Yearly Archives: 2009

Islamic Feminism as an Effort towards Renewal and Modernization

The events of September 11, 2001 and the subsequent reactions have moved the Islamic faith – and especially Islamic extremism into the public limelight and made it an on-going topic of discussion. While the opinions of politically active Muslims (Islamists) or extremists have increasingly become media topics, liberal Muslims are presented in much less detail. Islamic feminism may be considered one form of liberal Islam. It is characterized by the following aspects:

Hans Zehetmair (Ed): Islam in Tension between Conflict and Dialogue

The Berlin Wall no longer exists, and Hans Zehetmair hopes that there will not be any insurmountable hindrance between Islam and Europe in the future. The chairman of the “Hanns Seidel Foundation” has edited a collection of essays, which aims at offering background information as a necessary tool for those who want to build bridges between the Orient and the Occident.

Hamid Molla Djafari: God Has the most Beautiful Names

In the Koran we read: “The most beautiful names belong to Allah. So call on him by them” (surah 7.180). “The most beautiful names” are understood by Muslim theologians as names and attributes of God which are used during prayer, Sufi-meditation or while saying the rosary. God’s names are important as God has not revealed himself in Islam, as Muslim theologians hold, but has only sent down his Holy Book, the Koran.

Seref ve Onur: Honour and Dignity

Turkish-Muslim and German conceptions on the subject of “honour” and “dignity” were the focus of this symposium of the Körber-Stiftung in the year 1999. As a rule violations of honour are perceived by Muslim-Turks to be especially fierce attacks. Non-Muslims most often lack the background knowledge necessary for understanding this conflict.

Bärbel Reuter: Islam as it is Lived out in Cairo Today by Female Islamists

Bärbel Reuter’s dissertation is a worthwhile compilation of 7 years of studying Islam as it is lived out in Egypt today. In this distinctive study, Reuter presents the opinions and viewpoints of younger women in Cairo who „feel deeply tied to the Islamic movement” (p. 246). This particular spectrum (or stream) of Islam called Islamism affects more than just individual behavior of a believer and how he/she personally applies their religious beliefs, it encompasses every aspect of the participant’s life and is considered an effective force for changing society which in turn brings changes to the political realm.

Hans-Georg Eber (Ed.): Articles on Islamic Law

The contributions in this volume are based on speeches held in 1999 at the annual convention of the Incorporated Society for Arabic and Islamic Law, established in 1998. The society has taken on the task of elaborating fundamental issues, in theory and in practise, of the Islamic law of the Middle East and of presenting the legal sources, often difficult to find, as principles of law.

Andreas Feldtkeller: Die ‘Mutter der Kirchen’ im ‘Haus des Islam’

This comprehensive post-doctoral thesis by religion and missiological theologian A. Feldtkeller, who now chairs at Humboldt University of Berlin, examines the coexistence of Christians and Muslims in Jerusalem and surrounding area from the time of the Arabic-Islamic conquest to the present.