A growing number of colleges and universities are encountering structures aligned with Sharia law — from gender segregation to Salafist content.

Across Germany, Islamist student groups are increasingly active on university campuses, organising religious events at state-funded institutions. In several cases, gender segregation has been documented, and preachers with Salafist backgrounds have been invited. Universities are increasingly responding with bans and restrictions, while the groups concerned accuse the institutions of “anti-Muslim racism”.

One such incident took place at Berlin’s Charité hospital. There, a group known as the MedIslam Collective organised events where men and women were strictly separated. The hospital’s administration responded by banning the group from engaging in any activities on campus.

In a video posted to Instagram, men and women can be seen seated separately during a lecture — clearly suggesting that seating was not freely chosen. The group, however, firmly denied this claim, stating there had been no enforced seating policy.

Nach dem Skandal um Geschlechtertrennung im Gebäude der Uni Kiel tauchen ähnlich irritierende Bilder einer Hochschulgruppe an der renommierten Berliner Charité und in der Humboldt-Uni auf. Zum Artikel:https://t.co/3w0dEPiT01 pic.twitter.com/WFd1zuf4w0

— NIUS (@niusde_) June 29, 2025

A similar case occurred in Kiel, where the university administration revoked the official status of the Islamic University Group (IHG).

The reason was that at events held in May 2025, entrances and seating were arranged based on gender. The university emphasised its commitment to open and respectful dialogue and stated that clear rules apply to everyone. Since then, the IHG has not been permitted to use the university’s intranet or its facilities.

Following an internal investigation, the institution stated that “the allegations could not be clarified. Moreover, it emerged that the IHG’s internal procedures are not suitable for independently organising events. Furthermore, trust in the university group has been permanently damaged, and its status has therefore been revoked.”

The university also announced that it is considering legal measures — including disciplinary action against certain individuals, exclusion from the CAU (Christian-Albrechts-Universität) for some participants, a campus entry ban for non-CAU attendees, and potentially even criminal proceedings.

Gender Segregation and Salafist Gifts

According to the Bild newspaper, universities in Braunschweig, Siegen, and Tübingen also hosted events where men and women were spatially segregated — either by using separate entrances or through strictly divided seating arrangements. At Berlin’s Free University (FU), participants in one competition were given Salafist literature as prizes, including works by Ibn Qayyim, a 14th-century figure regarded as a theological forerunner of Salafism.

In Braunschweig, events were held exclusively for women. At the University of Siegen, a lecture was organised on “Islamic character formation,” for which men and women had to enter the room separately. The university later stated it had been unaware of the segregation. In future, it pledged to “ensure free seating choice in lecture halls” and confirmed that “there will be no gender segregation at events.”