Qantara.de - Dialog mit der islamischen Welt

on: Reformist Islam after Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, by Angela Schader

I have tried to make head or tail of what Angela Schader has written in her rather confusing article.

Alone the title of the article is misleading when one reads the whole text of the article and what various speakers in the German conference. I had the pleasure to meet Professor and Koranic scholar Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd at a conference in Germany a few years back and had a lovely discussion with him about his idea of a interpreting some statements and regulations formulated in the Koran within their historical ...More

on: "Light and Shadows" (exhibition on the Story of Iran and the Jews), by Gundula M. Tegtmeyer

Gundula M. Tegtmeyer's article "Light and Shadows" (exhibition on the Story of Iran and the Jews) provides a lot of information but also has many shortcomings. Let me point out two. Tegtmeyer first says that: "In the year A.D. 636, a date that marks the beginning of the Islamisation of the Persians, the Arabs invaded the Persian Empire. Ever since, i.e. for the past 1,400 years, Jews have been living under Muslim rule in Iran."

After that she stops and does not explain how the Arab conquest ...More

on The Arab Jews: Language, Poetry, and Singularity, by Reuven Snir

Thank you for this beautifully thought article. I am a Palestinian and I always hear my dad talk about the Arab Jews that lived side by side my family in Palestine and how they loved each other and lived in harmony and peace. A lot of people don't understand that you can be an Arab, but also you be any religion too. I hope and pray to allmighty Allah that one day (I hope in my life time) everybody on the face f this earth will live in peace. I am really tired of all the wars and the senseless killing and suffering of people. We need more people the you to ...More

on: Waving the Flag in Arab Living Rooms, by Mona Sarkis

In the article "Foreign Television Broadcasters in Arabic, Waving the Flag in Arab Living Rooms," the author misrepresents Alhurra TV's audience and reputation in the Middle East. According to international research firms such as ACNielsen, Alhurra has a weekly reach of 27.7 million viewers, a majority of whom find the news to be credible. In fact, Alhurra's audience exceeds that of all other non-indigenous Arabic-language international broadcasters combined. Alhurra's mission is journalistic. Alhurra is required, by law, to be conducted in ...More

on: Domestic Violence against Women in the Gaza Strip: "A Woman Is Like a Carpet", by Ruth Kinet

Surah 34 by no means justifies men beating women. The word "daraba", which is usually deliberately falsely translated as 
"to hit", has a wide range of meanings and can only be translated in this context as "to separate" or at the most as "to make something clear by unambiguous verbal means".More

on: We Urgently Need Religious Reforms!, interview with Muhammad Shahrur

Dear Editor, The issue, often raised in the media and by scholars, is at times confused for a reinterpretation of the Qur'anic message in light with the present day realities. The present day realities are region specific: they greatly vary between an advanced urban setting (West), a backward rural setting (Somalia, Nigeria, rural Bangladesh) and a rugged and desolate mountainous terrain (Afghanistan) or desert wilderness (Arabian heartland). Thus, any notion to tailor the Islamic message to the ‘present era' will call for a multiple ...More

on: "Islam Was Always Part of Europe", interview with Michael Borgolte by Ralph Bollmann

And it will remain part of Europe not as an invading force but as a member of the family of the Abraham's belief. For me "The Jews, The Christians and The Muslims are colours of a Rainbow", the only requirement is dialogue and harmony within us, so that we can fight against our common enemy "all those creating the seeds of misunderstanding and hatred in our hearts and minds"!More