Great Feat of German Islamic Scholarship

​​With the fifth edition of their reliable standard work, Der Islam in der Gegenwart (i.e., Islam Today), published by C.H. Beck, editors Werner Ende and Udo Steinbach have outdone themselves. In only a little more than over a thousand pages of short, precise accounts, they have succeeded in treating almost all the facets of this extensive subject in a way that should satisfy both the general reader and the expert.

Contrary to what might be expected from its title, the book provides a concise, informative introduction to the history of the subject – an indispensable prerequisite for understanding much current news. In chapters divided according to country, 24 scholars of the respective languages instruct the reader in the great variety of societies that have been shaped by Islam.

Islam in the West

One aspect of this is a compact and yet detailed survey of Islam in the West, a subject that is gaining increasingly in importance. Whoever is not content to rest with clichés about alien Muslims overtaxing the capacity of Europe to integrate them, or with well-meant but insufficiently thought-through professions of multi-culturalism, will do well to open this book and inform himself about the origin, background, similarities and differences of Muslim minorities in the West.

Compared are not only the major immigrant groups and their traditions – those from the Indian sub-continent in Great Britain, the predominantly naturalised Muslims from the Maghreb in France, and the residents of Germany who come from Turkey – but also the major countries of immigration: France, which with its policy of laïcité banks on keeping religion out of public institutions; the United Kingdom, where a privileged Established Church, which has repeatedly made itself the spokesman for Muslim communities, has an important place in public life; and between these, Germany, with its positive neutrality towards recognised religious organisations.

In addition, the book furnishes a survey of the role of Islam and the position of Muslims in southern Europe, which political developments are drawing ever closer to us and where Christian and Muslims have lived together (or next to each other) for centuries.

Linked to this is the image of Fundamentalist terrorism which may occur to many upon hearing the catchword 'Islam in the West'. For this reason, a supplementary reading of the section 'Islamistische Gruppen und Bewegungen' (i.e., Islamic Groups and Movements) is to be recommended.

The section presents these groups and movements, explains their origin, and shows that 'Islamists' and 'neo-Fundamentalists' in predominantly Muslim countries pursue diverse goals and that the overwhelming majority of Muslims feel repelled by their readiness to use violence, so that in Egypt and Algeria, for example, Islamic rebels have, since 1996/7, no longer represented a significant military force. This is different with respect to organisations like Al Qaeda, which are to be understood as a response to globalisation using its own means.

The inner-Islamic discussion

Alexander Flores informs the reader about the inner-Islamic discussion of secularism, democracy and human rights. In his eyes, this is the subject of the debates about Islam's relation to modernity.

He describes the various positions, ranging from an initial readiness to learn from the West not only in material and technical matters but also in social and political questions, through the subsequent disappointment with unsuccessful reforms and the reaction against democracy as a Western political illness, to diverse mediating positions; and makes clear that here not a 'clash of civilisations' has taken place, but rather a 'clash within civilisations'.

The position of women

Of particular interest are Wiebke Walther's remarks on the position of women in Islamic countries. She traces in detail the historical development of their social position in various countries and shows that in Turkey, for example, the first woman doctor already opened her surgery in 1922 and the first women barrister her chambers in 1927; that Turkish women were already given active and passive voting rights in the thirties of the 20th century, long before their French or Swiss sisters; and that a woman was head of government in Turkey earlier than in Germany: but also that recently a stronger trend towards wearing the veil may be observed and that more women seem again to look upon a university degree as a qualification for a good marriage rather than for entering professional life.

In a broad panorama, Walther describes the legal position of women, their possibilities for political action, the relation between law and traditional customs, and the continuing regional practice of pre-Islamic customs like, for instance, female circumcision. She considers closely the question, much discussed both in Islamic countries and here, whether and how women should veil themselves.

The problem of the transliteration of names and expressions from the Arabic alphabet is not very satisfactorily solved by a spelling whose pronunciation diverges widely from that of Teol. But otherwise this great feat of German Islamic scholarship may be most warmly recommended, especially as it can be purchased for less than 50 Euro thanks to the financial support of the Robert Bosch Foundation.

Kurt Scharf

© Goethe Institute/Jonathan Uhlaner 2006

Translation: Jonathan Uhlaner

Werner Ende and Udo Steinbach (eds.): Der Islam in der Gegenwart Entwicklung und Ausbreitung - Kultur und Religion - Staat, Politik und Recht, (i.e., Islam Today. Development and Expansion – Culture and Religion – State, Politics and Law) Verlag C.H. Beck, 5th, up-dated and enlarged edition, 2005. 1064 pages.

Kurt Scharf is the former Head of the Goethe Institute in Lisbon and before that worked for the Goethe Institutes in Teheran and Istanbul.

Qantara.de

Koran Studies
"What is the Koran?"
Christoph Luxenberg's book on the history of the origins of the Koran has found wide resonance internationally. But scholars of Islam are skeptical about the work. Michael Marx summarizes the results of a Berlin conference on the subject

History of Islam
Breathtaking Diversity
Gudrun Krämer, Professor of Islamic Studies at the Free University in Berlin, has written a history of Islam from the beginnings to the present day, from its outer limits in Asia to its furthest Western outpost in Andalusia. By Mona Naggar

Fuat Sezgin – Tradition and Change
Science in Arab-Islamic Culture
Fuat Sezgin is the founder of one of the most significant research centers worldwide for sources and knowledge on the intellectual heritage of Arab-Islamic Culture – the Institute for the History of Arab-Islamic Sciences in Frankfurt, Germany. Gerhard Endress portraits the Turkish orientalist

Muslim Elite in Europe
Islam Refers to Faith and Identity
Jytte Klausen has been conducting a study into Europe's Muslim political elite for two years. In an interview she analyses the perception of Muslims in European societies and their relations to the Muslim elite