German media has reported that Ibrahim El-Zayat, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Germany, is involved in the funding for a new 1,5 million Euro mosque in Neuenrade, a small town in North Rhine-Westphalia. According to the German language report, El-Zayat has visited Neuenrade at least eight times to negotiate the land acquisition and the new construction with the city council on behalf of a company called European Mosque Construction and Support Community (EMUG). As the GMBDW reported in May 2007:
A German newspaper has reported on the real-estate business of Ibrahim El-Zayat, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Germany. The report discusses Zayat’s role as the signatory authority for an entity called European Mosque Construction and Support. In this capacity, he advises more than 600 mosques in Europe, providing project development, insurance, and other services. The report states that he is currently involved with over 50 new and renovated mosque projects. Zayat also provides investment services for wealth Arab investors in the MIddle East who wish to invest “Islamically” in Europe. El-Zayat is the leader of the Islamische Gemeinschaft Deutschland (IGD) which is generally considered to be the representative of the Muslim Brotherhood in Germany. Mr. El-Zayat is also a leader in many European Muslim Brotherhood organizations and is married to the sister of Mehmet Sabri Erbakan who is in turn the nephew of Necmettin Erbakan, the leader of Turkish Milli Gorus. Mr. El-Zayat is highly active in managing Milli Gorus properties in Germany and in Holland where a mosque project he was involved with has become embroiled in controversy. He was also formerly the Western European head of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), a Saudi youth organization that U.S. government agencies and officials have has helped spread Islamic extremism around the world as well as sponsoring terrorism in places such as Bosnia, Israel, and India.
According to the German language report, only one member of the city council from the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) criticized the decision:
Critical questions on the role of Ibrahim El-Zayat were now asked by FDP Council member Claudia Kaluza in her budget speech. The man is regarded as a “key figure of political Islam in Germany” and she wonders who in the future will set the religious direction in the Milli Görüs community.
Ibrahim El-Zayat is the former leader of Islamische Gemeinschaft Deutschland (IGD) (renamed to Deutsche Muslimische Gemeinschaft in 2018) the main organization of the Muslim Brotherhood in Germany. listed yearly by the German domestic intelligence agency as an extremist organization and as representing the Muslim Brotherhood in Germany. He is a leader or former leader of many important Muslim Brotherhood related organizations including the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE), the Europe Trust, the Federation of European Muslim Youth Organizations (FEMYSO), and the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY). The IGD has been part of an Islamic center in Munich that has been under the control of the Muslim Brotherhood since the early 1960’s when Said Ramadan, the son-in-law of the founder, took control of an existing Islamic organization located there.