of their own homes. There is an uncomfortable silence when they are asked about westernized Muslims who ignore the custom.

"In Islam, we are not supposed to judge others," said 55-year-old Nuri Ahrens, an auto repairer who has lived in Germany for the past 20 years.

While most of the men at the iftar are single, or away from their wives, Ahrens has left his wife at home for a women's iftar.

"She invites other women around to the place in the evening," he added.

"My heart has grown cold in this place"

For those seeking the most sumptuous iftar meals, the big city of Hamburg has restaurants that serve halal food approved by Islam, but it is hard to get a seat at an iftar table: during Ramadan, the restaurants are booked out months in advance.

Amid the companionship of the men's nightly meal, some of the talk becomes a cry from the heart against the German society where they live. One young man who has been a university student in the state capital Kiel said he has resolved to move home to Turkey.

"If you were to take out my heart, you would find nothing but love there," he said. "I have no hate. But my heart has grown cold in this place."