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Islamic Renaissance in the West:
An Interview with Murad Hoffman*
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Murad Hoffman
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"I
can see that because I'm standing with one leg in the orient and with the other
one in the Occident that's why I understand both worlds sufficiently well to
explain them to each other, so often when I'm in the Muslim world I explain to
them the west and in the west I explain Islam". This is how Murad Hoffman
the famous Muslim German thinker reflects his unique situation, being exposed to
different knowledge and experiences.
Murad Wilfried Hoffman was Germany’s ambassador to Algeria and Morocco between
1987-94 and was earlier Director of Information for NATO at Brussels. He
embraced Islam in 1980. He received his education at Union College in New York
and did his Masters degree in German Law in Munich and took his doctorate from
Harvard. His first book on Islam was Diary of a German Muslim (1990). Second
book Islam: the Alternative raised protests in Germany and he was dubbed a
fundamentalist by Leftists.
Eleventh
of September has in the long run been an advantage to Islam in as much
as more people than ever are seeking information about Islam  |
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Here
Hoffman discusses with Islam Online his views and concerns about various
intellectual and practical problematic contexts of both the common grounds and
the differences between the East and the West especially after September
eleventh. He tries to reassert the opportunities and challenges of Islam and
Muslims in the western societies, drawing the difference between these western
societies.
*
Can we consider September eleventh events as a turning point and a beginning of
another era? And do you think that there is a suitable Islamic project, dealing
with the western mentality, by which we can confront the ramification of such
events?
I
don’t believe really that eleventh of September was such a monumental change.
It was very important for the American mentality just like Pearl Harbor have
been for instance. In Germany we had monumental events like the end of World War
II which was an enormous catastrophe. The Japanese had events like the atomic
attacks and yet after some time the world gets back to normal. I also think that
this will be the fate of eleventh of September; it will be an important date in
the history books, but the world will settle down to normal and as far as Islam
is concerned eleventh of September has in the long run been an advantage to
Islam in as much as more people than ever are seeking information about Islam,
all books on Islam were sold out within 14 days. In Germany, a translation of
the Quran which I edited sold 40,000 times within a year which goes to show that
the shock effect can translate into more knowledge about Islam in the long run
and if we move out of the present hysteria, we may see more appreciation of
Islam after all.
*
But at least those events have had serious effects on Muslims, how do you
evaluate these effects?
D'awa
can not be centralized. Effective D'awa can only be carried out locally
because if somebody speaks for Islam with a foreign accent, Islam will
automatically be treated as a foreign thing, not as a universal
thing. |
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Of
course I'm living these effects. I encounter suspicion, when you are law
abiding, even then you are suspected of being a potential terrorist. When you
travel to the United States, you are being treated as never as before; you have
to wait for hours for your suitcase and you are obviously under suspicion. But
the Muslims in America reasserted their approach; they even organized after
eleventh of September the first central meeting of Muslims in America, the so
called ISNA (Islamic Society of North America) meeting. They organized that for
the first time in Washington to make a point and 42000 Muslims came to
Washington, most of them very young and most of the very young women wearing
Hijab. That was the answer of the Muslims; not to fight but to stand up
for what they believe and to be assertive, not defensive.
*
In your opinion, how can you see the Islamic project and its approaches towards
the West?
D'awa
can not be centralized. Effective D'awa can only be carried out locally because
if somebody speaks for Islam with a foreign accent, Islam will automatically be
treated as a foreign thing, not as a universal thing. Also you have to know how
people think, that means you have to go through the same education they had in
order to know the pitfalls. You have to know the history of the people because
they have collective memories. Only if we know all that you can be an effective
D'uaa. To give you an example, we get often Islamic books from Pakistan or from
India, their English is faulty, their paper is bad, the binding is awful, there
are many printing mistakes. That alone disqualifies the books, people won't even
touch them because they are used good paper, good binding, perfect printing and
it is little things like that that disqualifies a book that otherwise would be
worthwhile reading. This is cultural. This is the answer to that question.
*There
are repeated calls from different sides to the Muslims to renew their discourses
and projects, what do you think about that?
Every
new generation of Muslims has to reconvert, you can not inherit a religion. The
Western German poet called Goethe who put it very well, he said: "You have
to acquire your inheritance in order to boss it". And that means every
generation has to go back to Quran and Sunna again and again in order to make it
relevant against the background of its own problematic context.
*
Some people believe that the achievements or the Islamic intellectual thought
and jurisprudence so far has not interacted effectively with humanity and the
world at large. Being an intellectual who is Muslim and Western, what is your
opinion?
Every
new generation of Muslims has to reconvert, you can not inherit a
religion. |
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I agree with that statement fully. The problem is that the Muslim world has not
developed with corresponds to orientalism in the West. In the West there are
specialists for Islam who know a lot about Islam, who speak Arabic and Persian
(I mean Farsi) and Turkish, this is the minimum of what they have to learn, so
the West is equipped to understand Islam from the inside. There is no such thing
as Occidentalism in the Muslim world. You find very few people who have a
command of western languages plus western history plus western philosophy plus
Christianity for instance in all its details and that is part of the function. I
can see that because I'm standing with one leg in the orient and with the
other one in the Occident and I understand both worlds sufficiently well
to explain them to each other, so often when I'm in the Muslim world I explain
to them the west and in the west I explain Islam.
*
Do you think that there is an Islamic absence in the respect of engaging with
human international issues and problems? For example, with the international
anti- globalization movement, what we have to do in order to readdress the
situation?
I
think the Palestinian issue is central in this respect .It is true that the
policies of Israel against Palestinians and the support given to it by the
United States are highly criticized in most of Europe and even in America
itself. There's a growing feeling among Americans that Washington is no longer
run by Americans but by Zionists and basically from Israel and this makes these
people very unhappy, so there may be a growing numbers of people who are
against this Bush policy towards Israel. And you are definitely right,
what happens in Chechnya, in Kashmir, in Algeria, in Pakistan, in the United
Nations Security Council is dealt with a double standard. United Nations
resolutions against Israel are never applied but United Nations resolutions
against any of the Muslim countries are immediately applied. And that's why one
of my books I wrote a chapter called: "Blond blue eyed and other human
rights" meaning, I said, human rights are blond and blue eyed.
And
the Muslim world is mostly absent; the same was true in Bosnia. Who finally
interfered massively in favor of the Muslims in Bosnia and in Kosovo? It was the
west; it was not the Muslim world. Why is this so? Why can we not get our act
together? It is first of all, I think, because the Muslim world has been divided
by colonialism into nations that now behave like independent nations and not
like the Umma. Everybody has a flag and a dictator and that is tragic. If the
Muslim people themselves would count, they would get their act together. It is
the governments that don’t permit it.
*Many
may think that Muslims in the west are living on the production of the intellect
and jurisprudence made in the East. What is the reason for this and when do you
think there will be an independent Islamic Fiqh and intellect and culture which
are the production of the west?
I
fully deny the assumption you made. There is much more intellectual Islamic life
in the west in the East. More serious books on Islam are being published in
English than in Arabic. We have very productive centers for Islamic institution
of thought in Washington led by Taha Gaber Al-Elwany,
he's an Azharite. We have another one in Los Anglos led by Fathy Othman,
Azharite. We have one in London led by Zaky Badawy, Azharite. I'm writing book
reviews, every year about 20 books; meaning I read about 4000 pages of Islamic
books each year for the so called Muslim world book review which is published in
England in Markfield where there is a wonderful Islamic foundation. And
since Muslim thinkers in the West can write without censorship, their production
is likely to be essential for the development of Islam in the Muslim world. I
think the Muslims in America and in Europe will be the leaders for the
intellectual revitalization of the Muslims in the East.
*But
at the same time we believe that the west is still depending on the east in
terms of intellect and thought. Even the names you have just mentioned like
Elwany, Badawi and Fathy Othman, they were reared and they started their life in
the east. Besides that the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) is
still headed by Al-Qaradawi and Mawlawi. The question is: is the infrastructure
for westerner Islamic thought and intellect being built in the west?
I
think so indeed and even the three people mentioned are so much influenced by
their being in the west. This has fruitful repercussions on their production, on
their thinking, on their approach.
*How
do you see the future of Muslims in the west especially after the eleventh of
September tragic events?
This
can not be answered without distinguishing between those parts of the west which
is mainly atheistic and where the Christian church is no longer a major player
and those countries where people are still religious. Take the United States;
the United States is a religious country. You can not be the President of the
United States without going to some church.
In
Europe, it is the opposite, the German chancellor, he is a professing atheist.
And the majority of the intellectuals in Europe are non believers. Now, it is
easier for Muslims to deal with believers than with non believers.
The
second element is: who is the majority of Muslims? In Germany: it is Turks, in
France: it is North Africans, in England: it is Indo-Pakistanis. And that
makes a big difference for each of these countries. The Turks for instance came
without knowing any German while the North Africans; they knew French before
they came to France and the Indo-Pakistanis knew English before they came to
England so they had a head start.
Secondly,
India is so far away that these people immediately identify with burden. The
North Africans identify with France because they are political refugees, they
don’t want to go back. The Turks however want to go back because they came for
economic reasons, not for political reasons. The picture is different in every
country.
Now,
the most important difference is in favor of Muslims in America. The Muslims in
Europe all came as workers, unskilled workers and therefore, socially, they
started from the bottom and this you can still notice. In America, Muslims came
as students from the entire Muslim world and they all went to become doctors,
engineers, lawyers… with the result that the Muslim population in America has
the highest ratio of academically trained people in America, more than the Jews.
*Having
retired from civil service, are you writing your memoirs? What is new in your
production? Are you writing special books?
I
am 72 years of age and I have written ten books on Islam, I think that is
sufficient. My diary you would find in the book: "rehla ela Makka";(My
Journey to Mecaa) But I do write articles for "Islamic Studies" in
Islamabad, for the "American Journal for Islamic Social Studies" in
Washington, for "Encounters" in England and I'm writing for an Islamic
newspaper in Germany. We have an Islamic newspaper.
*
Based on an interview by Hossam Tammam, the Editor of the Cultural page
in islamonline.net (Arabic Section), during an intrafaith dialogue conference in
El Manama - Bahrain
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