From Pakistan to Germany on Foot

Half a century before refugees from the crisis and waring areas in the Near and Middle East set out to seek asylum in Germany in the autumn of 2015, Niaz Qureshi, who had grown up in the Punjab in Pakistan, set out to walk to Europe in order to escape the misery of life there. His journey to the West took him months during which he experienced all sorts of adventures and obstacles as well as lucky breaks. He soon settled down in Hamburg. For many years he worked as a construction draughtsman and cartographer in the Municipal office of the Interior in Hamburg. As a prominent personality within the Pakistani community he enjoys the respect of his compatriots as well as his native friends, neighbours and partners. Like Niaz Qureshi, his biographer, Peter Schütt, is a friend of Imam Mehdi Razvi. With his west-east amorous poems, his short stories taken from the everyday life of German Muslims and - last but not least - his autobiography: "From Basbeck am Moor to Mecca via Moscow: stations in a life-long journey" he has made a name for himself as an advocate of a moderate form of Islam which is appreciated not just in Germany but also in the Orient.