(Christian Science Monitor) As Imam Husamuddin Meyer walks through this old city of cobblestone streets and classical architecture in central Germany, many young people pass by and wave to him as though he were a YouTube star. Clad in a turban, the bearded Sufi cleric is a visible presence in the community. “I know so many of them,” he says, with a hint of pride.
Imam Meyer, who grew up in a well-to-do Protestant family nearby, is the country’s first, and longest-serving, Muslim prison chaplain. As people wave to him, he is heading to work at the juvenile prison. And his work has been critical: He’s played a key role in fighting the religious extremism that all too often thrives behind bars.
Long before many Germans became aware that prisons were a hot spot for radicalization, Imam Meyer saw how giving inmates “spiritual tools” could help them reach the inner peace they need to avoid veering into Islamic fundamentalism.
