The chairman of 45,000 Ahmadi Muslims in Germany, Abdullah Uwe Wagishauser, told “Die Welt” newspaper Wednesday that “all democratic parties are on our side – except the AfD.”

His remarks followed a verbal clash in the media on Monday between leaders of the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which has an anti-Islam manifesto, and Germany’s Central Council of Muslims.

Wagishauser, 66, who was born into a Christian family in Germany but converted to Islam in his youth, and has headed Germany’s Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat community for 32 years, said a mosque that opened in Berlin’s eastern Pankow district in 2008 – despite neo-Nazi protests – had become a “successful integration project.”

“Today the opposite has occurred to what our opponents once prophesied. The building looks attractive; there is a greened area, a playground that’s keenly used by the neighbors, the property prices in the vicinity have risen; there is no traffic chaos,” he said.

More.