The Hessian Ministry of Culture made a formal error when it ended its cooperation with the Islamic religious community Ditib in April of last year.

This emerges from the now available written grounds for the judgment with which the Wiesbaden Administrative Court upheld Ditib's action at the beginning of July.

Ewald Hetrodt

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung in Wiesbaden.

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At the beginning of the 2013/2014 school year, the state government, together with the mosque association, introduced denominational teaching.

With the corresponding notification from the State of Hesse in December 2012, the religious community received the right to have Islamic religious instruction in cooperation with it.

The state of Hesse must work actively with Ditib.

The press release in which the Ministry of Culture announced the end of the project in April does not change that.

The complete suspension of the enforcement of the decision of December 2012 constitutes an administrative act that burdens the plaintiff Ditib and requires a legal basis.

However, this is not evident, so that the Ministry of Culture's approach is illegal.

Hessen should have revoked the decision

It did not revoke its decision.

However, such a revocation is necessary.

It must be justified, announced and provided with instructions on legal remedies.

He can also be challenged before the administrative court.

The suspension announced in the press release would in fact bring about the same situation that would have occurred had it been withdrawn, namely that lessons would no longer take place.

In the event of suspension, however, the plaintiff would be deprived of the rights and protective mechanisms that a revocation would have triggered.

Put simply: With the suspension of the cooperation through the press release, it was ended immediately.

However, that would not have been possible with a revocation.

Minister justifies separation from Ditib with expert opinion

Education Minister Alexander Lorz (CDU) justified the separation from Ditib with several expert opinions.

He had commissioned the first after the attempted coup in Turkey.

A “chain of instructions” leads from the government in Ankara via the Turkish religious authority Diyanet to the Ditib Federal Association and to the Hessian Ditib, according to Lorz.

The regional association does not have a “minimum of institutional independence, which it needs in order to be able to independently fulfill its task as a religious community”.

Ditib did show approaches to structural reforms after being requested to do so, but these remained piecemeal.

It is not to be expected that the deficits will be remedied in the foreseeable future, says Lorz.

The administrative court did not object to these substantive considerations by the Minister of Education.

The Ministry of Culture continued the denomination-oriented Muslim religious instruction with its smaller partner Ahmadiyya.

In addition, it expanded the state Islamic studies courses on its own responsibility.

It is now offered to several thousand students in grades 1 to 8, but without the truth claim of a denomination-oriented religious education.

There is a lot to be said for the appeal, a spokesman for the Ministry of Culture said on Tuesday.

Then the Hessian Administrative Court in Kassel will decide.

As long as the judgment of the Wiesbaden court does not have any legal force.

It is uncertain when an urgent procedure pending in the matter will be concluded.

The Ministry of Education does not expect any major consequences for the next school year.