Category: Publications
Islamisation in Eastern Europe – A case study of Arraid in Ukraine
The concept of Wasaṭiyya (from al-wasaṭ, middle, in Arabic) has been increasingly promoted in recent years. Originating from the Muslim Brotherhood (al-Ikhwān al- Muslimūn), it is often referred to as ‘Islamic centrism’ and Yūsuf al-Qaradāwī is featured as its major proponent. The stress is on presenting Islam as a moderate and adaptable religion, with focus on families and social participation. The Wasaṭiyya ideas found a fertile ground in some surprising contexts. An example is Ukraine, a predominantly Orthodox country in Eastern Europe. Arraid, a group purporting these principles of Wasaṭiyya, has been gaining influence there among the local Muslim community as well as among non-Muslims.
IfI Press Release on the Occasion of the Scandal at the United Nations Conference Against Racism in Geneva
BONN (April 22, 2009) – The Islam expert and Vice-Chairman of the Institute of Islamic Studies, Albrecht Hauser, in view of the most recent statements by the Iranian president, Mahmud Ahmadinejad, at the United Nations conference against racism which took place in Geneva in April 2009, warns about an increasingly growing and more openly promoted anti-Semitism in the Islamic world and also among Muslim youth in Europe.
(Deutsch) Pressemitteilung zur Debatte um den islamischen Religionsunterricht
(Deutsch) B O N N (02. März 2009) – Als alarmierende Signale beschreibt Albrecht Hauser vom Institut für Islamfragen die neuesten Vorfälle rund um den islamischen Religionsunterricht in Österreich. Nach einer im Januar 2009 vorgestellten Studie des Islamwissenschaftlers Mouhanad Khorchide, in der er mehr als 200 der knapp 400 Islamlehrer Österreichs befragte, lehnen 21,9 Prozent der Lehrer die Demokratie ab. 27,1 Prozent halten die UN-Menschenrechtserklärung von 1948 für unvereinbar mit dem Islam und 18,2 Prozent äußerten Verständnis dafür, dass ein Muslim, der vom Islam abgefallen ist, mit dem Tod bestraft würde.
(Deutsch) Die Ahmadiyya-Bewegung
(Deutsch) Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad rief sie vor dem Hintergrund der christlich-islamischen Kontroverse zwischen christlichen Missionaren und islamischen Gelehrten des britisch besetzten Indien ins Leben. Nachdem Mirza Ghulam Ahmad anfänglich nur proklamiert hatte, Offenbarungen von Gott erhalten zu haben, verfestigte sich sein Anspruch bald dahingehend, ein von Gott beauftragter Prophet zu sein, auch wenn er nicht mit einer gesetzgebenden Schrift gesandt sei wie Mose, Jesus oder Muhammad.
Defection from Islam: A Disturbing Human Rights Dilemma
The discussion of human rights flares up when Muslims in an Islamic country convert to Christianity and are threatened with death, as happened a few years ago in Afghanistan and as happens from time to time in other Muslim countries. In the West we immediately regard this as an attack on human rights and a restriction of the freedom of religion, but, in fact, almost all of the Islamic countries signed the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, and they regard their actions as consistent with their understanding of human rights. Obviously we face a huge divergence of opinions on the nature of human rights and what it means to protect them, but what is the source of such fundamentally different ways of thinking?
Is Multiculturalism (Multi-Culti) at an End?
“Multi-culti” – a catchword we all know. A concept that today is looked at rather critically but, in past decades, was to a large extent a guideline for the shared life of Christians and Muslims in Europe, even if by far not everyone was aware of this premise. Multi-culti – a result of an historical development into which we have stumbled rather than consciously planned and controlled. A development that, in addition, resulted from the false intellectual premises that accompanied the contemplation of the migration of Muslim workers to Germany, as well as from indifference and ignorance.
