Alexander Dobrindt, Germany’s Minister of the Interior, speaks during a statement on the ban of the Islamist association “Muslim Interactive”. Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/dpa

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt on Wednesday banned a Muslim group accused of undermining the country’s democratic and constitutional values.

The group, called Muslim Interaktiv, denies Israel’s right to exist, calls for a caliphate and is looking to divide the nation, the minister said in Berlin.

The association will be dissolved and its assets confiscated.

Additionally, investigations are under way into two groups called Generation Islam and Realität Islam, the ministry said.

The three groups are very present on social media, according to Jamuna Oehlmann, who leads a non-profit group dedicated to combatting extremism.

Muslim Interaktiv in particular is trying to appeal to young Muslims and convince them that they are not wanted by German and European society, the expert told dpa.

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency considers all three groups to share the ideology promoted by Hizb ut-Tahrir, an international pan-Islamist political organization whose stated aim is to establish a caliphate, a form of rule based on Sharia law. It has been banned in Germany since 2003.

Authorities searched several properties early on Wednesday in Hamburg and Berlin, as well as the central state of Hesse, in connection with the investigations, seizing cash, data devices and handwritten notes.

Anti-constitutional attitude

“Anyone who aggressively demands a caliphate on our streets, incites hatred against the state of Israel and Jews in an intolerable manner, and despises the rights of women and minorities will be met with the full force of the law,” Dobrindt said.

“We will not allow organizations such as Muslim Interaktiv to undermine our free society with their hatred, despise our democracy, and attack our country from within.”

Hamburg’s interior minister, Andy Grote, described the ban as a blow against “modern TikTok Islamism.”

“With today’s enforcement of the ban on Muslim Interaktiv, our security authorities have eliminated a dangerous and highly active Islamist group,” Grote said.

Islam as the sole model of society

Muslim Interaktiv reportedly advocates for Islam as the sole model to govern society and demands that Islamic life be entirely independent of state influence.

The group has described democratic society as a “dictatorship of values” while saying all “our ideas and values stem from our Islamic worldview and are non-negotiable,” according to the Interior Ministry.

Online propaganda and recruitment actitivities

The ministry stated that Muslim Interaktiv also disregards human rights, particularly by opposing gender equality and freedom of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Preliminary investigations and searches targeting Generation Islam and Realität Islam are ongoing, as these organizations are strongly suspected of meeting similar grounds for prohibition as Muslim Interaktiv or operating as its sub-organizations, the ministry stated.

The inquiry aims to gather detailed information on the content, structure, personnel and finances of the associations, it added.

The groups’ leaders promote a strictly conservative interpretation of Islam and call for withdrawal from mainstream society.

They warn against what they describe as state-imposed assimilation and portray Muslims as a systematically oppressed minority.

This narrative, according to security authorities, resonates particularly with young Muslims who have experienced discrimination or exclusion in daily life.

The three organizations are not classified as jihadist, meaning they do not engage in or promote violence to achieve their political goals - distinguishing them from groups such as al-Qaeda or the Islamic State movement.

Alexander Dobrindt, Germany’s Minister of the Interior, speaks during a statement on the ban of the Islamist association “Muslim Interactive”. Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/dpa

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