| Navid Kermani | |
|---|---|
| Born | 27 November 1967 Iran |
| Occupation | Novelist, essayist |
| Nationality | German |
| Period | -present |
Navid Kermani (born 27 November 1967), 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.[1][2] 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.[3]
He holds Iranian and German citizenship.
Contents |
The German state of Hesse 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?"[4][5]
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.[6] Kermani donated his share of the award to a Christian priest.[7]