Muslim Life in Germany - Deutsche Islam Konferenz

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Introduction
Introduction 19
There is no precise information available on the number
of Muslims living in Germany and the structure of this population
group. Previous figures on the number of Muslims in
Germany have largely been derived from estimates. These estimates
are based on the proportion of Muslims in the respective
countries of origin of the foreigners living in Germany. With
this procedure no consideration is given to the fact that it is often
minorities in particular from countries with heterogeneous
populations who emigrate, which means that the proportion of
Muslims in the country of origin cannot be directly applied to
Germany. There is therefore a lack of basic information about
the precise religious affiliations of these immigrants.
This is why the Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge
(Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, BAMF) was commissioned
by the Deutsche Islam Konferenz (German Conference
on Islam, DIK) to fill this knowledge gap. The aim of the research
project “Muslim Life in Germany” (MLG) is to determine the
number of Muslims in Germany and their religious composition
as precisely as possible. In addition, the research project “Muslim
Life in Germany” aims to contribute to gaining insights into
the everyday religious life, beliefs, social and structural integration
of Muslims with a migration background. This concerns the
realities of life and social and religious behaviour of the Muslim
population in Germany.
In order to deal with the above mentioned research
questions, in the first half of 2008 a total of 6,004 persons with
a migration background from almost 50 predominantly Mus-