Beer mats with questions on Islam seen as culturally insensitive in Germany

In Germany, beer mats with questions on Islam have been handed out to locals near Frankfurt to know more about the religion. However, the initiative, aimed at introducing locals to Islam, was dubbed culturally insensitive as it involves alcohol.

According to the Local, the project entitled «Islam uff Hessisch» (Islam in the Hessian dialect) featured questions written in Hessian, a West Central German dialect of the German language.

Launched by local association Freiburg Orient-Netzwerk, 5000 beer mats from the initiative have already been distributed in restaurants since January. These mats include questions such as «Are footballers allowed to eat during Ramadan ?» and «Who is Mohammed ?». The answers to these questions can be found on the web page, mentioned in the mats.  

Speaking to the region’s Foreigners’ Advisory Council, the Local indicated that the latter had thought that it was «wrong to use beer mats to carry the campaign message – because many Muslims refrain from drinking alcohol as part of their religion».

The chairman of the council, which backed the objective behind the initiative, said that «this was not a good idea, they messed it up».

To Raban Kluger, who is behind the project, the objective of this initiative was to «spark discussion using a humorous approach to answer frequently asked questions in local German dialects» on Islam.