Travelogue Germany - Part 16

Nurnberg city had been heavily bombarded during the World War Two. The remnants of the ruins were still visible, most of them intentionally preserved as a remembrance of the sorrow of wartime. A day before our arrival in Nurnberg, 22 MARA students from German-Malaysia Institute had just arrived from Malaysia together with a couple of MARA officers overseeing their placements. Nurnberg was a transit point for those students before they were placed to different institutions in Germany. We ceased the opportunity to meet some of them and gather them at Masjid Bilal together with the locals. We had prepared a feast for them after Isya', and alhamdulillah, Masjid Bilal that used to be filled with many namazis a couple of years ago before almost been deserted, began to be visited by namazis again at namaaz time.

On the third day, we then make consultation with the local brothers from Nurnberg and Erlangen and it was decided that we should go for one day to Pappenheim in Eichstatt district, 72km from Nurnberg city. On 6th September 2004, we reached Masjid-ul Rahman, Pappenheim, another Turkish-ethnic masjid. Masjid-ul Rahman is a tiny premise overlooking Burg Pappenheim, an old medieval castle. Upon our arrival, the local Turkish brothers immediately slaughtered a lamb for us and all of us enjoyed a delicious dinner with the local brothers.

There were a large number of Turkish community in Eichstatt. The majority of the Turkish Muslims worked in marble quarries as expert marble cutters. It is said that Eichstatt marble quarries produce the finest marble in the world- and the marble from here were used in the renovation and upgrading of Masjid-un Nabawi in Madinah Munawarrah. There were a masjid specially built for the workers at their workplace at the quarry where fadha'il ahadith were read during ta'leem at noon. 

The Turkish brothers worked eight months a year. During the four months winter break, many of them spent their time in khuruuj fiisabilillah for 4 months in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey etc. Some of them spent their break in khuruuj for 40 days together with their respective wives in Masturat (ladies) jamaat. Evidently deeni environment prevailed in the area. We saw Muslim ladies in pardah walking on the streets. We witnessed the men all came to the masjid in the afternoon after work, their clothes and bodies all covered in dust. We were awestruck with the fruit of effort that they had been making in the middle of nowhere in the small town of Pappenheim. The glorious men of faith in the Ottoman era had come to my imagination at the sight of those rugged heavily bearded pious men. One day in Pappenheim had totally changed my view of the Turkish people whom somehow I had previously wrongly related them with the likes of Mustaffa Kemal, the enemy of Islam and the destroyer of deen in Turkey.