BERLIN: Chancellor Angela Merkel’s hardline new interior minister declared that Islam is “not part of Germany” in an interview published on Friday, setting off a political storm two days into her fourth term.

Asked by the top-selling Bild daily whether the influx of Muslim migrants and asylum seekers to Europe’s top economy over the past several decades meant that Islam now belonged to the fabric of the nation, Horst Seehofer replied “no”.

“Islam is not part of Germany. Christianity has shaped Germany including Sunday as a day of rest, church holidays, and rituals such as Easter, Pentecost and Christmas,” he said.

“The Muslims who live among us are naturally part of Germany. But that of course does not mean that we, out of a false sense of deference, should sacrifice our traditions and customs.” Merkel quickly contradicted her minister, saying that despite Germany’s Judeo-Christian roots, more than four million Muslims now made their homes in the country.

“These Muslims are part of Germany and with them, their religion, Islam, is just as much a part of Germany,” she told reporters after talks with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven.

Despite Merkel’s intervention, Seehofer’s comments are likely to prove divisive in the fledgling right-left “grand coalition”, which only came together when the reluctant Social Democrats (SPD) got on board after months of political paralysis.

Most of Germany’s Muslims are descendants of Turkish so-called “guest workers” invited to Germany in the 1960s and 1970s.

The community grew again when Merkel in 2015 opened the border to more than one million asylum seekers from war-torn Muslim-majority countries such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The outspoken Seehofer, leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of Merkel’s Christian Democrats, is new to the cabinet, which was sworn in on Wednesday.

His expanded interior super-ministry also covers “Heimat” or homeland affairs, intended to recapture claims to patriotism and national identity from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which won nearly 13 per cent of the vote in September’s general election.

The premier of Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil of the SPD, accused Seehofer of sparking “a completely superfluous controversy” just as Merkel begins her new term. The issue, however, has divided Germany for more than a decade.

Powerful conservative Wolfgang Schaeuble said in 2006 that Islam was part of Germany and Europe while he was serving as interior minister in Merkel’s first cabinet.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2018