At the end of September 2025, news spread on social networks that in a large German city the school curriculum was changed to please the local Muslim community, because playing musical instruments is considered sinful in Islam. We have verified the accuracy of such messages.
“In Hamburg, music lessons (singing, piano, guitar) are being removed from public schools, since music is considered “haram” by some Islamic orthodoxies and imposing it on Muslims is considered by them as Islamophobia,” the Telegram channel post says “KB"(223,00 views at the time of writing this analysis). Similar publications appeared in the showman’s Telegram channels Andrey Bocharov (185,000) and Ukrainian pro-Russian politician Dmitry Vasilets (97,000). The news was also discussed in X And Facebook.
Most posts are accompanied by a 30-second video, similar to a news clip. The presenter speaks German, but the Nouvelle France logo is visible in the upper right corner (“Verified” could not determine who it belongs to). The subtitles in the video are also French, but at the beginning of the video a German caption and a logo with the word Newsroom are briefly visible. This is the name of the news program of the German TV channel Welt.
The video, which subsequently went viral on social networks, is a fragment of a much longer story that appeared on the Welt website as early as June 25, 2025. It does talk about problems with music lessons that arose on religious grounds, but the general meaning of the report contradicts what Telegram channels and social network users write about. According to the presenter, in Hamburg schools some Muslim students refused to attend music lessons and even insulted their classmates who took them, because, in their opinion, it was prohibited by Islam. This behavior of schoolchildren caused complaints from parents. The cancellation of classes is not mentioned in the story.
Three weeks earlier, a local newspaper wrote about this situation Hamburger Abendblatt. The article says that a group of parents from the Hamburg districts of Steilshoop, Bramfeld and Farmsen-Berne approached the city parliament member Sandro Kapp with a complaint. They were talking about the already mentioned incidents with music lessons, as well as the fact that Muslim students insult girls who do not wear a headscarf and condemn those who do not fast during the holy month of Ramadan. In addition, Muslim parents allegedly prohibited mothers from speaking at meetings, arguing that a woman could speak only with the permission of a man. City authorities have begun inspections, and schools, writes Hamburger Abendblatt, are, if necessary, bringing in psychologists, social educators and local police officers to resolve conflicts.
However, complaints and proceedings did not lead to the cancellation of music lessons - this subject is still listed in the program as initial, so average Hamburg public schools. Commenting on contrary statements that have gone viral on social networks, city government officials reported to the EuroVerify project: “Music is taught in all schools in Hamburg. This has always been the case, and there are no plans to change anything.”
Apparently, the distribution of a fragment from Welt's June story on this topic began in the German-language segment X, where the corresponding publications appeared on the afternoon of September 28. Moreover, then the signatures were relatively correct - for example, user @Raeubertochtah accompanied video with the comment: “Music lessons cannot be held in Hamburg, since singing is prohibited by Islam. There are increasing reports of religiously motivated attacks and discrimination in Hamburg schools, especially from Muslim students.” That tweet received more than 170,000 views.
Soon, on the evening of September 28th and during the day of September 29th, the video went viral among English-speaking users X. Moreover, some almost verbatim translated earlier publications in German, maintaining the wording “cannot conduct lessons,” others went further - for example, they argued that a school in Hamburg canceled music lessons or that there are more music lessons in Hamburg not allowed (This tweet has been viewed nearly 730,000 times).
Thus, the claim that music lessons have been canceled in Hamburg schools to please the Muslim diaspora is based on a television story from three months ago. The report was devoted to conflicts surrounding Muslim students in some educational institutions, including due to their refusal to attend music classes, but there was no mention of changes to the school curriculum. Representatives of city authorities confirmed the absence of such plans.
Cover photo: Unsplash
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