Navid Kermani ed. by Helga Druxes, Karolin Machtans, Alexandar Mihailovic (review)

Navid Kermani, born in 1967 in Siegen to Iranian parents, is regarded as one of Germany’s most highly respected public intellectuals. A Professor for the History of Islamic Culture and Ideas at the Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt a. M. as well as a journalist, critic, and novelist, Kermani commands an exceptionally broad range of expertise and his critical voice is sought on debates ranging from the role of Islam, globalization, and multiculturalism to the war in Syria, the plight of the refugees, the role of the nation state, and the fate of Europe. The recipient of numerous awards and prizes, including the 2015 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, Kermani’s biography, accomplishments, and passionate advocacy for cultural diversity and hybridity create a unique set of elective affinities, which are judiciously investigated in this first-rate volume. It features an excellent introduction by Druxes and Machtans, an interview with Kermani conducted by the same authors, eight essays by leading scholars, a concise “Biographical/Bibliographical Chronology” as well as an extensive bibliography and an index. The editors also included a reprint of Kermani’s celebrated 2014 address to the German Parliament on the 65^th anniversary of the German Basic Law in both German and English. This appealing mix of analyses and texts makes for a very informative overview covering the salient ideas, topics, and genres of Kermani’s wide-ranging writings.

In their introduction Druxes and Machtans focus on key intellectual and religious traditions shaping Kermani’s world view, such as European Enlightenment, Islamic mysticism, and the concept of theodicy in the three monotheistic religions, tracing his belief in the compatibility of diverse histories and cultures. They argue that Kermani’s emphasis on the “deep mutual interconnections between Europe and the Orient through their shared History of Ideas reorient us to a more inclusive view of our cultural past” (10). The other essays similarly stress Kermani’s rejection of binary essentialist discourses in favor of exploring the affinities across distinct belief systems, particularly regarding Islam and its relationship to European enlightenment.

Klaus von Stoch in his chapter “Kermani’s Writing on Islamic Religion” provides a succinct analysis of Kermani’s three key theological texts. These deal with the aesthetic appreciation of the Quran (Gott ist schön. Das ästhetische Erleben des Koran, 1999), the problem of theodicy (Der Schrecken Gottes. Attar, Hiob und die metaphysische Revolte, 2005), and, most recently, the relationship between Islam and Germany’s Jewish traditions (Zwischen Koran und Kafka. West-östliche Erkundungen, 2014). Von Stoch concludes with a useful overview highlighting Kermani’s belief in “the ambiguity of God” (85) as the core of his theology. Karolin Machtans in “The Beauty and Terror of Love: Große Liebe and Du sollst” provides close readings of Kermani’s novel Große Liebe (2014) and of Du sollst (2005), a text on the Ten Commandments. Her reading traces both the “redemptive and the terrifying aspects of love” (105), divine as well as human love, and she argues that this fundamental ambivalence is characteristic of Kermani’s perception of love. Große Liebe together with Das Buch der von Neil Young Getöteten (2002) also feature in Jens Hobus’s piece “Down by the River: Music, Love, and Memory in Navid Kermani’s Work”, an exploration of Kermani’s musical experiences and the role of mediated memory.

David N. Coury’s excellent essay “Kafka and the Quran: Patriotism, Culture, and Post-national Identity” situates Kermani’s essay collection Wer ist wir? Deutsch-land und seine Muslime (2009) in the context of current German and European political debates on cultural identity and belonging. Coury argues convincingly that Kermani encourages “a kind of Kulturpatriotismus [cultural patriotism] rooted in the values of the European Enlightenment that emphasizes tolerance and religious pluralism” (51). Consequently, Kermani rejects both an “exclusionary nationalism” (51) and the incommensurability of Islam and Enlightenment values (53), promoting instead a cosmopolitanism rooted in Germany’s critical intellectual...