Navid Kermani
Encyclopedia
Navid Kermani a German
writer
and an expert in Islamic studies
, was born in Siegen
, Germany
as fourth son of Iranian parents. He is a member of the German Academy for Language and Poetry and the Academy of Sciences in Hamburg. He has written many books, novels as well as essays on Islam
, the Middle East and Christian-Muslim dialogue.
He regularly publishes articles, literary reviews and travelogues, especially in the Süddeutsche Zeitung
, Die Zeit
, and the Neue Zürcher Zeitung
. For his literary and academic work he has won numerous prizes, notably the Buber-Rosenzweig-Medal
in 2011.
In 2009 Kermani was almost stripped of a German culture prize for criticizing the Catholic crucifix.
He holds Iranian and German citizenship.
decided to use its 45,000 euro
Hessen Cultural Prize in July 2009 jointly to a Jew, a Muslim
, a Catholic
and a Lutheran to honour those involved in inter-religious dialogue. Fuat Sezgin
, a prominent scholar and founder of the Institute for Arab-Islamic Studies at the University of Frankfurt
was chosen as the Muslim awardee. Sezgin didn't want to accept a prize together with Salomon Korn, whose pro-Israeli views during the Gaza war he found unacceptable. To replace him, the prize-givers chose Navid Kermani. Kermani also had his doubts, not just about Korn, but also about the premier of Hesse, Roland Koch
, who is responsible for awarding the prize. In the end, Kermani decided to accept the prize, and to discuss the disagreements at the award ceremony. But Catholic Cardinal Karl Lehmann of Mainz, along with Peter Steinacker, former head of the Lutheran church of Hesse and Nassau, said they weren't prepared to accept the prize together with Kermani. Lehmann and Steinacker had a problem with an essay by Kermani in which he wrote about his feelings on seeing a painting of the crucifixion by the Italian seventeenth-century painter Guido Reni
. In his article, Kermani describes how he is repelled by the cross, how he even experiences it as blasphemous, but how in the presence of this moving picture by Reni, he begins to imagine that he could even come to believe in the cross. He wrote, “For me, the cross is a symbol which I cannot accept on a theological level, (...) Others may believe whatever they want, and I don't know better than they do. But when I pray in a church, which I sometimes do, I always make a point of not praying towards the cross. And there I was, sitting in front of the altarpiece by Guido Reni in the St. Laurence Church in Lucina
, and I found the image so fascinating, so full of blessing, that I could have remained seated there for ever. For the first time, I thought: I – I, and not just: one – I could believe in the cross.”
Cardinal Lehmann wrote an angry letter to Premier Roland Koch
in which he demanded that the offer of the prize should be withdrawn from Kermani. Koch then decided to write to Kermani withdrawing its offer of the prize to him, an action called "childish" by the Central Council of Muslims
.
Aiman A Mazyek, secretary of the council, explained to the Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel
: "How would they have felt if a Muslim had refused to meet a churchman because he did not revere the Prophet Mohammed?"
The issue was later resolved. Lehmann, Steinacker, Kermani, and Salomon Korn, vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, received the prize together on November 26, 2009. On that occasion, Roland Koch
, then head of Hesse, apologized to Kermani for his actions. Kermani donated his share of the award to a Christian priest.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and an expert in Islamic studies
Islamic studies
In a Muslim context, Islamic studies can be an umbrella term for all virtually all of academia, both originally researched and as defined by the Islamization of knowledge...
, was born in Siegen
Siegen
Siegen is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia.It is located in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the Arnsberg region...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
as fourth son of Iranian parents. He is a member of the German Academy for Language and Poetry and the Academy of Sciences in Hamburg. He has written many books, novels as well as essays on Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, the Middle East and Christian-Muslim dialogue.
He regularly publishes articles, literary reviews and travelogues, especially in the Süddeutsche Zeitung
Süddeutsche Zeitung
The Süddeutsche Zeitung , published in Munich, is the largest German national subscription daily newspaper.-Profile:The title literally translates as "South German Newspaper". It is read throughout Germany by 1.1 million readers daily and boasts a relatively high circulation abroad...
, Die Zeit
Die Zeit
Die Zeit is a German nationwide weekly newspaper that is highly respected for its quality journalism.With a circulation of 488,036 and an estimated readership of slightly above 2 million, it is the most widely read German weekly newspaper...
, and the Neue Zürcher Zeitung
Neue Zürcher Zeitung
The Neue Zürcher Zeitung is a major German language Swiss daily newspaper based in Zurich.One of the oldest newspapers still published, it originally appeared as Zürcher Zeitung, edited by Salomon Gessner, from January 12, 1780, and was renamed to Neue Zürcher Zeitung in 1821...
. For his literary and academic work he has won numerous prizes, notably the Buber-Rosenzweig-Medal
Buber-Rosenzweig-Medal
The Buber-Rosenzweig-Medaille is an annual prize awarded since 1968 by the Deutscher Koordinierungsrat der Gesellschaften für Christlich-Jüdische Zusammenarbeit...
in 2011.
In 2009 Kermani was almost stripped of a German culture prize for criticizing the Catholic crucifix.
He holds Iranian and German citizenship.
Books
- Offenbarung als Kommunikation. Das Konzept wahy in Nasr Hamid Abu Zaids Mafhum an-nass, Frankfurt et al. 1996 (Peter Lang).
- Gott ist schön. Das ästhetische Erleben des Koran, München 1999 (C. H. Beck).
- Nasr Hamid Abu Zaid, Ein Leben mit dem Islam, erzählt von Navid Kermani, aus dem Arabischen übersetzt von Chérifa Magdi, Freiburg 1999 (Herder).
- Iran - Die Revolution der Kinder, München 2000 (C. H. Beck).
- Dynamit des Geistes. Martyrium, Islam und Nihilismus, Göttingen 2002 (Wallstein).
- Das Buch der von Neil Young Getöteten, Zürich 2002 (Ammann), Köln 2004 (KiWi-Paperback).
- Annemarie Schimmel, Auf den Spuren der Muslime, Gesprächsband, herausgegeben von Hartmut Bobzin and Navid Kermani, Freiburg 2002 (Herder).
- Schöner Neuer Orient. Berichte von Städten und Kriegen, München 2003 (C. H. Beck); München 2007 (dtv)
- Toleranz. Drei Lesarten zu Lessings Märchen vom Ring im Jahre 2003 (mit Angelika Overath & Robert Schindel), Göttingen 2003 (Wallstein).
- Vierzig Leben, Zürich 2004 (Ammann).
- Thou Shalt, Ammann Verlag, Zurich 2005.
- The Terror of God. Attar, Job and the Metaphysical Revolt, C. H. Beck Verlag, Munich 2005.
- Strategie der Eskalation. Der Nahe Osten und die Politik des Westens, Göttingen 2005 (Wallstein).
- Nach Europa, Zürich 2006 (Ammann).
- Ayda, Bär und Hase, Kinderbuch, Wien 2006 (Picus).
- Mehdi Bazargan, Der Koran und die Christen, herausgegeben von Navid Kermani, München 2006 (C. H. Beck).
- Kurzmitteilung, Zürich 2007 (Ammann); Zürich 2007
- Wer ist Wir? Deutschland und seine Muslime, C. H. Beck Verlag, München 2009.
- The Terror of God. Polity Press, 2011.
Hessen cultural award controversy
The German state of HesseHesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
decided to use its 45,000 euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
Hessen Cultural Prize in July 2009 jointly to a Jew, a Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
, a Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
and a Lutheran to honour those involved in inter-religious dialogue. Fuat Sezgin
Fuat Sezgin
Fuat Sezgin is an orientalist who specializes in the history of Arabic-Islamic science. He is professor emeritus of the History of Natural Science at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany and the founder and honorary director of the Institute of the History of the Arab Islamic...
, a prominent scholar and founder of the Institute for Arab-Islamic Studies at the University of Frankfurt
University of Frankfurt
University of Frankfurt may refer to:*Goethe University Frankfurt, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany*Viadrina European University, in Frankfurt , Germany...
was chosen as the Muslim awardee. Sezgin didn't want to accept a prize together with Salomon Korn, whose pro-Israeli views during the Gaza war he found unacceptable. To replace him, the prize-givers chose Navid Kermani. Kermani also had his doubts, not just about Korn, but also about the premier of Hesse, Roland Koch
Roland Koch
Roland Koch is a German jurist and former conservative politician. He was Minister-President of Hesse from April 7, 1999, immediately becoming President of the Bundesrat, completing the term begun by his predecessor as Minister President, Hans Eichel, until his resignation on August 31, 2010...
, who is responsible for awarding the prize. In the end, Kermani decided to accept the prize, and to discuss the disagreements at the award ceremony. But Catholic Cardinal Karl Lehmann of Mainz, along with Peter Steinacker, former head of the Lutheran church of Hesse and Nassau, said they weren't prepared to accept the prize together with Kermani. Lehmann and Steinacker had a problem with an essay by Kermani in which he wrote about his feelings on seeing a painting of the crucifixion by the Italian seventeenth-century painter Guido Reni
Guido Reni
Guido Reni was an Italian painter of high-Baroque style.-Biography:Born in Bologna into a family of musicians, Guido Reni was the son of Daniele Reni and Ginevra de’ Pozzi. As a child of nine, he was apprenticed under the Bolognese studio of Denis Calvaert. Soon after, he was joined in that...
. In his article, Kermani describes how he is repelled by the cross, how he even experiences it as blasphemous, but how in the presence of this moving picture by Reni, he begins to imagine that he could even come to believe in the cross. He wrote, “For me, the cross is a symbol which I cannot accept on a theological level, (...) Others may believe whatever they want, and I don't know better than they do. But when I pray in a church, which I sometimes do, I always make a point of not praying towards the cross. And there I was, sitting in front of the altarpiece by Guido Reni in the St. Laurence Church in Lucina
Lucina
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Lucina was the goddess of childbirth. She safeguarded the lives of women in labour. Later, Lucina was an epithet for Juno...
, and I found the image so fascinating, so full of blessing, that I could have remained seated there for ever. For the first time, I thought: I – I, and not just: one – I could believe in the cross.”
Cardinal Lehmann wrote an angry letter to Premier Roland Koch
Roland Koch
Roland Koch is a German jurist and former conservative politician. He was Minister-President of Hesse from April 7, 1999, immediately becoming President of the Bundesrat, completing the term begun by his predecessor as Minister President, Hans Eichel, until his resignation on August 31, 2010...
in which he demanded that the offer of the prize should be withdrawn from Kermani. Koch then decided to write to Kermani withdrawing its offer of the prize to him, an action called "childish" by the Central Council of Muslims
Zentralrat der Muslime in Deutschland
The Zentralrat der Muslime in Deutschland is an Islamic federation in Germany. With 15,000 to 20,000 members, mainly German, German Arab, and German Turkish muslims, it has less than half the size of the Islamrat für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland.The Zentralrat was founded in 1994 by Nadeem...
.
Aiman A Mazyek, secretary of the council, explained to the Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel
Der Tagesspiegel
Der Tagesspiegel is a classical liberal German daily newspaper...
: "How would they have felt if a Muslim had refused to meet a churchman because he did not revere the Prophet Mohammed?"
The issue was later resolved. Lehmann, Steinacker, Kermani, and Salomon Korn, vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, received the prize together on November 26, 2009. On that occasion, Roland Koch
Roland Koch
Roland Koch is a German jurist and former conservative politician. He was Minister-President of Hesse from April 7, 1999, immediately becoming President of the Bundesrat, completing the term begun by his predecessor as Minister President, Hans Eichel, until his resignation on August 31, 2010...
, then head of Hesse, apologized to Kermani for his actions. Kermani donated his share of the award to a Christian priest.