Antonio Rüdiger (31) speaks publicly!
There was recently a huge stir over a gesture by the national player – which even led to two reports.
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Now DFB star Rüdiger is speaking!
This Wednesday, Antonio Rüdiger spoke exclusively to BILD: “To mark the beginning of Lent, I published a post on Instagram. This has already been publicly viewable for 13 days (since March 11th) and has reached several million followers without any criticism from anyone.
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But in recent days the photo has been used by individuals to make unfounded accusations.
The gesture I used is called the tawheed finger. In Islam, this is considered a symbol of the unity and uniqueness of God. The gesture is widespread among Muslims all over the world and has only been classified as unproblematic by the Federal Ministry of the Interior in the last few days.
As a devout Muslim, I practice my faith, but I firmly distance myself from any kind of extremism and accusations of Islamism. Violence and terrorism are absolutely unacceptable. I stand for peace and tolerance.
Many of my family members belong to different religions. Nevertheless, we respect each other and celebrate religious festivals together. Respect and tolerance are fundamental principles that we all represent in our family.
However, I also recognize that due to insufficient attention, I have given third parties the opportunity to deliberately misinterpret my posting in order to divide and polarize.
But I will not offer a platform for division and radicalization, which is why I have decided to make a clear statement after our two successful international matches. At the same time, I will not allow myself to be insulted and denigrated as an Islamist. That’s why I decided to file a report. This is about propaganda and division; I will always resolutely defend myself against this.
I hope this clarification helps clear up misunderstandings and bring the truth to light. I would also like to thank the DFB, who supported me at all times in this matter.”
Photo: WITTERS
What exactly had happened?
Rüdiger, who is a devout Muslim, posted a photo of himself in a white robe on a prayer mat on March 11th. Pointing the index finger of his right hand towards the sky. With a greeting for Ramadan: “May the Almighty accept our fasting and prayers.”
The result: great excitement online, especially because of the journalist Julian Reichelt (former BILD editor-in-chief). He wrote on “X” (formerly Twitter): “For everyone who doesn’t want to recognize Antonio Rüdiger’s Islamist greeting as an Islamist greeting: The Office for the Protection of the Constitution calls this gesture the “IS finger” and sees the index finger as a clear sign of Islamism .”
In response, Rüdiger Reichelt filed a complaint with the Berlin public prosecutor’s office: “For insult or slander, inflammatory insult and incitement to hatred,” as it says in the text. The DFB also filed a complaint and reported the Reichelt tweet to the public prosecutor’s office as “hate speech”.
Is it really a common gesture, comparable to the Christian sign of the cross? BILD asked the Federal Ministry of the Interior and experts.
The ministry replied to BILD: “From the perspective of the BMI, the so-called ‘tauhid’ finger is to be understood as a confession of faith and is therefore classified as unproblematic with regard to public safety. This applies regardless of the fact that Islamist groups appropriate this symbol and misuse it for their own purposes.”
Most of the experts asked by BILD also confirm that it is not fundamentally an extremist symbol.