Football is religion for most Schalke 04 fans and the late Pope John Paul II was even an honorary club member, but some Muslims now feel offended by the official anthem of the Bundesliga club. Many German Muslims, including some Schalke fans, have voiced their protest and threatened the club over the third stanza of the “Blue and White, how I love you” anthem which, refers to the prophet Mohammed.
Schalke’s home strip is blue and white.
The incident was reported by some Turkish media a week ago, and by now threats have been expressed on various internet forums and prompted Schalke to work together with the police and other authorities.
Germany has some 4 million Muslim inhabitants, most of whom have a Turkish background.
The passage the Muslims consider insulting translates as following into English: “Mohammed was a prophet / who understood nothing about football / but from all the blaze of colour / he picked the blue and white.”
According to the German folk song archive, the anthem is based on a hunting tune from 1797 which says “Mohammed is my patron! He knew real beauty. He, for whom only green was holy from all the colours.”
The Schalke version was created in 1924 and the wording edited in 1963. It is sung ahead of every home game.
A club spokesman said that the club has received “around 350 emails,” adding: “We are taking the situation very seriously and are in contact with police and state protection institutions.”
Burhan Kesici, general secretary of the Islamic Council in Germany, called for restraint in the articulation of the protests but also urged Schalke to take action.
“It is not right that the prophet is mentioned in a club anthem. I would wish that out of respect for the Muslims in this country the Mohammed-stanza is not sung,” Kesici told the Turkish-language service of the German Press Agency dpa.
The general secretary of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, Aiman Mazyek, said: “We will not call for the song to be outlawed, but we want information about the its background. We owe that to the many Turkish fans and the players of Schalke.”
While no one took offence of the third stanza up to now, Muslims in Germany have seemingly become more sensitive after the July 1 killing of Egyptian woman Marwa el-Shirbini by a right-wing extremist in a Dresden courtroom.
The incident set off a fierce round of accusations from the Muslim world that Germany was a racist, Islam-hating nation. Mazyek said that “many Muslims don’t feel secure any more” after the incident.
The head of Schalke’s honorary council, Protestant priest Hans- Joachim Holm, is not taking the incident light-heartedly, but also warned of a hasty reaction from the club.
Holm told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily that simply scrapping the controversial lines will lead to “a strong emotional backlash” from other Schalke fans.
Schalke fans have always been extremely devoted to their club which has fielded Turkish players in the past and present, including current squad member Halil Altintop.
There have also always been religious connotations. The fanzine is named “Our Schalke” and legendary right wing player Ruediger Ambramczik was affectionately named “God of the crosses.”
When Jehova’s Witnesses ran a poster campaign in the late 1960s in the club’s home town of Gelsenkirchen under the slogan “No one can get past Jesus,” some witty Schalke fans swiftly added “except Stan Libuda” in reference to another adored winger. The late Pope John Paul II was made an honorary club member in 1987 after conducting an open air service in the club’s former Park Stadium.