German far-right AfD politician resigns after converting to Islam

He was really busy with Islam and eventually became a Muslim

Arthur Wagner looks Asian. I wish the media would say "German national". He has no Teutonic /Germanic features of any kind. Germans have blue eyes, broad shoulders and hard featured angular faces but Arthur looks like he comes from West Asia. He doesn't look Russian either.
"He insisted the AfD's national party included groups representing the interests of Muslims, as well as Christians and homosexuals".
This isn't far right. Why do they call it a far right party? A far right German party would not allow Arthur to join because of his race. Homosexuals would not be tolerated either and Muslims would have to be blue eyed Germans. The far right believe in Europe for Europeans, Asia for Asians, Africa for Africans and so on. Where as the far left in complete contrast believe in destroying all races by the means of mass immigration policies and the promotion of degenerate behaviour like pop culture, miscegenation, feminism and the so called LGBT etc.
Is Germany a basket case?

This doesn't surprise me

These right-wing guys fervently desire a community and nation that is traditional and based on honor and piety. They are against decadence, promiscuity, and materialism. Some are quite religious, and assert the importance of faith within the community.

So is it any wonder that when they see Islam provides all of these things, they might feel tempted to convert/revert?

Once the political is separated from the faith, few can say there is anything conceptually "wrong" with Islam, and those who complain about migrants, criminals, etc. that happen to be Muslim, are not really complaining about the faith.

Mashaallah the same thing happened to Arnourd Van Doorn and his son. May Allah guide Europe and the West to Islam.

https://www.theatlantic.com/internat...-islam/551438/


The Strange Cases of Anti-Islam Politicians Turned Muslims
Three recent incidents seem to highlight a quirk of sociology.


A supporter of the far-right German party AfD holds an anti-Islam, anti-Merkel placard at a 2015 rally.
DAVID A. GRAHAM JAN 25, 2018 GLOBAL
Last fall, Arthur Wagner was part of something remarkable: His political party, the anti-Islam, anti-immigrant Alternative für Deutschland, entered the Bundestag, becoming the first far-right party in the body since the 1950s. This year, Wagner has done something even more remarkable: He has converted to Islam and left AfD.


Wagner was a leading party official in the state of Brandenburg, and had been a representative since 2015. Deutsche Welle drily noted that Wagner is of Russian origin and “was a member of the state committee with responsibility for churches and religious communities.” A party spokesman told the paper his departure was personal. “The party has no problem with that,” the spokesman said of the conversion. Still, one can imagine his new religious identity would create some awkwardness with his old chums. AfD has, for example, used the slogan “Islam does not belong to Germany.”


Even stranger, Wagner is not the first person to leave a far-right, anti-Islam party in Europe and become a Muslim. Arnoud van Doorn, a member of Geert Wilders’s Dutch Freedom Party—which is another far-right, anti-Islam party—left it in 2011, converted to Islam in 2012, and soon after made hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca Muslims are obliged to make at least once in their lifetimes. And in 2014, Maxence Buttey, a local councillor for the National Front (FN), France’s analogous far-right party, converted to Islam and was suspended from the party committee.




In the United States, a grisly story made headlines last year when an 18-year-old former neo-Nazi in Tampa who said he had converted to Islam confessed to killing two (apparently still) neo-Nazi roommates, though that case is so grotesque, and the use of violence so far from mainstream Muslim practice, that it defies comparison to the European examples. (The suspect also shouted a nonsensical, non-Muslim phrase.)


In all cases, the shift from anti-Muslim to Muslim is counterintuitive. One potential factor is the ease of conversion to Islam. One can declare oneself a Muslim after uttering the shahada, with no requirements like the baptism or confirmation needed to become Christian or the process and certification used in Judaism. Someone can announce they are a Muslim without demonstrating any particular devoutness, longevity of commitment, or knowledge of the religion’s precepts. This is not to say than any given convert is not sincere, but that stating someone has converted to Islam doesn’t really clarify much on its own.


These cases of anti-Muslim activists in Europe converting to Islam don’t represent a trend, but there are enough of them to wonder what might inspire such apparently 180-degree turnarounds. When he converted, Buttey, the FN councillor, argued that the far-right movement had more in common with the religion than its members realized. “Both are demonized and very far from the image portrayed in the media,” he told Le Parisien. “Like Islam, the FN defends the weakest. The party denounces exorbitant interest rates charged on the debt of our country, and Islam is against the practice of usury.” It’s hard to imagine many French Muslims accepting a kinship with the FN, but in any case a more fruitful direction might be not to look for what far-right parties share with Islam but rather what forces might attract members to both.




There seem to be some people who are joiners, eager to become part of larger groups. Almost everyone will know someone like this, perhaps someone who is constantly searching for new social groups or joining new organizations, or perhaps even a spiritual seeker-type who flirts with a succession of faiths. The cliche about the “zeal of the convert” exists for a reason.


According to Michael Hogg’s uncertainty-identity theory, people seek to reduce questions about who they are, where they fit in the world, and how people view them. “One way to satisfy this motivation is to identify with a group (a team, an organization, a religion, an ethnicity, a nation, etc.) a process that not only defines and locates oneself in the social world but also prescribes how one should behave and how one should interact with others,” Hogg writes.


Far-right (as well as far-left) political groups benefit from people struggling with such questions. “Extreme groups ... have precisely the properties that are ideally suited to reduce self-uncertainty because they provide a clear and unambiguous sense of self and place in the world,” Hogg and Janice Adelman write in a 2013 paper.


This explains why people like Wagner, van Doorn, and Buttey ended up in the constellation of far-right European parties. One might expect that the brand of Islam they would take up would also be radical—and perhaps even tip over into violent jihadism. As my colleague Julia Ioffe wrote in the aftermath of the white-supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017, the forces that draw people (and especially young men) to extreme movements are almost identical, even though political discourse separates them. “The process and structure of radicalization and extremism are the same in different kinds of movements, even when the content of the extremist belief is different (such as with neo-Nazis and jihadists),” J.M. Berger, a fellow with the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism in The Hague, told Ioffe.




But it doesn’t necessarily happen that way. Hogg and Adelman note that extreme groups present various disadvantages for joiners as well. “People are unlikely to be strongly attracted to them unless uncertainty is relatively chronic, pervasive, or acute, or they have few other viable identity options (see below),” they write.


Mainstream, non-violent Islam can provide many of the same benefits without the social disadvantages. In general, Hogg and Adelman argue that the best venues for reducing uncertainty are “distinctive and well-structured groups that have clear boundaries and membership criteria, and consensual and prescriptive attitudinal and behavioral attributes grounded in a relatively homogeneous world view.” Hence associating oneself with Islam—especially in the context of Western Europe, where Christian cultural identity has suffused society for centuries, and where Islam is relatively marginalized—offers just such a group. Islam is distinctive, it has clear membership criteria and boundaries (one either is or is not a Muslim), and prescribes attitudes and behaviors. (Compared to a political party or to mainstream Christianity, Islam is relatively non-hierarchical.) Importantly, however, taking up fundamentalist Christianity would present a similar payoff for the “convert.”


The idea of far-right critics of Islam converting seems to be new in history, in part because far-right, anti-Islam parties are a new phenomenon. In earlier ages, all of European politics would have been fairly anti-Islam, while there would have been little proximity to actual Muslims or opportunities to mix with them. The rise of the internet, which can facilitate radicalization, also gives joiners easier ways to learn about new identities. There are older cases of Quran skeptics, like the French surgeon Maurice Bucaille, who have converted. (Bucaille became an advocate of the idea that the Quran is scientifically perfect.)


For the recent crop of converts, trying on a new identity does not necessarily mean a new personality. Van Doorn, for example, has since his conversion transferred his vitriol toward Jews, making anti-Semitic comments that he passed off as jokes. He was also convicted in 2014 of selling drugs to minors and other offenses; he claimed he was conducting a sting, but a court rejected the excuse. Van Doorn, in other words, seems to have traded one form of charlatanism for another. This should not come as a surprise, though. His change of religion, and those of Wagner and Buttey, say more about the men themselves than they do about either far-right politics or Islam.

format_quote Originally Posted by anatolian

I think he looks pretty German except brown eyes. Maybe he is mixed. But whats your point? He was antiIslamist and converted to Islam at the end. Thats just another victory of Islam..

No, he has no German in him as far as I can tell. Not only does he have brown eyes, he also has a light brown complexion. Another reason why he is very unlikely to be genetically contaminated by miscegenation is that the far right are fiercely opposed to race mixing. He is probably a Turk, which covers the hill tribes of West Asia. They are a strong and sturdy race and there are many in Germany since after the fall of the Reich. The Nazis were considered far right and were allied with Muslims. They even had Muslim SS but they believed it was Gods will that different races should stay in their home lands and not taint their ancient genetic lines through race mixing.

I think the anti Islam sentiment here, from these "far right" parties is competition with the church and all about money. Just like the Crusades was all about money -- a false flag war to boost the European shattered economy at the time.

format_quote Originally Posted by Silas

This doesn't surprise me

These right-wing guys fervently desire a community and nation that is traditional and based on honor and piety. They are against decadence, promiscuity, and materialism. Some are quite religious, and assert the importance of faith within the community.

So is it any wonder that when they see Islam provides all of these things, they might feel tempted to convert/revert?

Once the political is separated from the faith, few can say there is anything conceptually "wrong" with Islam, and those who complain about migrants, criminals, etc. that happen to be Muslim, are not really complaining about the faith.

I totally agree and Christianity and Islam are both Abrahamic faiths and should be at peace with each other. The Real North European far right regard Christianity as a foreign intrusion. These right wingers are white nationalist "heathens" followers of "the old ways" worshippers of the ancient Norse gods and they burn down churches, drink lots of beer and listen to very heavy metal and classical music, especially Teutonic and Norse nationalist music. They are of the white barbarian races and hate order, discipline and being restrained and oppressed by any "civilized" society. They are considered by the Church to be of The Ten Tribes of the Anti Christ.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...=.6f72c40c4d7c




German nationalist, Muslim convert: Politician is both


In this Jan. 31, 2018 photo Arthur Wagner, member of the Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD) party addresses the media during a press conference in Potsdam, Germany. Earlier this month, Wagner surprised his party colleagues by announcing that he’d converted to Islam. (Michael Sohn/Associated Press)
By Frank Jordans | AP February 1 at 8:54 AM


POTSDAM, Germany — Arthur Wagner has been many things in life: a child in the Soviet Union, a migrant in Germany, a devout Christian, an alcoholic, a truck driver and a committed member of the nationalist Alternative for Germany party. Earlier this month, Wagner surprised his party colleagues by announcing that he’d converted to Islam.


The news raised eyebrows because Alternative for Germany takes a hard-line stance toward Islam: the party’s official position is that the religion has no place in Germany.


Wagner, who now goes by the first name Ahmad, disagrees but doesn’t want to leave the party.


“I will always be faithful to AfD,” he told a roomful of reporters late Wednesday, referring to the party by its German acronym.


Most Muslims are concerned about the rise of AfD, which came third in last year’s national elections after campaigning heavily against Islam and immigration. Aiman Mazyek, head of the Central Council of Muslims, has accused the party of harboring “Islam haters and racists” in its ranks.


Last week AfD’s firebrand leader in the eastern state of Thuringia, Bjoern Hoecke, was caught on camera telling supporters that when the party takes power it would ensure that what he referred to as the “three Ms” of Islam — the Prophet Muhammad, the muezzins’ call to prayer and mosque minarets — “stop at the Bosphorus.”


“I don’t know what he’s been smoking,” Wagner, a long-time party member, said of Hoecke.


The jolly 48-year-old, who until recently had a relatively low profile as a member of AfD’s board in the state of Brandenburg, said that rather than drawing battle lines, he wants to build bridges.


Speaking in Brandenburg’s capital Potsdam, just outside Berlin, Wagner dismissed the suggestion that he was engaged in an improbable stunt.


“I’m deadly serious,” he insisted. “I see my task as creating consensus between German Islam and conservative Germans.”


Asked why he converted to Islam last year, Wagner is vague and refers to a years-long interest fed by a visit to Ufa, a center of Islamic theology in Russia.


Wagner has also said he became alienated from the German Protestant Church because of its support for gay pride marches. “That made me mad,” he told Berlin’s Tagesspiegel daily. “There were children present. It’s not right for children to see such things.”


It wasn’t immediately clear how AfD would react to Wagner’s efforts to reach out to Muslims, his belief that “the 21st century is the century of Islam” and his plan to train as an imam in Russia.


For now, the party’s local chapter has insisted that he’s not being pushed out for what they consider a “personal decision.” Still, its regional leader, Andreas Kalbitz, restated the party’s view that Islam “poses a great threat to the state, to our society and our values.”


Wagner has already stepped down from two party posts and expects further headwind from members who feel uncomfortable with a Muslim convert in their midst.


Already, Wagner feels he’s part of something bigger — “my Ummah” as he calls it — the worldwide community of 1.8 billion Muslims.


“I don’t have to prove myself to anyone,” he said. “I’m just going my way.”

It reminds me of how aggravated my more right-wing, euro-centric friends became when I told them that Islam was the religion of the future in Europe, and even the US.

Christianity is dying in Europe, Catholicism is on the decline worldwide.

Islam does not need to "spread by the sword" as some crazy people in ISIS and other groups believe. It spreads through willful conversion (reverts), social changes, etc. If a guy from the AfD can convert to Islam, anyone can.

In the US, Christianity has degenerated into a loose social club wrapped up in politics and, in some cases, ignorance. The people lack faith and clarity, and most have one foot out the door.

When I went to an open mosque event years ago, and saw how the place operated, how cohesive the group was, and how theology was connected to the social existence of the people, and how happy everyone was, I realized what the future held.

The west (aka Europeans and Americans) truly is in a state of decadence, decline, and crisis. Men in the US don't want to marry feminist women who have had dozens of sexual partners, who don't go to church, and who look to the state for handouts. Men don't want to go to church to hear some flashy televangelist repeat trite phrases and slogans that are neither relevant or challenging. They don't want to send their kids to a Catholic school where gay priests prey upon them. Men don't want to be forced to agree to things like gay marriage, transgenderism, etc., out of fear of being socially ostracized. They don't want "liberation theology" pushed on them, which is simply Marxism wedded to Christianity. Men (and women) want certainty, clarity, morality, purpose, and honor.

Islam provides this, and it can be the glue that holds the nation together.

Arthur Wagner knows this, and I suspect many others do as well.

format_quote Originally Posted by Silas

It reminds me of how aggravated my more right-wing, euro-centric friends became when I told them that Islam was the religion of the future in Europe, and even the US.

Christianity is dying in Europe, Catholicism is on the decline worldwide.

Islam does not need to "spread by the sword" as some crazy people in ISIS and other groups believe. It spreads through willful conversion (reverts), social changes, etc. If a guy from the AfD can convert to Islam, anyone can.

In the US, Christianity has degenerated into a loose social club wrapped up in politics and, in some cases, ignorance. The people lack faith and clarity, and most have one foot out the door.

When I went to an open mosque event years ago, and saw how the place operated, how cohesive the group was, and how theology was connected to the social existence of the people, and how happy everyone was, I realized what the future held.

The west (aka Europeans and Americans) truly is in a state of decadence, decline, and crisis. Men in the US don't want to marry feminist women who have had dozens of sexual partners, who don't go to church, and who look to the state for handouts. Men don't want to go to church to hear some flashy televangelist repeat trite phrases and slogans that are neither relevant or challenging. They don't want to send their kids to a Catholic school where gay priests prey upon them. Men don't want to be forced to agree to things like gay marriage, transgenderism, etc., out of fear of being socially ostracized. They don't want "liberation theology" pushed on them, which is simply Marxism wedded to Christianity. Men (and women) want certainty, clarity, morality, purpose, and honor.

Islam provides this, and it can be the glue that holds the nation together.

Arthur Wagner knows this, and I suspect many others do as well.

Very true but you made one mistake, the Marxists are rabidly at war with the gay priests having sexual relations with "kids". It is even part of the UN charter. All adults and children under the age of 18 years old are considered by Marxists to have the intelligence of a cabbage. This reflects the intelligence of Marxists, as they believe everyone needs to be totally moly coddled, emasculated and oppressed by the collectivist nanny state until the ripe old age of 18. Even Ratzinger was harassed out of the pope job by the Marxists and Jewish controlled secular media.

Maybe Wagner is a collectivist, he just wants to be part of a big group but doesn't like homosexuals so he has latched onto Islam. The conservative Christians would just stay faithful to Christianity and brand those "modern" radical Christians as heretics.

While it is true what Hitchens says about Muslims not caring what Richard Dawkins says, and about being more firm in their faith, there are still grave risks to Islam

In the US and Europe, Muslim groups have cooperated with, and in some cases formally allied themselves with secular leftist groups, Marxists, and Zionists in order to overthrow conservative governments, or work against right-wing politicians, etc.

Doing this results in:

1. A cancerous, irrationalist, and atheistic ideology being injected into the mosques and Muslim community centers.
2. Muslims being exposed to the degeneracy of the left: we see in the US Muslim "community leaders" marching alongside transexuals, pornographers, Communists, and Zionists. How is this permissible?
3. An eventual leftist takeover of current governments, which will lead them to quickly disenfranchise their former Muslim allies. Once Muslims have been used as patsies, the socialists will turn on them.

I would ask any Muslim who thinks cooperation with Communists is a good idea how it worked out in places like Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, or the former Soviet Union? Muslims were routinely persecuted in the eastern block, mosques were closed or burned, etc.

Muslims should work towards forming their own political organizations and parties, and their own social networks.

format_quote Originally Posted by anatolian

Actually Hitler was a Turk sympathizer. This is why he did not want to invade Turkey but always wanted us to join the war in their side and Nazists also had Turkic legions in Central Asia. They combated them against USSR. However this did not stop the neo Nazists in Germany from attacking the Turkish families and burn their houses in 80s and 90s. As you see anti somethingism has no common ground or logic or boundary at all. Far right in Germany today is anti Islamist just because of the general western anti Islamist movement. One day they may love Muslims and Turks so much against another enemy

The Nazis were national socialists and did not have any problem with any foreign race except Jews (because they have a nasty habit of infiltrating nations and causing damage like a diabolical virus) as long as they did not settle in Europe. So the neo Nazis attacking Turks in Germany is more or less ok by Nazi standards. The Nazis did have a fatal flaw, they believed in the British propaganda theory that they were Aryans and had invaded North India thousands of years ago and established the Hindoo religion and advanced culture and knowledge. But this is absolutely preposterous as the North European races were so barbaric they had no written language until relatively recently after the Dark Ages. In the West from Britain to Poland they adopted the Latin alphabet and further East the Greek. The Aryans were in todays name Iranians and not Germans or English at all.

format_quote Originally Posted by anatolian

It is mostly about their approach to us. Principally, Christians are regarded the closest disblievers then comes Jews and later idolaters and so goes. Atheists must be at the end of the list I guess though, if the christians are the ones who are harming us while atheists are not, we can make allyship with the atheists against christians. Everything is for Islam in Islam.

Do you really think atheists are not harming Islam/Muslims? Jews?

There is a popular podcast/radio show called "The Atheist Experience" where the host routinely condemns Islam as violent ignorance and draws mocking pictures of the Prophet. Prominent atheists such as Sam harris and others are no friends of Islam, and Communists have historically persecuted Muslims in many countries and regions.

Letting a snake into your yard is never a good idea, even if you fear the wolf.

I also seem to remember a passage in the Quran that condemns making allies with the enemies of God simply out of cynical pragmatism. I will have to look it up when I get home.