Germany: Newspaper’s ‘Advent riddle’ is actually a question about Islam

Would a “Ramadan riddle” be a question about Christianity? Just think of all the outraged editorials about “Islamophobia” that would trigger. But no one will mind this. Have to make Germany’s new overlords feel comfortable.

“Strange Muslim ‘Advent riddle,’” translated from “Befremdliches „Adventsrätsel“ auf muslimisch,” by Udo Hildenbrand, Christliches Forum, December 3, 2023 (thanks to Medforth):

On the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the preparation period for Christmas, one of the two central Christian festivals, the readers of WELT AM SONNTAG are presented with an “Advent riddle” with the question: “How often does a Muslim have to pray daily?”

Would it not have been appropriate to give an answer in an “Advent riddle,” for example, to the question: “What do Christians actually understand by the Latin term ‘Advent’?” – or to draw attention to Christian customs and customs during Advent and, if necessary, to explain them?

In any case, when an “Advent puzzle” is announced, a Christian-tinged theme is the order of the day. Everything else is journalistic fraud. This is how the accusation is made: With their apparent “Advent puzzle,” the WAMS editorial team is appropriating the Christian-influenced Advent season for Islamic instruction.

And if it has to be: Aren’t there enough harmless, “neutral” times throughout the year for Muslim guesswork, including times that make a corresponding journalistic reference to Islam at least seem understandable?

This current “Advent puzzle” aims to put WasS readers on the given Islamic track with twelve individual questions on various areas of Islam. Whoever answers correctly is initially rewarded with the solution word “Wish List” that they have created themselves.

He is also promised four significant prizes: an Advent puzzle with an Islamic theme worth a total of 40,000 euros. I would like to forego participation. Maybe I should also give up my decade-long WELT subscription.

The editorial team should be questioned critically: Would you consider it sensible to publish a “Ramadan puzzle” before Ramadan next year that is decidedly about Christian topics? Most likely: No!

You would probably say indignantly at the editorial meeting: Impossible! You can’t talk about Ramadan and then discuss the Christian faith. The accusation against the WAMS would be completely justified: the topic is missed.

What protests would this trigger among Muslims, including Islamophile non-Muslims? Christians, on the other hand, can obviously be expected to do the same in the WamS editorial team!

By the way: On Easter 2022, the central festival for Christians, a report about Mohammed or Islam could be read in the WamS. This questionable “theological” mixture in favor of Islam, in which the Christian culture of celebration is exploited for Muslim “enlightenment”, obviously seems to be a targeted editorial method. Or is this just a matter of journalistic insensitivity?

A suggestion to compensate: In the coming year 2024, the editorial team of WELT AM SONNTAG could continue to publish a whole page of puzzles in each issue in the appealing style of this “Advent puzzle”. However, with twelve critical questions each, in which the multitude of problems that are caused worldwide by the Islamic religion are discussed with almost daily consequences.

These should be questions that are in a theological, historical and cultural, as well as an ethical, legal and socially relevant context, questions that many “advent-awake people” worry about further developments in our country burning under the nails in Europe.

The questions for this weekly puzzle page would definitely not run out this year due to their complexity. In seasons that are particularly Christian, Islamic riddles should definitely be avoided, which would mean that the Islamic riddle would be omitted in some Saturday editions.

The editorial team certainly wouldn’t have to advertise a lucrative prize for the puzzle participants. Because the WamS project “Critical Islam puzzles every week” would probably be a media product with a unique selling point, certainly informative, discussion-promoting, exciting and attractive – and thus also effective in advertising at the same time.