Did you know?
The first ever formal mosque in Germany was opened during the course of 1st World War and it was built just in 2 weeks time by the Germans to encourage and prepare Muslims to wage JEHAD against the enemies of the Germany.
Thread on the Project Jihad of that time.
Germans had setup various camps for the prisoners of war but for Muslims they setup a separate camp and named it Halbmondlager (Half-moon/Crescent) at the outskirts of Berlin.
Special sermons were arranged to preach Jehad among these PoW.
Eid-Ul-Azha that year was a great spectacle in Germany. Muslim PoW were provided with everything that the Germans thought could win favor with them so that they volunteer to wage a holy war on behalf of Germany and the Ottomans against their enemies.
Special paper titled "El DSCHIHAD" - Al-Jehad used to get published & distributed among the Muslim PoW.
Jihad was holy then, it was holy in WWII, it was holy against the Soviets in AFG but somehow it has become unholy now among those who wanted Muslims to fight for their causes.
Since "Jehad" didn't resonate with the non-Muslim Indians so the Urdu & Hindi one was titled Hindostan.
Note Allama Iqbal's famous couplet from his poem on the top of the paper.
Photo of the six Pashtuns who were recruited by the Ottoman and Germans to provide escort to the joint mission that they sent to Afghanistan to convince Amir Habibullah Khan to side with the Muslims and wage Jehad against the British in India.
Not only that the mission failed so did the Ottoman-German alliance suffered a defeat.
Anyways, the first mosque that was constructed in Germany on the outskirts of Berlin was demolished in 1930 - just 15 years of its construction.
Correction: The mosque was built in *5 Weeks.
The Ottoman-German mission aka the Niedermayer-Hentig-Expedition though failed to achieve its objective but it did left its influence on many in Afghanistan including Amanullah Khan who then on the conclusion of WWI did wage Jihad against the British.
Interestingly, Nazi-Germany had also encouraged and funded Jihad against the British. They also supported return of Amanullah Khan to the throne of Kabul.
Here is a relevant thread with more details.
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.