Muslim Life in Germany - Deutsche Islam Konferenz

Religiousness and religious practice 149
they fast in some instances. The proportions of Alevis who fast
(21 per cent) and those who do not fast (24 per cent) are roughly
equal. The quite high proportion of Alevis who state that they
observe the rules on fasting completely or in part appears surprising
at first, as Alevis do not consider fasting in the month of
Ramadan, which is obligatory in Islam, to be integral to their
religion. However, periods of fasting are also known in Alevism
– in the Islamic month of Muharram, in which the Shiite faith
also commemorates the martyrdom of Imam Hussein in Kerbala
(Sökefeld 2008c: 19). In all other Muslim denominations the
share of persons who regularly adhere to the rules on fasting
(49 per cent) outweighs the proportion of interviewees who fast
only in certain instances (19 per cent) or who do not fast at all (31
per cent).
Figure 38: Observance of Islamic rules on fasting among interviewed
Muslims according to denomination (in per cent)
Sunni
Shiite
Alevi
Other
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
20,1
24,4
24,3
31,4
9,5
37,2
19,4
54,5
no partly yes
Source: MLG 2008, dataset of interviewees aged 16 and over, weighted.
Unweighted number of cases: 2,257
70,3
49,1
38,4
21,2