Case Study of the Wilmersdorf Mosque (Berlin):

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1 Ho Yin Leung ( , World Heritage Studies, BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg, Germany); Mohamed Badry Kamel Basuny Amer ( , Joint master in Heritage Conservation and Site Management Helwan University, Egypt & BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg, Germany); Polina Khan ( , World Heritage Studies, BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg, Germany). Case Study of the Wilmersdorf Mosque (Berlin): Decision-making Models and Authorities for Religious Heritage Sites The Framework of the Wilmersdorf Mosque 1- Imam (The Leader) The Imam is considered to be the only acting decision-maker in the Wilmersdorf Mosque (Masgid) in Berlin, Germany (Saadat, 2014). Originally he comes from Lahore, Pakistan. At the moment he lives in the mosque alone and holds all responsibilities for the mosque s affairs and makes his own decisions about the day-to-day situations related to administrative affairs, as well as develops a long term vision (Saadat, 2014). At the same time, he is the main Imam, or a religious leader, of the mosque who leads the prayers and delivers the Friday sermon. There are some issues in which he cannot make an individual decision, in that case he contacts Ahmadiyaah Movement in Lahore in order to receive an approval or to get instructions on the matter, but his pieces of advice are mostly taken into consideration. For example, in the area of financial affairs, when Imam faces a situation when restoration or renovation requires a big amount of money, he has to send a letter to the headquarters of movement, which would explain the situation in detail and provide an initial budget of the repairing process. Consequently, Ahmadiyaah movement studies his report to estimate the feasibility and asks their questions, if there are some, before approving the budget (Saadat, 2014). 2- International Ahmadiyaah Movement in Lahore, Pakistan This movement in Lahore owns the mosque and provides financial support that pays for the most of the mosque s inflow or, in other words, covers the bigger part of the mosque s budget(saadat, 2014). Moreover, the movement is not a missionary organization that is why it does not have a lot of members in Europe in general and in Germany in particular. Consequently, it is responsible for appointing a person to the duties of

2 Imam, who is actually sent from Lahore, Pakistan. Ahmadiyaah is an official authority which thoroughly studies all of the legal documents concerning the mosque s affairs before granting it s the final permission to Imam to sign them on its behalf (Saadat, 2014). 3- The European Representative of Ahmadiyyah Movement The European representative of the movement lives in Holland. The Imam has to involve him into the decision-making process especially when it concerns possible renovation and restoration, as well as general conservation of the site, and the size of the possible changes has to be identified. Furthermore, he assists Imam in making some decisions due to his vast experience in a management field that allows him to advise Imam and express his opinion while estimating the situation and preparing the financial plan (Saadat, 2014). 4- German Government According to the responses of Imam provided in the number of s received from him, the German government actively participates in the decision-making process. The Imam, acting as an administrator of the mosque, needs the permission of some governmental structures dealing with the urban development in Berlin, such as the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development. According to the information provided by the European Heritage Network website The Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development is responsible for urban design issues and energy efficiency of buildings also, for example, represents the interests of cultural heritage (2011). In case the Imam makes any changes in the external part of the mosque, it might be considered as the violation of laws. As soon as the Berlin Mosque is a German National Heritage Site, all of the decisions concerning its outside look must be made with the participation of the local governmental structures. German government is not responsible for anything related to the religious affairs of the mosque. The government is usually involved into the financial expenses of repairing or the renovation works that are normally shared with the Ahmadiyyah Movement, the former covering the percentage of about 40%, while the latter completes the remaining 60 % of the budget (Saadat, 2014). 5. Community Judging by the Imam s words, the community has an indirect role in making the decisions. The factual budget of the Wilmersdorf mosque initially depends on the donations which are sent from the Muslim communities all over the world, for instance Holland, England, USA, etc. Sometimes, these donations are done in the form of money, and sometimes in the form of golden treasury. Some of the donations come from the non-members of the movement (Saadat, 2014).

3 Stakeholders Relationship Legal Aspects of the Conservation and Management of the Wilmersdorf Mosque The Wilmersdorf Mosque belongs to the Private Property type of Ownership, meaning that it is privately owned by International Ahmadiyyah Movement located in Lahore, Pakistan, even though the mosque is situated in Berlin, Germany, and must follow local legislation. Cultural Heritage Laws of the State are available at in German Language. The conservation and management of the Wilmersdorf Mosque is based on the state and federal cultural heritage laws which prevail on more than 8,000 cultural monuments in Berlin (Heritage European Network, 2010). The primary responsibility for the cultural heritage is in the sixteen states of Germany; they are responsible for implementing the laws concerning the preservation of cultural heritage in Germany. The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the Secretariat of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of Germany are the highest authorities at the federal level in the cooperative function with the other Federal Ministry in order to maintain cultural heritage e.g. the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development etc. The individual states are responsible for the conservation and they must follow the legal way of the conservation implementation of cultural heritage in their own state. Moreover, civic engagement plays a major role in preserving Germany s cultural heritage depending on the ownership of the cultural heritage, whether it is privately or publicly owned. These states are working in the cooperative manners, but the details of the division vary due to the difficulties and the differences in protection required by the specific cultural heritage in accordance with the legal framework of the specific state. At the regional level, the top-level authorities are the responsible state ministries which are theoretically in charge for the expert s supervision of the cultural heritage authorities (Heritage European Network, 2010). These high level authorities are tasked to advise the low level authorities of cultural heritage they are responsible for implementing and carrying out the cultural heritage conservation, including recipients of questions, applications, objections, etc. and the owners of monuments, as well as providing the expert opinions on every kind of the conservation issues. In Berlin, the authorities responsible for cultural heritage are the senate department for urban development and the archaeological heritage department (Heritage European Network, 2010). According to the enactment of the environmental legislation stated by the federalism reformation in 2006 (Art. 72 (3) Basic Law) that the states are enabled to process and pass the divergent legislation over the precedence of federal law, the federal law remains in effect when there is no variance with the state s law (Carolyn Moore, Wade Jacoby and Arthur B. Gunlicks, 2010).

4 In case of the Wilmersdorf Mosque, the legal frameworks entail the rights and obligations for the owner (International Ahmadiyyah Movement). These frameworks assigned the day-to-day management of the monument itself. Moreover, the particular management team (the European Representative of Ahmadiyyah Movement) or person (Imam) is required to conserve and maintain the architectural components as far as it can reasonably be expected. So, the major renovations, changes, other uses or removal of monuments require the permission of the responsible cultural heritage authority on the high level (Heritage European Network, 2010). The Federal Republic of Germany The Highest Authority Authority on federal level of cultural heritage The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the Secretariat of the The Secretariat of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of Germany Authority on federal level of cultural heritage Senatsverwaltung Berlin für Stadtentwicklung Authority on regional level The Landesdenkmalamt Berlin of Archäologische Denkmalpflege Authority on regional level International Ahmadiyaah Movement, Lahore Owner Imam and the European Representative of Ahmadiyyah Movement Daily Management Diagram (1): The hierarchy system of the decision making process of Berliner Mosque

5 The Weaknesses of the Decision Making system in the Wilmersdorf Mosque Even after a deep inquiry into the decision making of the Wilmersdorf Mosque, there are still plenty of questions left. That fact points out some possible weaknesses of the decision-making management system. First of all, for instance, the lack of cooperation between the owners of the mosque, being the Ahmadiyyah Movement, and the Germany s governmental authorities. Supposedly, they should work things out together, while in fact most of the decisions are made by the site manager, and are not performed on the strategic level. It seems that the only way German government participates in conservation of this asset of the national heritage is through a partial financing of the tangible conservation of the mosque, while intangible conservation seems not to be carried out at all (Saadat, 2014). It is still not clear which party is involved in the evaluation, supervision and monitoring of the conservation state of the national heritage asset. In general it points out an overall lack of the management system. Even the state of conservation is evaluated by the Imam at this point, even though he has no architectural and conservational background at all. The mosque has no management team at the moment but the Imam, the volunteer who is waiting for three years for the permanent member of the movement appointed for this position to arrive. He has no long term plan, making the decisions day by day. Pretty much, he is the only person, responsible for everything in the mosque, having to consult sometimes with the representative of the movement living in Holland, who is carrying out the responsibilities for the outside look of the mosque and the decisions concerning the state of conservation of the building, and the Movement in Lahore itself (Saadat, 2014). The same issue is related to the financial efficiency which is visible on the amount of money spent on the maintenance of the mosque compared to the small number of regular visitors coming to perform their religious rituals. According to the data received from the Imam, the German government only pays 40% of all costs needed for the maintenance of the mosque as the national heritage, while the Ahmadiyyah Movement pays the rest 60% (Saadat, 2014). They cannot really do that, because this money is mostly comprised of the donations, the main budget that the movement has and probably sponsor money. For instance, the Imam reported to the Movement that the maintenance of the mosque needs 1,5 million euro, which are impossible to be funded at the moment (Saadat, 2014). It might be important to point out that according to the Euro-Islam website s information on Muslim population demographics in Berlin: Of the approximately 160,000 Muslim foreigners in Berlin, about 73% are of Turkish background, 7% from Bosnia-Herzegovina, and 4% are from Lebanon. The total foreign population of Berlin is estimated at 466,518. In addition to these numbers, it is assumed that there are at least 40,000 Muslims in the city who are naturalized German citizens. The size of the Muslim population in Berlin stands at approximately 9% of the city s total population ( 2007). We should point out that this mosque belongs to the Islamic movement disapproved and rejected by most of the Muslim population of the world that is why it has not so many visitors.

6 And the last but not the least, it is absolutely not clear what the relationship between two main stakeholders being the Movement and the German government are based on in the first place. Why Germany only covers 40% of all costs for that particular asset of its national heritage while normally it should provide more support, sometimes even up till 100% of the financing (Deutsche Nationalkomitee fur Denkmalschutz, 2014). Naturally, the question arises, is this the consequence of having only one person managing the mosque and not being able to cover all of the issues including those that concern funding?

7 Solutions Based on the done research and the information acquired from the Imam s abundant answers, it is possible to state that the Mosque has no management plan including no financial plan having only one person to manage the whole building and the issues concerning it. But that could have been helped if only a proper financial plan would have been developed distributing the necessary costs for the maintenance of the mosque throughout a period of time and probably including the expanding of the staff and hiring more people for the better efficiency of the management team. And after that would have been done, the second person could focus on developing a proper plan for managing the mosque, including a long term financial plan and a proper visitor and decision making plan, while the other person would only be dealing with the religious part of the everyday life of the mosque. Obviously, there is actually no applied decision making framework in the mosque to be followed. The Imam, being the only site manager, mainly sends inquiries to the headquarters of the Ahmadiyyah Movement. No heritage site can be maintained well preserved unless its values are fully understood. In the sense of efficient and effective management, a comprehensive management plan is needed and has to be worked out by involving as much as possible stakeholders in the cooperative manners. There should be more guidance including giving advices on designating the heritage conservation and management plans, e.g. the values-led approach and the assessment of the significance of a place (World Heritage Resource Manual: Managing Cultural World Heritage, 2013). Figure.1 The values-led approach to planning. Source: UNESCO, World Heritage Resource Manual. This approach has been further developed elsewhere, and formed into a different model of conservation plan with the steps laid out in details. World Heritage Management has similar approach towards heritage conservation, hand by hand with different stakeholders. In case of Wilmersdorf Mosque, capacity-building and resource allocation are the most important concerning issues. As it is an asset of national heritage in Germany, it is important to form a sustainable management system, including a comprehensive management plan, transparent financial plan etc.

8 The Wilmersdorf Mosque obviously lacks resources, a site manager (Imam), who is supposed to be responsible for the day-to-day management, is acting as the only person involved into the decision-making process concerning the whole management, his judgment determines all the dimensions of the mosque, e.g. fund-raising, conservation, development, accessibility etc. Imam is not only being a site manager but also the religious leader who conducts the religious practice on a daily basis; and these are two separate responsibilities. This paper suggests that more resources are to be engaged into the management process. Government Authorities Community involvement Ownership and Management team Figure 2. The decision-making in the case of the Berlin Mosque The Ownership and the management team of the Mosque are responsible for making the decisions on the strategic level, and examining the decisions made by the management team. This process should be transparent and determined by the high-level decision-maker. Community does not take part in the current decision-making process. So, this research recommends establishing the volunteer work in the mosque management, in order to spread around some of the Imam s tasks, such as non-religious functions, for instance visitor interpretation, promotion of the mosque as a national heritage property through multimedia devices such as internet, newspapers, e.g. developing a website in both English and German languages. Furthermore, some volunteers, who are related to such fields of study as engineering, conservation and renovation which are the most crucial for the mosque s thriving, are needed in a management team. Moreover, the mosque decision-making process lacks a proper effective communication between the governmental authorities of the local state, the owners of the Mosque and the existing management team. And it is not only related to the lack of human resources, the management plan in general is missing.

9 Reference list: 1. Ahmed Saadat The Berlin Mosque. Interviewed by: Mohamed Badry Kamel Basuny Amer, Ho Yin Leung, Polina Khan. [ s/online] Berlin, Together with the transcript. 2. Carolyn Moore, Wade Jacoby and Arthur B. Gunlicks, Introduction: German Federalism in Transition? [online]. Available at: [Accessed on 8 th of June, 2014]; 3. Deutsche Nationalkomitee fur Denkmalschutz, Cultural Heritage Laws of the State. i Available at [Accessed on 15 July 2014]; 4. Euro-Islam, Info Islam in Berlin [online] Available at: [Accessed on 20 July 2014]; 5. European Heritage Network, Germany, Agents (Organization and People), Competent Institutions. [online] Available at: [Accessed on 9 th of July 2014]; 6. Heritage European Network, 2010, National Heritage Policy of Germany. [online] Available at: [Accessed on 6 th of June 2014]; 7. World Heritage Resource Manual: Managing Cultural World Heritage, UNESCO/ ICCROM/ ICOMOS/ IUCN, p. 25

10 Appendix A An Interview with Ahmed Saadat: The Berlin Mosque. 1. What is the administration system of the Berlin Mosque? 2. Which country domains the mosque? That in simple way, the administrative system is managed from Lahore or Germany?! 3. Who take the decisions which are related to maintenance, restoration, renovation, or to edit in its infra-structure? 4. What are the financial resources of the mosque? 5. May be display the process of decision-making? 6. Who is the defaulted decision maker? 7. Are there roles for these following, in general, in the decision-making: A. The German government (The governmental Cultural institutions municipality) B. Non-governmental organizations (The Islamic associations) C. The local community representatives D. The Islamic cultural centers E. The Heritage conservation centers (restoration architectural works maintenance) Background: To all questions first let me give you a background. This Berlin mosque is the property of International Ahmadiyaah Movement which has branches all across the world. Its head office is in Lahore, Pakistan. Berlin mosque is financed mainly from Lahore, Pakistan besides getting donations from sister branches in other countries like Holland, England, USA, etc. But the main running cost comes from Lahore and the most part of budget is covered by the donations of International Ahamdiyyah Movement worldwide. As we currently have not much members in Germany, so the Imam is appointed and sent from Pakistan. The reason for not having too much members is that we do not work like missionary organizations. Answer 1: The Imam of the Berlin mosque who is on ground decides day to day issues of the mosque. Only for some issues the Imam has to contact center in Lahore to get approval and in those cases it is mostly the advice of Imam which is approved. Answer 2:

11 The administrative system is managed from Germany. For cases such as where Imam needs a large amount of money for some sort of repairs, the Imam reports to Lahore about the need and cost of those things. So the center in Lahore looks at the request and if required ask questions to Imam about that before approving the money. Similarly the Imam is bound to ask for permission before signing any legal document on behalf of mosque. But such situations happen rarely. Answer 3: The Imam and the European Representative of Ahmadiyyah Movement, who is himself a Europen and a person living in Holland, decide things. For approval and getting money from Lahore the procedure is as described above. Answer 4: Chiefly the donations from members of Lahore Ahmadiyah Movement across the world are the main financial resource for the mosque. A very small amount of financial resource is the donations given by notmembers. Sometimes we have received offers of donations from different quarters with a binding that we will involve them in our decision making. But we have turned down such requests. Answer 5: See the answers of above questions. Answer 6: As written above, the Imam is the key person to decide day to day things. Answer 7: I think A and E have some role in our decision making. We would like to be complying with the laws, things and changes happening around us in the society. But these issues are mostly tackled by the Imam and come in day to day handlings or as a long term policy. Otherwise we do not take any influence in our decision making from any other quarter Why is the Imam only one responsible for Berlin Mosque? Because there is only one person (Imam) from our community available to work for Berlin Mosque as you know unfortunately no other members living in Berlin. So in this case all the decision & responsibility is on Imam.

12 2- What is position of the person from Holland? He is representative of European community including our big community in Holland. 3- Which unit in the German Government is responsible for the management? German Government is not responsible for anything apart from (Monument area ) as you already know that because History & oldest mosque of Germany for repair we can get 40 % money from them & need their permission if we want to make any changes outside the mosque which they may not allowed other than that nothing from their side. 4. Which conservation institutions responsible/ have contract with for conservation of the Berliner Mosque? Which Germany government authority responsible for funding to the Mosque? As a Imam leading the prayers including giving Friday sermons also praying Nikkah for Muslim Marriage for couples. Explaining about Islam or answering to their Questions or clearing misconception to Muslims & non Muslims as well. at this moment I am presently living n Berlin Mosque alone & all the decisions made by me at the ground which I have face them every day on daily basis. 5. Which department from the Germany government or institution are authorized to perform the evaluation of the state of the conservation, which define the amount of money to do the conservation? Who is doing the supervision and monitoring? I am not dealing or handling Mosque Renovation work directly because is not my department so I cannot answer you properly. Total cost of Renovations is 1.5 million in Euros & we must pay 60 % & Germans will pay only 40 % but at this moment honestly we don't enough money to complete Mosque Renovations in Berlin Germany so I don't really know what action we will take in the future, I am sharing this in a friendly manner. at the end I Cannot interfere in my community work either in Pakistan or in Holland its Separate work & different Job role for individuals. I have full authority in handling & making decisions matters related to Mosque presently which I have to deal directly with pubic regularly and for that purpose I don't need to ask my community every time but I can always share or inform them later on. 6. According to what you said before, 40% of the financing of the Mosque come from the Germany government, and 60% come from the Ahmadiya Movement. Then, What is this 60% comprise of, e.g. donation, sponsorship, grant etc.? You mentioned that the mosque need 1.5 million for renovation, did you apply for the money, where? From the Ahmadiya movement, or is there any other institutions? You have mentioned that about the Ahmadiya movement is it belongs to certain

13 branch of Islam that is not accepted by every Muslim? Do we understand correctly, or not? If yes, then why? What are responsibilities of Imam? Or, in clear way, what's your task in the mosque? My official function for our worldwide Ahmadiyya Organization is: European Representative of the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Lahore AAL - with its headquarter in Lahore Pakistan. 7.I need you to interpret more the real role of the following in the administrative affairs (specially in the sector of Decision-making process): The European Representative of Ahmadiyyah Movement (who lives in Holland) The 40 % of the German government entries to the mosque in money way or in the services way? Which ministry or unit in the German government do you speech when you want to do some renovations or restoration? The Center of International Ahmadiyaah Movement in Lahore, Pakistan As the headquarter in Lahore is the sole proprietor of the Mosque in Berlin, I have been instructed to pay more and special attention to the management of this mosque, such in close cooperation with the Imam. This office bearer is responsible for all common activities of mostly independent branches of the AAL in the European zone. At present the renovation activities and contacts with architects and Monument department demand special and enduring attention from me.