Muslim Democratic Union

{{Infobox political party

| name = Muslim Democratic Union

| native_name = Muslimische Demokratische Union

| logo = File:Muslimisch-Demokratische-Union-logo.png

| colorcode = #F40905

| leader = Bilal Uwe Wilbert{{Cite web |date=2013-07-30 |title=Bundesvorstand - Muslimisch Demokratische Union |url=http://www.mdu-niedersachsen.de/12.html |access-date=2023-06-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130730051745/http://www.mdu-niedersachsen.de/12.html |archive-date=2013-07-30 }}

| foundation = 2010

| ideology = Islamism
Salafism

| headquarters = Osnabrück

| website = [https://web.archive.org/web/20130727005923/http://www.mdu-niedersachsen.de/ www.mdu-niedersachsen.de] (archived)

| country = Germany

| abbreviation = MDU

| dissolved = March 2014

| colors = {{Color box|#F40905|border=darkgray}} Red

| native_name_lang = de

| merged = Alliance for Innovation and Justice

| religion = Islam

}}

The Muslim Democratic Union (German: Muslimische Demokratische Union) or MDU, was a minor Islamist political party in Germany. The party was founded during 2010 in Osnabrück and aimed to partake in the municipal elections the following year.{{Cite web |date=2022-09-29 |title=Partei gegründet: Muslime wollen im Osnabrücker Rat {{!}} NOZ |url=https://www.noz.de/lokales/osnabrueck/artikel/erstmals-bei-kommunalwahl-partei-gegruendet-muslime-wollen-im-osnabruecker-rat-mitmischen-23970407 |access-date=2023-06-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220929040238/https://www.noz.de/lokales/osnabrueck/artikel/erstmals-bei-kommunalwahl-partei-gegruendet-muslime-wollen-im-osnabruecker-rat-mitmischen-23970407 |archive-date=2022-09-29 }}{{Cite web |title=Muslimische Demokratische Union (MDU) |url=http://www.eslam.de/begriffe/m/muslimisch_demokratische_union.htm |access-date=2023-06-03 |website=www.eslam.de}} It was primarily active in Lower Saxony, in particular Osnabrück, but also had members in North Rhine-Westphalia.{{Cite web |last=Becker |first=Andreas D. |date=2013-05-14 |title=Muslimische Partei in Delmenhorst |url=https://www.weser-kurier.de/stadt-delmenhorst/muslimische-partei-in-delmenhorst-doc7e3e9jqwj83tkvik3wh |access-date=2023-06-03 |website=weser-kurier-de |language=de}} The party was categorized as extremist and Salafist by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Lower Saxony.{{Cite news |title=Unter dem Deckmantel der Demokratie: Verfassungsschutz warnt vor muslimischer Partei |language=de-DE |work=Der Tagesspiegel Online |url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/verfassungsschutz-warnt-vor-muslimischer-partei-2193976.html |access-date=2023-06-03 |issn=1865-2263}}

The MDU merged into the Alliance for Innovation and Justice in March 2014.{{Cite web |last=NWZonline.de |date=2014-04-16 |title=Muslimische Partei will das Zinssystem abschaffen |url=https://www.nwzonline.de/delmenhorst/muslimische-partei-will-das-zinssystem-abschaffen_a_14,7,75807861.html |access-date=2023-06-03 |website=www.nwzonline.de |language=de}}

Ideology and assessments

The Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Lower Saxony stated that the party has "anti-constitutional Islamist efforts" in August 2012. Its head at the time, Hans-Werner Wargel, claimed that the MDU wanted to "fight democracy through the means of democracy". The office's report cited, among other things, passages on the MDU's website where the party condemned democracy as "Polytheistic" and called it Islamophobic. The party also posted a fatwa by the salafist Muhammad Al-Munajjid on their website which declared that the participation in democracy is dangerous and should be condemned as un-Islamic.

Several members of the party, particularly in the Delmenhorst section, belonged to the Özoguz family, which runs the Islamist muslim-markt.de website, which was under surveillance of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution until 1999.{{Cite web |date=2013-09-04 |title=News - Muslimisch Demokratische Union |url=http://www.mdu-niedersachsen.de/7.html |access-date=2023-06-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130904041507/http://www.mdu-niedersachsen.de/7.html |archive-date=2013-09-04 }} The head of the Delmenhorst section, Hassan Mohsen, dismissed the Office's assessments as a way to discredit the MDU and claimed that the party had no connections so Salafists.

Bilal Uwe Wilbert, the leader of the MDU, participated in the Quds Day 2013 in Berlin as a speaker where he condemned Israel.{{Cite web |last=Tölva |first=Jan |date=2013-08-03 |title=Hetze gegen Israel |url=https://www.juedische-allgemeine.de/politik/hetze-gegen-israel/ |access-date=2023-06-03 |website=Jüdische Allgemeine |language=de}}

Elections

The first election the MDU ran in was the 2011 municipal election in Osnabrück where it received 1,401 votes (0.8%).{{Cite web |title=Amtliches-Endergebnis-Kommunalwahl-2011.pdf |url=https://www.osnabrueck.de/fileadmin/eigene_Dateien/Amtliches-Endergebnis-Kommunalwahl-2011.pdf}}

The MDU participated in the 2013 Lower Saxon state election, where it only ran in the two Osnabrück constituencies and received 210 votes (0.0%).{{Cite web |date=2016-03-04 |title= |url=http://www.landeswahlleiter.niedersachsen.de/download/74777/Landtagswahl_2013_-_Amtliches_Endergebnis.pdf |access-date=2023-06-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304001942/http://www.landeswahlleiter.niedersachsen.de/download/74777/Landtagswahl_2013_-_Amtliches_Endergebnis.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-04 }}