eJournals Colloquia Germanica 47/1-2

Colloquia Germanica
0010-1338
Francke Verlag Tübingen
Es handelt sich um einen Open-Access-Artikel der unter den Bedingungen der Lizenz CC by 4.0 veröffentlicht wurde.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Navid Kermani is one of Germany’s foremost writers and scholars of Islam. His essays and literary works illuminate the concurrent debates in the Federal Republic on immigration and multiculturalism as well as help counter a growing trend toward Islamophobia. His writing represents, drawing on Leslie Adelson’s theories, a new “Muslim turn” in contemporary German literature, which lends this body of writing a degree of worldliness and a global perspective that many post-war texts have lacked. In this essay, I argue that Kermani’s literary protagonists as well as his own essayistic positions explore ways of belonging for Muslims in a post-secular and post-national Germany. In particular, this essay analyzes two of Kermani’s fictional works, his 2007 novel Kurzmitteilung and the 2006 children’s book Ayda, Bär und Hase, as well as his essays and interviews in order to explore not only the Muslim turn in contemporary German literature but also narratological constructions and responses to questions of identity and Assimilation.
2014
471-2

Ways of Belonging: navid Kermani and the Muslim Turn in Contemporary German Literature

2014
David N. Coury
Ways of Belonging: Navid Kermani and the Muslim Turn 9 Ways of Belonging: navid Kermani and the Muslim Turn in Contemporary German literature David N. Coury University of Wisconsin-Green Bay abstract: Navid Kermani is one of Germany’s foremost writers and scholars of Islam. His essays and literary works illuminate the concurrent debates in the Federal Republic on immigration and multiculturalism as well as help counter a growing trend toward Islamophobia. His writing represents, drawing on Leslie Adelson’s theories, a new “Muslim turn” in contemporary German literature, which lends this body of writing a degree of worldliness and a global perspective that many post-war texts have lacked. In this essay, I argue that Kermani’s literary protagonists as well as his own essayistic positions explore ways of belonging for Muslims in a post-secular and post-national Germany. In particular, this essay analyzes two of Kermani’s fictional works, his 2007 novel Kurzmitteilung and the 2006 children’s book Ayda, Bär und Hase, as well as his essays and interviews in order to explore not only the Muslim turn in contemporary German literature but also narratological constructions and responses to questions of identity and assimilation. Keywords: Navid Kermani, Muslim turn, Iranian-Germans, postnational identity, cultural integration Navid Kermani has established himself as one of Germany’s foremost essayists, novelists and scholars of Islam. His scholarly interventions have helped counter a growing trend toward Islamophobia and his literary works reflect on and illuminate many of the recent polemics in the Federal Republic on immigration and multiculturalism, which, as a result of Thilo Sarrazin’s controversial bestseller Deutschland schafft sich ab, have in the last few years provoked great debate. 1 As a first-generation German-Iranian, Kermani has published a variety of texts that have explored questions of identity from the perspective of both a Muslim and a bicultural writer. While his own literature is, as he emphatically states, quintessentially German, 2 he nonetheless recognizes the struggles of those in 10 David N. Coury non-dominant cultures to find a sense of belonging in a country that has only rather reluctantly viewed itself as a land of immigration. 3 His prose works, along with those of Zafer Şenocak, Feridun Zaimoğlu, Abbas Khider, among others, have contributed to what Karen Yeşilada, following Leslie Adelson, has described as a “Muslim turn” in contemporary German literature, characterized by literary discourses and the appearance of Muslim protagonists who negotiate their identities in a globalized Europe. Kermani’s texts—both his literary and his essayistic writings—represent a significant contribution to this process, whereby his writing explores strategies and ways of belonging in a postnational Germany and a globalized Europe. In this essay, I will explore the challenges that his characters face in integrating into German (and by extension European) society by examining one of his early novels, Kurzmitteilung (2007), and his children’s book Ayda, Bär und Hase (2006), as well as recent essays which challenge preconceived notions of integration and assimilation and offer means of reconciling cultural and religious differences. While it is clear that there is no easy or simple solution, Kermani’s confrontations with these matters has propelled him to the forefront of German writers tackling contemporary cultural issues. To be sure, there has been a growing body of literature on Turkish-German culture and literature over the last several decades, but much less has been written on Islam in German writing or Muslim writers in Germany, of which Turkish-German literature is only a subset. In one of the first studies of German-Muslim writing, Georg Stoll argues that excepting studies by theologians or philosophers, the literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth century was the first in Germany to show evidence of “traces of encounters” with Islam. Lessing, Goethe, and later Heine all demonstrated what Stoll describes as a “learned-humanistic concern with Islamic culture and religion” (268). By the late twentieth century, however, Islam had received little attention by German writers and only played a “subordinate” role if at all: “Islam is interesting only to the extent that it forms part of the cultural background of the text and gives Muslim immigrants the stamp of foreignness, whereby most authors limit themselves almost exclusively to describing Islamic Turks” (269). When considering the literary production of immigrants, Stoll argues, the picture changes. Beyond forming part of the cultural background of the immigrant experience, this body of literature also presented Islam in the context of separation and potentially liberation, whereas the West provided both refuge and escape, but also necessitated a growing nostalgia for the homeland. Moreover, still other works explored the immigrants’ search for religious identity in the secular West (279-80). Whereas in the 1980s such literature was viewed primarily as documenting social change in the Federal Republic, by the turn of the millennium these literary works demanded to be taken seriously on aesthetic grounds, and many writers, including Ways of Belonging: Navid Kermani and the Muslim Turn 11 Kermani, have created characters whose relation to Islam and their country of origin is multifaceted and complex. Although there have been increasingly more studies of (im)migrant literature in Germany, Leslie Adelson posited in her seminal study that such works nevertheless require a “new critical grammar” of migration. She rejects the often applied metaphor of Turkish-German literature serving as a bridge between two cultures and she similarly finds approaches based on theories of diasporic or immigrant literature equally problematic given the multiple generations of Turks and Turkish-Germans who have been born and raised in the Federal Republic. Instead she argues for “medium-specific and context-specific vocabularies” that will allow for a greater understanding of the manifold cultural effects of Turkish immigration (13). Moreover, she maintains, “the center of Europe is no longer Eurocentric,” resulting in what she refers to as an “epochal sense of disorientation” in the literature of Turkish migration (13; 15). The same decentering certainly characterizes the works of Muslim writers in Germany, whose literary production similarly demands a context-specific analysis and one that is similarly predicated on a re-centering of Europe in the context of its growing Muslim population. Such a re-centering is necessitated by the changes in immigration patterns resulting from political conflicts and economic crises that have led to an increase in Muslim immigration into the EU . Moreover, Islam itself is one of the world’s fastest growing religions and this necessitates new ways of understanding the relationship between Islam and the West. 4 As the Turkish sociologist Nilüfer Göle has suggested, postcolonial and “postbloc” forces have also had a transformative effect at the turn of the millennium on Europe to the point that Islam is no longer “[…] an external reference point on the margins of Europe, [rather] it is becoming an indigenous and central factor in shaping processes of change and self-understanding” (665). In her call for a decentering of Europe, she considers two symbols of change and European transformation at the end of the twentieth century that have contributed to the Muslim turn—the fall of the Berlin Wall and the fall of the Stari Most, the Mostar bridge in the former Yugoslavia, four years (to the day) later. Whereas the fall of the Berlin Wall signaled the end of Communism as a political force in Europe, the fall of the Stari Most announced the “Islamic problem” within Europe (667). The Old Bridge ( stari most ) in Mostar over the Neretva river had stood for over 400 years as a symbol of unity and cultural pluralism in the heart of Bosnia-Herzegovina and was one of the most celebrated examples of Islamic architecture in the Balkans. After it was repeatedly shelled by Bosnian Croats in 1993, it effectively separated the predominantly Bosnian Muslim eastern bank from the Bosnian Croat western bank. The destruction of the bridge ended what Martin Coward has called the 12 David N. Coury “tradition of plural coexistence” that Mostar had come to symbolize (6). While the former symbolized a closing of the past, the latter portended the start of a disoriented future for Europe, whereby Islam would come to appear “[…] as an ‘alterity,’ an incommensurable yet monolithic reality against which Europeans try to distinguish and separate themselves” (Göle, “Decentering” 668). Göle, like Kermani, conjures up but steadfastly rejects Samuel Huntington’s clash-of-civilizations thesis, yet nonetheless recognizes the tensions inherent in “post-Europeanity,” which she has argued can only be reconciled through a two-way adaptation ( Anverwandlung )� 5 This two-way adaptation (or “interpenetration,” to better approximate the original French term interpénétrations ) not only promotes closer contact between the two sides but also further emphasizes the commensurability of values between Islam and the West, one of the goals of Kermani’s writings as well. A fundamental part of recent discourses on integration and the “Islamic problem” in Germany centers around the anti-multiculturalist view of the incommensurability of world views. 6 This argument is promoted not only by Sarrazin and his supporters but also by the likes of Necla Kelek and Ayan Hirsi Ali, who have argued against the possibility of a harmonious integration of Muslims within Europe. Habermas takes issues with this position arguing that it is premised on “problematic background assumptions,” namely the supposition that “cultural ways of life [are] semantically closed universes, each of which keeps the lid on its own standards of rationality and truth claims” (25). By recognizing that Europe is in fact a post-secular society, he reiterates his position that it must “adjust to the continued existence of religious communities in an increasingly secularized environment” (19). With the rise of both immigrant and autochthonous Muslim populations in Europe, the necessity for a re-centering and re-thinking of European identity becomes essential. Such a re-centering naturally involves a process of inclusion and mutual respect for peoples of all cultures, religions, and backgrounds, for, as Habermas reminds us, “the identity of each individual citizen is woven together with collective identities, and must be stabilized in a network of mutual recognition” (Habermas, Postnational 74)� This is without doubt both a painful and precarious process but has important ramifications for the democratic process: “The majority culture, supposing itself to be identical with the national culture as such, has to free itself from its historical identification with a general political culture, if all citizens are to be able to identify on equal terms with the political culture of their own country” (74). This poses certain challenges for both Muslim and non-Muslim Europeans, as both must negotiate their own senses of identity. For Muslims this means embracing an identity as a European Muslim, whereas for non-Muslims this involves an acceptance of Islam as part of Europe. Ways of Belonging: Navid Kermani and the Muslim Turn 13 The difficulty on the part of the dominant culture in Germany of relinquishing historical identity constructions and accepting Islam as part of Europe is evident in a number of polemics in the first decade of the twenty-first century, which, as we will see, inform Kermani’s writings. In 2005, then Bundespräsident Norbert Lammert re-opened the debate over a German Leitkultur and the question of German identity. The following year, he asked forty-two leading artists, intellectuals and politicians their views on the concept and the question of its necessity. CDU politician Wolfgang Schäuble, who that same year would lay the foundation for the first Deutsche Islamkonferenz, stated in his response that at the heart of the matter was Germany’s search for an answer to an ageold question, which itself is reflected in many of the discourses in multicultural literature, namely: wie die Menschen, die aus unterschiedlichsten Teilen der Welt, und mit der Absicht, eine Heimat zu finden, nach Deutschland kommen und gekommen sind, mit all den Menschen, die in Deutschland bereits lange ansässig sind und sich heimisch fühlen, zusammenleben und gemeinsam ihr Land, ihre Heimat gestalten können. (Lammert 223) Schäuble’s main concern was with language and the need for immigrants to learn to speak German. Kermani shares Schäuble’s concern and in an essay entitled “Deutschland wird weltoffener,” he recounts an incident between his daughter and a young boy at primary school. He and his wife chose not to send their daughter to the school closest to their home in Cologne out of fear that she would be schooled in Turkish rather than German, noting that in the Catholic school his daughter attends (which still has a migrant population of over fifty percent) “die heimische […] Kultur nicht schamhaft in den Hintergrund gerückt, sondern gepflegt und selbstbewußt vertreten [wird]” ( Wer 61). In fact, he criticizes those schools and politicians who show an exaggerated caution and sensitivity toward the minority populations (or what in the U. S. is commonly referred to as “political correctness”) and instead argues for the necessity of mutual respect: “Wer sich selbst nicht respektiert, kann keinen Respekt erwarten” ( Wer 62). In many ways, his argument dispels a prevalent misconception that some people have, namely that firstand second-generation immigrant populations seek special treatment or are uninterested in German culture or in learning the German language. Kermani’s works, in fact, show a great appreciation for both the Persian and the German literary canons and as well as the intellectual histories of these two cultures. 7 Thus for Kermani, the Leitkultur debate should focus not on cultural difference but instead on the law and on the fundamental principles underlying the Federal Republic: “Leitend an Deutschland ist keine schwer definierbare Kultur, 14 David N. Coury sondern das Grundgesetz, das ich mehr als nur respektiere, sondern als eine der größten Errungenschaften der deutschen Geschichte verehre und verteidige” ( Verfassung 88). Unlike Zafer Şenocak, who calls for a reform of Islam in order to facilitate a greater integration of Western and Islamic values, 8 Kermani is a self-proclaimed “Verfassungspatriot,” who argues throughout his writings that the German Basic Law affords certain fundamental rights to all citizens and individuals living in Germany, which, if followed, would not only allow but also facilitate a peaceful coexistence of cultures and religions. Furthermore, he places the onus on the state to clarify new situations that arise as a result of immigration that could not have been predicated by the fathers of the constitution: Wo etwa muss der Staat eingreifen, wenn die Gleichheit von Frau und Mann nicht gegeben ist oder die Säkularität unserer Gesellschaft nicht akzeptiert wird? Wie geht man mit denen um, die diese Gleichheit der Geschlechter oder den säkularen Rahmen bestreiten oder gar aktiv bekämpfen? Orientieren sollten sich staatliche Vertreter daran, wie sie prinzipiell gegen Bürger oder Vereinigungen vorgehen möchten, die das Grundgesetz missachten, sei es Individuen oder als Angehörige einer Organisation, seien es gebürtige Deutsche oder Migranten. ( Verfassung 90) Here Kermani argues rather presciently for the state to hold not only non-German migrants but also German citizens and organizations accountable for anti-Constitutional activities, an issue that would arise five years later with the arrests of the NSU members accused of the so-called “Döner-Morde,” a topic he would address in Vergesst Deutschland! It therefore came as a surprise when, in October 2010, Chancellor Angela Merkel and CSU -head Horst Seehofer declared in a speech during the Deutschlandtag der Jungen Union that the project of multiculturalism in Germany had failed. 9 While Merkel’s comments stirred both debate and criticism, less commonly reported were her additional remarks—not unlike those made by Kermani—that the Berlin government needed to do more to integrate immigrants into German society. In her comments, Merkel also referenced a speech a few days earlier by German president Christian Wulff in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of German unification in which Wulff asks rhetorically whether Germany since unification has grown together into a unified Vaterland. In pondering the issue of immigrants and religious differences, Wulff famously affirmed that indeed “der Islam gehört inzwischen auch zu Deutschland.” 10 These two seemingly contradictory statements—that the project of multiculturalism is dead, yet Islam has nevertheless established itself as part of Germany—leave one to wonder how and if these perspectives are to be reconciled. Moreover, what exactly does it mean for the identities of German Muslims as well as for literature written by Muslims in Germany? Ways of Belonging: Navid Kermani and the Muslim Turn 15 These questions are certainly not new and Germany’s complex history of both religious tolerance and intolerance makes these matters not only more problematic, but also all the more important for the broader European context. Wulff’s comments, like Merkel’s, prompted both debates and criticism as to what that would mean for Germany’s cultural and political identity. Writing in Die Zeit, Ulrich Greiner criticized Wulff’s proclamation by claiming that such a statement erases Germany’s Judeo-Christian heritage and instead suggests that Germans now live in a Christian-Jewish-Muslim culture, which he evidently feels is incorrect. 11 Greiner goes on to cite the German Grundgesetz and the references to human rights (Article 1.1, “Die Würde des Menschen ist unantastbar” and Article 2.2, “Die Freiheit der Person ist unverletzlich”), suggesting that Islam does not fully recognize these principles. Drawing a historical line to the origin of the separation of church and state, the realm of God and that of “das deutsche Volk” back to antiquity, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment, he writes: “Der Islam jedoch kennt diesen Begriff der personalen Freiheit nicht in derselben Weise.” It is rather surprising that Greiner would not only further such a conception of Islam but also that he embraces the idea of Europe and Germany having as a fundament “Judeo-Christian values,” thereby overlooking centuries of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. Further, while it is true that Islam sees the dignity of human life as being granted by God and not by a secular state, it has not always been the European and / or Western tradition to view the origins of human dignity as granted by law either. But Greiner’s broader contention that Islam cannot be integrated into the European or German system of secular values and society because of fundamental differences between the Christian and Islamic conceptions of what he terms “Gewaltenteilung,” (a separation of religious doctrine and secular governmental law) reflects a notion that has gained somewhat widespread acceptance in the West and particularly in Europe in the wake of controversies in the Netherlands and Denmark but also in Germany. 12 Perhaps in answer to Greiner and others who hold to this belief, Kermani takes up the question of the commensurability of Islam and the West in several essays in his book Wer ist Wir? Deutschland und seine Muslime. In an essay titled “Ist der Islam integrierbar? ” Kermani argues first and foremost that one cannot speak of “ der Islam.” Not only are there manifold manifestations of and practices within Islam, so that one cannot speak of a monolithic religion, so too is there no one person who can speak for the faith as a whole, as the Pope does in Roman Catholicism. Greiner too acknowledges this, as he terms it, “notorious” objection that “ der Islam” doesn’t exist, and consequently rejects Wulff’s claim that “ der Islam gehört inzwischen auch zu Deutschland” for if there is not one Islam, then it cannot be part of Germany. Greiner, however, doesn’t extend that line of thinking further to apply to the 16 David N. Coury multiplicity of practices and branches within Christianity and Judaism which he clearly understands to be fully part of German society. This type of thinking is typical of a Eurocentric viewpoint that seeks to underscore differences rather than acknowledge commonalities. Despite this objection, Kermani nevertheless notes that there are certain fundamental principles in Islam to which all practitioners can agree: the so-called five pillars of Islam. If one were to reduce the essence of Islam to these five duties required of all Muslims, then Kermani fails to see how anyone could argue that Islam cannot be integrated into a secular European society, given the personal freedoms and freedom of thought afforded by almost all constitutions ( Wer 116-17). Another fundamental objection that has been raised about the incompatibility of Islam and the West is the idea that Islam fails to recognize a separation of church and state, or more specifically secular and religious law. Kermani addresses this question too, by historicizing the Islamic concept of a unity between state and religion ( Al-Islam din wa-daula ). Ironically, he argues, this belief in such a unity among many Muslims is in fact a product of modernity, as the concept is not to be found in any Islamic text prior to the eighteenth century. He notes, for instance, that in the Islamic Middle Ages, unlike in the Christian medieval period, religious and political authorities were separate. To be sure, the caliph was a defender of the faith, he writes, but as a rule he did not have a religious education and was not permitted to issue religious opinions. Quite simply, the caliph was no mufti ( Wer 118). Only in more recent times have fundamentalist interpreters of Islam come to view the unity of faith and state as important, most often in reaction to colonialism and oppression which necessitated such a view to assert an identity. This would then be proof that Islam is not rooted or mired in medieval, pre-modern tribal thinking, as many critics have claimed, and is therefore not incompatible with Western modernity. Kermani similarly rejects the idea of a need for “cultural dialogue” as well as the more insipient Western concept of a “clash of cultures,” as both set up a false binary and suggest that the two cultures are mutually exclusive ( Wer 122). Where, for instance, does the westernized Muslim fit into this scheme, he asks, or a Bosnian, or a secondor third-generation Muslim immigrant? The problem, Kermani points out, is that the idea of incommensurability infects not only those in Westernized societies who come to believe false precepts but it can also radicalize those in Islamic societies who similarly come to believe in cultural antagonism and react violently. He cites several contemporary Muslim scholars (Mohammed Arkoun, Nasr Hamid Abu Zaid, and Abdolkarim Sorusch) who reject this kind of thinking and shows that it has been the instrumentalization and politicization of Islam that have led to false interpretations and theories on the relation between the West and the Islamic worlds ( Wer 123). In sum, he writes in closing: Ways of Belonging: Navid Kermani and the Muslim Turn 17 “Allenfalls ließe sich mit Blick auf die Historie sagen, daß Demokratie oder Menschenrechte Möglichkeiten des Islams sind” ( Wer 125). Such examples are then proof that Islam can be integrated into a secular state. But the question as to whether Muslims in Germany can be integrated—and if so, how—is different and this is the very matter that Kermani probes in his literary works. Two such works, Kermani’s 2006 children’s book Ayda, Bär und Hase and his 2007 short novel Kurzmitteilung, explore the challenges and struggles that Muslims face in locating themselves and their identity in contemporary German society. These two books, while markedly different, share many characteristics, including strong autobiographical parallels. The protagonists of both novels are Germans of Iranian descent who live in Cologne, but spend time both in Iran (Isfahan, the homeland of Kermani’s parents) and Spain. Both are Muslims who struggle to fit in and are in search of meaningful integration into German society. In the end, however, they find very different ways of belonging in a globalized Europe. Ayda, the young protagonist of the children’s book, learns lessons in friendship, perseverance, and acceptance of difference as a mechanism of belonging and integration. In Kurzmitteilung, however, Kermani explores the internal struggles that European Muslims face that could lead either to radicalization or a forced break with one’s traditions and heritage. The two works at once complement and contrast with one another by showing, on the one hand, an idealized world of integration and contentment and, on the other hand, the consequences of spiritual exile as a result of an inability to reconcile Islam and Western values. Ayda, Bär und Hase is perhaps the simplest and most straightforward narrative of integration that Kermani has written to date. Ayda, a five-year-old kindergartener living in Cologne with her Iranian parents, feels sad and alone as the story opens, in part because she does not have many friends in school or her neighborhood. Lisa and Paul, two of her classmates from school, like her, but never invite her to play or go on bicycle rides because she is too small, but also, she thinks, because she is different. One day, while exploring the city on her own, she encounters a rabbit and a bear whom she befriends and shares her feelings with and who accompany Ayda as she begins to explore her multicultural world, not only in and around her neighborhood but also on a family trip to Spain, where her parents vacation and meet up with their Iranian relatives from Isfahan and America. The story is told by a third-person omniscient narrator, who often speaks directly to the reader, bringing to mind not only the voice of a parent reading to a child but also the classical narrative strategies of Arabic and Persian literature. The story opens, for instance, with the standard Persian formula of the oral narrative tradition, “Yeki bud, yeki nabud, gheir az chodâ hietsch-kas nabud,” 13 which is repeated at the beginning of each of the 18 David N. Coury four sections of the book, positioning the story in the realm of the oral tale or, as becomes evident with the introduction of the rabbit and bear, the fable (11). That the storyteller is Persian is important in that it establishes an affinity between the narrator and Ayda, who is growing up bi-culturally in Germany. Throughout the story, the narrator gives insights into the Persian language by exploring pronunciation of names such as Ayda’s and vocabulary words for family members. In this way, the narrator introduces young readers of the book to the Persian language and customs of Iran as a way of making Ayda less foreign but also in order to underscore the similarities among all young children. However, the story itself reflects a child’s perspective on the issues of difference and exclusion in a multicultural society. After running away at the beginning of the story, Ayda tells her newfound friends Rabbit and Bear that she is sad that she has no siblings and feels abandoned by the other children. Rabbit and Bear promise to be her friends and tell her how they too had been lifelong friends despite their differences and the general perception that rabbits and bears are not by nature friendly or compatible. This constellation of figures, along with the narratorial interventions that establish a moral authority and commentary, 14 invites the reader to understand the story as a fable about difference and ways of belonging. In the spirit of the fable, Rabbit and Bear come to represent outsiders who themselves are different and marginalized from the mainstream population. Both express their intrigue when first encountering Ayda, as neither has met a human before. Afterwards they wish to meet Ayda’s family and friends and become more integrated into the human world. Rabbit in particular is presented as an especially polite creature who extols the virtues of helping others. He speaks in a manner different and more formal than the others but by the end of the story has even begun to imitate the local dialect by proclaiming in Kölsch, “Eschte Fründe ston zesamme,” the refrain of the song he has heard Ayda’s father and other fans singing at the 1. FC Köln soccer matches. This linguistic shift, as minor as it may seem, nevertheless symbolizes a move toward integration on the part of Rabbit, despite his differences as an outsider, and mirrors one of the most commonly contested points of the immigration debate, namely the supposed reluctance of foreigners and immigrants to learn and speak the native language. The narrator draws this parallel even more clearly toward the end of the fourth part of the story when Ayda’s family meets the rabbit’s family for the first time and Ayda’s father thanks the father rabbit for taking such good care of his daughter. When the rabbit family invites Ayda and her parents to their home, Ayda’s father, rather than decline, extends an invitation to the rabbit family instead. In detailing this polite negotiation, the narrator explains the Persian custom of taarof : Ways of Belonging: Navid Kermani and the Muslim Turn 19 Dass die Hasenhöhle viel zu klein ist für den Besuch von Menschen (oder gar Bären), konnte Bâbâ sich selbst denken. Das nennt man Höflichkeit oder taarof, wie man auf Persisch sagt. Für Hasen und Iraner ist taarof sehr wichtig. Taarof ist, wenn man etwas sagt, was man nicht meint - aber man meint es gut. (142) Cultural differences and practices like this are presented throughout the book and help to break down stereotypes that young readers might have formed in the wake of a growing multicultural population at their schools or in their communities. In the end, Ayda wins over Lisa and Paul in part with the help of Rabbit and Bear, 15 whom she now views as part of her extended family. The moral of the story, as would be expected both from a fable and a children’s book, is clear: we mustn’t judge others by their appearance, their background or the way they speak, acknowledging instead that each person is an individual deserving of respect and recognition of her individuality. The other message that the book sends to children is articulated by Ayda herself when she and her friends come to the rescue of a poor overworked donkey in Spain: “Wenn man unglücklich ist, muss man sich nicht damit abfinden, sondern versuchen, es zu ändern” (114). Whereas Ayda and her friends help the donkey find happiness, so too do Rabbit and Bear help Ayda befriend Lisa and Paul and break down the barriers of difference that the latter perceived. These themes of tolerance, perseverance, and the peaceful coexistence of cultures are common themes explored in all of Kermani’s texts, including both his narrative and essayistic work. While the question of religious tolerance is not explored in Ayda, Hase und Bär —the reader would assume that Ayda is Muslim, but this facet of her characterization never comes up explicitly—it does become a focal point of Kermani’s next work from 2007, the complex and enigmatic novel Kurzmitteilung. Dariusch, the first-person narrator, is a forty-something German-Iranian event manager from Cologne who at the opening of the book receives an SMS from a colleague informing him that a woman whom he had only briefly met for work has suddenly died. This news shakes him out of the complacency of his comfortable life in his second home in Cadaqués, Spain, and prompts him to return to Cologne to try to learn more about the woman, Maike Anfang, and the circumstances surrounding her death. Dariusch made her acquaintance through a contract he received to organize a farewell celebration for Patrick Boger, the American CEO of the Ford- AG in Cologne, who would soon be returning to the U. S. Perplexed and disturbed by the fact that someone so young could die so suddenly, Dariusch becomes drawn into Maike Anfang’s life as he tries to make sense of her sudden death. In the process, he comes to reflect on his own life and values and in the end questions his past and the choices he has made. The story concludes with a long email from Dariusch to Boger explaining that he 20 David N. Coury wrote the text detailing the events (which is, in fact, the novel itself) as a document of his former self, and that he is now quite ashamed of who he once was. Significantly (and symbolically), the novel is constructed of eleven chapters, with a postscript twelfth in the form of the email reflecting on the events of the preceding eleven. In an interview and reading at the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin, Kermani discussed with the panelists that the structure of the book parallels the story of the twelve Shi’a imams. Twelver Shi’as, the religious majority in Iran, believe that the twelfth imam, al-Mahdi, disappeared and will one day reappear to bring peace and justice to the world. Thus, Kermani notes, the final chapter of the story is similarly missing and supplanted instead by a postscript, offering Dariusch’s own attempt at internal peace and reconciliation. 16 This novelistic structure not only contextualizes the story within a Muslim tradition but it also sheds light onto Dariusch’s change. After having met Boger in Cologne, Dariusch followed him to the U. S. as a participant in seminars at his Center in Arkansas, a new-age, quasi-religious, pro-capitalist institute. Dariusch reveals that while in the U. S., he underwent a profound transformation in his life leading him not only to reject Islam but, at least in his mind, to become a better, more altruistic person in the process. 17 Unlike Ayda in the children’s story, who embraces her identity and finds strength in diversity, Dariusch struggles to come to terms with his identity, his heritage, and his religion. In fact, the reader is initially unaware of his Iranian heritage and his Muslim faith, which are only gradually revealed. The story takes place shortly after the 2005 London bombings and throughout the novel, Dariusch makes comments about the perpetrators and his disdain for political Islam. Nevertheless, it is clear that Islam has played an important role in his upbringing, so much so that, upon hearing the news of Maike Anfang’s death, he immediately begins to pray: Ich bin nicht gläubig, aber wenn ich etwas Wichtiges vorhabe oder jemand gestorben ist, spreche ich die Fatiha, die erste Sure des Korans, obwohl ich mich gar nicht mehr genau an den Sinn erinnere. Es hat nichts mit Frömmigkeit zu tun. Die arabischen Verse liegen gut auf meinen Lippen und helfen mir über die Sekunden hinweg, in denen ich nicht weiß, was ich tun oder denken soll. ( Kurzmitteilung 18) Moreover, he notes that since 9 / 11, there has been a proliferation of interest and even commercialization of Islam to such an extent that he could even profit from it in his business. 18 In fact, he proposes that the celebration for Boger have an “oriental” theme, albeit one that focuses on the secular and successful in Islam, concepts quite different from the preconceived notions that many have of religion (47). His relation to his faith is quite complex, whereby on the one hand he is drawn to the traditions and sayings of the Koran, while on the other Ways of Belonging: Navid Kermani and the Muslim Turn 21 he rejects the word “Islam,” because he associates it with his grandparents and good-hearted people, suggesting that the contemporary manifestation of political Islam stands in sharp contrast to the kindness of his extended family (34). Gradually he begins to question and reject Islam and other Muslims as a consequence of the actions of the London bombers as well as the perceived discrimination he feels from others and his own desire to feel more European. Dariusch himself is a successful, secular Muslim and a womanizer who enjoys drinking and the nightlife in his established homes in Spain and Germany. Nevertheless, he still struggles with his identity. While fully integrated into German society—and more specifically Cologne—he nonetheless finds himself spending more and more time in rural Catalonia, a region of Spain that rejects its Spanish-Castilian identity and seeks independence, suggesting an affinity toward a region with a similar identity conflict. As such, Dariusch moves in a third-space ( USA ) that is linked neither to his country of origin (Iran), nor to his country of birth (Germany), nor even to his adopted second home (Spain). Jim Jordan has suggested that Dariusch suffers from a Herkunftsbewältigung, which is typical of the “fundamental engagement of second-generation migrants with their ethnic, cultural and religious background” (177). Furthermore, Dariusch’s religious background provides him an even less steady anchor for his identity. Here too he is torn, for he is neither religious nor particularly pious, yet he notes that he is nevertheless increasingly categorized as such by others. Before visiting Maike Anfang’s mother in Cologne, he ponders his appearance and how he is generally perceived and stereotyped by others: Meinen Namen hatte ich auf dem Anrufbeantworter hinterlassen, aber wenn sie mich mit fünftägigem Bart, den langen Haaren und dem schwarzen Anzug sehen würde, wer weiß, vielleicht würde sie das irritieren. Ich merke, daß die Leute irritiert sind, wenn sie einen unrasierten Araber sehen, obwohl ich keiner bin. (53) Even more pointedly, he rants that the world is full of idiots like “die Araber, die sich in die Luft jagen, und die fetten Weißen, die uns deswegen alle für Araber halten” (53). While he never clearly states that he himself has been discriminated against, he nonetheless feels a sense of otherness from fellow Europeans (“die Weißen”) based on his ethnic and religious background. That he himself rejects his own heritage leaves him feeling disoriented and rootless, leading, as critics have noted, to his inability to maintain meaningful relationships and to his fixation on impersonal forms of communication like texting, cell phones, and email. 19 But it also makes him more susceptible to change and falling sway to Boger and his mysterious Center in America. Reviewers were initially divided on how to interpret the end of the novel and Dariusch’s self-reflections. 20 While most, if not all, question Dariusch’s true 22 David N. Coury intentions at the end of the novel, some feel his transformation was spurred by a conversion from Islam to a new-age cult, while others see him as having become an opportunistic manipulator who uses Boger’s methods to seek greater profits. Writing in Die Zeit, Jochen Jung views Dariusch as full of contradictions who has at the end become “ein entschiedenes Mitglied von Scientology,” while Jörg Magenau feels that this “irritierendes Buch” by the end devolves into a “Kitschroman.” 21 Jordan has maintained, however—and Frauke Matthes concurs—that Kurzmitteilung is much more, namely an “exhortation to the second generation [of migrants] not to try to ignore real issues arising from their position and their family past, and that Dariusch is intended as a cautionary tale in this respect” (177). However, Dariusch’s transformation into a postmodern materialist in a “post-ethnic and post-political lifestyle,” Jordan goes on to argue, represents only a deferral of his eventual “day of reckoning.” But this still begs the question as to what the cautionary tale really is. Has there been a rash of second-generation European Muslims converting to Scientology or other New Age religious cults? Or is there a fear that many Muslims will lose their identity and embrace a soulless materialism? A more logical ending and cautionary tale might have had Dariusch becoming more radicalized as a result of his inability to overcome his heritage ( Jordan’s Herkunftsbewältigung ) and embracing his roots and political Islam all the more. 22 This, however, would have only reinforced the stereotypes that many in the West on both sides of the political spectrum have about the causalities of the failure of integration and assimilation. 23 Still, this leaves unanswered questions about the puzzling ending of the novel and Dariusch’s personal transformation. Part of his change involves a strong rejection of Islam: Der Islam ist eine grausame, blutige Religion. Er bringt keinen Frieden, er erzeugt keinen Respekt, sondern immer nur neuen Terror. […] Da ist nur Haß. Ich wundere mich nicht mehr über die Zustände in Iran und sonstwo. Wo so viel Intoleranz und Aggression ist, kann sich die Gesellschaft nicht positiv entwickeln. ( Kurzmitteilung 150) He goes on to describe his quest for a peaceful spirituality that would lead to a sense of prosperity and well-being. This, he says, constitutes what he has found in the U. S., “das Zentrum des neuen, uralten Geistes” (150). The corporate success that Boger has enjoyed and that he proselytizes at his Center in Arkansas enables Dariusch’s self-evaluation and provides him with the confidence and satisfaction that he has sought: “Es ist so einfach, erfolgreich zu sein - und so gut. Ja, es ist gut, gut zu sein” (151). Clearly he equates success with a moral imperative for personal betterment and links it to an altruism that he finds lacking in Islam. Ways of Belonging: Navid Kermani and the Muslim Turn 23 Dariusch’s transformation can perhaps be best understood when the novel is contextualized within Kermani’s other nonfiction writings so as to gain a greater understanding of the complexity of the issues his work grapples with. The dust jacket of Kurzmitteilung quotes from the novel and Dariusch’s perplexity upon learning of Maike Anfang’s death: “Wieso stirbt jemand, dachte ich, wieso stirbt jemand einfach so? ” This deceptively simple, yet deeply religious question, also accounts for the origins of the novel. Kermani dedicates the book to the memory of Claudia Fenner, an actress who, much like Maike Anfang, died suddenly in the summer of 2005. Kermani knew Fenner only fleetingly but was taken aback by her sudden death, which he learned of via a SMS � 24 That same year, Kermani published a lengthy study on theodicy and the origins of suffering: Der Schrecken Gottes: Attar, Hiob und die metaphysische Revolte, 25 drawing on his expertise as a scholar of Islamic history and theology. Kermani begins his study on a very personal note, in which he recalls his Aunt Lobat and the suffering she endured leading to her slow, painful death. Watching this beloved and devout aunt suffer reminded Kermani not only of the story of Job but also of the writings of the Persian mystic poet Attar, whose The Book of Suffering is at the center of his analysis. As is typical of Kermani’s essayistic writing, his study draws on both German and Persian cultural and literary histories, a move which further underscores the intellectual connectivity of the East and West. He makes connections to modern philosophical thought and literary tenets and so considers the suffering and painful death that Heinrich Heine faced and draws parallels to the suffering of his Aunt Lobat. Heine, he reminds us, suffered terribly in the final twelve years of his life, but in the process, he also returned to his religion: “Before he can even refute it in the manner of Büchner, religion is brought forth by pain” ( Terror 23). Additionally, Kermani explores the tradition in all three of the monotheistic religions of rejecting God in the face of torment and suffering and how each religion treats this phenomenon from a theological perspective. He maintains, however, that as great as the promise of God’s reward is in Christianity and Judaism, there is “a very different answer, already formulated surprisingly vehemently in the Arab-Persian Middle Ages […] to questions of suffering, injustice and evil: to dispute the existence of God” (19). While disputing the existence of God has a long tradition as a response to suffering, the rejection of God can also be a survival mechanism and a more drastic, pessimistic means of integration for minorities. In many ways, this is where we find Dariusch at the opening of the novel: Maike Anfang’s sudden death is the catalyst which sets him on a course of questioning God, religion, and his heritage, as he finds in Islam no comfort for understanding suffering or injustice and even finds evil in the actions of those who have been radicalized by religion. By the conclusion of the story, he has 24 David N. Coury come to an outright rejection of God: “Weder glaube ich an einen Gott im Himmel, der alles zum Guten wendet, noch an die bösen Amerikaner, die alles zugrunde richten,” Dariusch writes to Boger ( Kurzmitteilung 150). In many ways, Dariusch undergoes the reverse of the transformation that Heine experienced; whereas Heine found God through suffering, Dariusch, in the long-standing Islamic tradition, rejects God. In contemplating Heine’s state of mind, Kermani quotes Heine’s first comments on his illness in 1849: “‘I am no longer a life-loving, somewhat portly Greek, smiling condescendingly at gloomy Nazarenes—I am now a mortally sick Jew, an emaciated image of misery, an unhappy human being! ’” ( Terror 204). Whereas Heine had gone from being a life-loving intellectual to a mortally sick Jew, Dariusch moves from being a morally sick Muslim to being a life-loving capitalist. Yet at the same time he has curiously not become morally bankrupt or corrupted at the end of the story. On the contrary, he seeks a broad sense of purity, charity, and fraternity, something he feels he has learned from Boger: “der wahre Sinn des Lebens liegt darin, für andere dazusein” ( Kurzmitteilung 149). He adds, “Ich möchte dahin gelangen, allen fühlenden Wesen nahezustehen. Die Liebe soll sich nicht beschränken auf die eigenen Freunde, die eigene Familie. Jeder Mensch ist liebenswert” (155). As Matthes has argued, Dariusch has found an alternative religion, a secular spirituality that provides stability and an identity (314). Whether or not this step is authentic is never made clear. But herein lies the cautionary tale, namely that the disenchantment that Muslims might feel as a result of both a commercialized and a radicalized Islam can lead to both disillusionment and a disengagement from society and religion. Whereas some are drawn to political Islam or even violence, others might be tempted to overlook the Koranic view of these issues. Kermani notes that in contrast to Christianity and Judaism, in Islam “the world is arranged in such a way that there is not even cause for critical questioning. The creation is not only God’s work, it is also good at all times and everywhere; all people need to do is look, then they will recognize and thank God” ( Terror 175). This is the simple lesson that Ayda learns and internalizes as she finally makes peace with herself and finds acceptance among her friends and those both like and unlike her. Ayda never questions her heritage or the goodness in the world; rather, she seeks ways of belonging and integration into her circle of friends and society as a whole that allow her to embrace who she is and fit into the multicultural world in which she lives. It is unclear whether Dariusch will again find his way back to his religion (after all, the final twelfth chapter, like the twelfth Imam, has yet to appear), but he has nevertheless found a path to clarity and a new life. But why, one might ask, would Kermani, a devout Muslim himself, choose to offer a moral or cautionary tale in which the protagonist loses his religion in order to find happiness? In interviews, Kermani has described Dariusch as Ways of Belonging: Navid Kermani and the Muslim Turn 25 a seeker (“ein Suchender”) 26 and he has emphasized that Kurzmitteilung was a novel concerned with the here and now and thus not an existential novel that would offer answers to deep theological questions. 27 Perhaps the answer lies again in Kermani’s reflections on theodicy and his discussions of counter-theology. In concluding his study of Attar and Job, Kermani explains that Attar teaches that “it is all the same to God whether we pray or not, whether we believe in Him, deny Him or insult Him” ( Terror 219). From this, Attar and many Western philosophers come to find an existential freedom from indifference—an indifference, Attar implies, which arises from a “theological apathy: if God is indifferent, it makes no difference what people say about him” ( Terror 219). This is not to say that Attar (or Kermani, for that matter) argues for atheism or a complete rejection of God. What saves us and what inevitably saved Job as well as Kermani’s Aunt Lobat is hope. Attar’s expressions of hope, derived from joy, suggests that the protagonist of Kermani’s open-ended novel might one day find his way back to his faith, not like Heine through suffering, but rather through joy, hope, and a belief in the goodness within humankind. Kurzmitteiling and Ayda, Bär und Hase, as representative of Kermani’s works, reflect the range of styles and possibilities in contemporary literature about Muslims in Germany. Whereas one portrays a young girl finding her way, her community, and herself in her multicultural world, the other depicts the difficulties that Muslims face both politically and existentially in the post 9 / 11 world and the challenges they confront in negotiating ways of belonging in a post-national but also increasingly post-secular world. The Muslim turn in contemporary German writing therefore offers a complexity and diversity of thought that resists reductive conceptions of national and religious identity. This growing body of literature will only enrich the West’s understanding of Islam and the relationship that it has to Germany and Europe today. Muslim writers, as Kermani asserts, must continue to play a role in shaping the West’s understanding of their cultures: “A culture proves its strength when it does not leave radical criticism to outsiders, but practices it itself—that is, when self-criticism is possible, and even institutionally supported” ( Terror 169). Kermani argues further that critical and institutionally supported voices are essential in this process and are as much a legacy of the Islamic tradition as of the Western Enlightenment: “most poets and mystics who attacked the dominant worldview and traditional conventions of their time saw themselves as devout Muslims. And not only that: they were an integral part of their own culture” ( Terror 169). Islam is indeed part of German society and culture today, and, whether or not the project of multiculturalism has failed, it will continue to be important for Muslim writers to explore the diversity of thought and ideas in Islam in order to create new ways of belonging for all citizens in contemporary German society. 26 David N. Coury notes 1 The debate over Sarrazin’s book alone has filled at least two volumes, see: Sarrazin: Eine deutsche Debatte and Hilal Sezgin, ed., Manifest der Vielen. 2 “Meine Literatur ist deutsch, Punkt, aus, basta - so deutsch wie Kafka” (Kermani, Wer 133)� 3 See Philip L. Martin, Germany: Reluctant Land of Immigration (Washington: AICGS , 1998). 4 The Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life published a study in 2011 predicting that the world’s Muslim population will increase 35 % in the next twenty years. While Europe and the Americas will still be home to the smallest percentage of the world’s Muslims, both regions are expected to see sizeable growth in their Muslim populations. See “The Future of the Global Muslim Population,” www.pewforum.org/ 2011/ 01/ 27 / the-future-of-the-global-muslim-population. 5 She notes that the German translation of her book originally published in French as Interpénétrations: L’Islam et l’Europe is Anverwandlungen: Der Islam in Europa zwischen Kopftuchverbot und Extremismus. 6 See Coury, “Enlightenment Fundamentalism,” for a discussion of the polemic between anti-multiculturalists and integrationists as exemplified by the 2007 debate between Timothy Garton Ash and Pascal Bruckner. 7 See especially “Lob der Differenz” as well as the “Anhang” in Wer ist Wir? 8 See, for instance, “Deutschsein am Bosporus” in Şenocak. 9 “Integration: Seehofer und Merkel befeuern Leitkultur-Debatte.” 10 Christian Wulff, “Rede zum 20. Jahrestag der Deutschen Einheit.” 11 Greiner, “Unser Islam? Christian Wulff wagt eine große Geste in aufgeheizter Zeit. Aber noch gehört der Islam nicht zur deutschen Kultur.” 12 Tzvetan Todorov discusses the so-called Danish cartoon scandal and Ian Buruma’s lengthy essay deals with the murder of Theo van Gogh, both of which created unrest and debate in the Islamic world. 13 “Einen gab’s, den anderen nicht, niemand gab’s außer Gott” is the German equivalent that immediately follows the Persian. This formula is the equivalent of the English storytelling opening “Once upon a time,” although interestingly with a religious overtone. 14 As an example, in the second part of the story, a circus director comments that he didn’t believe three young children could help him out of a predicament. The narrator then speaks directly to the readers, presumably young children, saying “Erinnert ihr euch? Habe ich das nicht gesagt? Dass die Erwachsenen besonders dann streng mit den Kindern sind, wenn sie selbst Ärger haben. Und hier der Beweis” (75). Ways of Belonging: Navid Kermani and the Muslim Turn 27 15 The story takes an interesting twist when Ayda is confronted by a group of boys bullying her for being small. They challenge her to three feats of strength and athleticism and Rabbit and Bear come to her aide in a scene reminiscent of Gunther’s battle with Brünhild in the Nibelungenlied. Kermani has made his love of classic German literature clear in numerous essays so the parallels are striking. 16 Literarisches Colloquium Berlin, “Unterhaltung über Kermanis Text und über die Hauptfigur.” 17 In the discussion at the Literarisches Colloquium in Berlin, Kermani emphasizes that Dariusch has become a better person as a result of his experiences in the U. S., a fact that tends to be overlooked or downplayed by most critics who view his change cynically or else do not believe that he has indeed become an altruistic person. 18 Matthes reads this passage as part of a larger debate that Kermani sets up regarding the marketing of Islam. She sees this in relation to the fact “that German audiences expect writers and artists with Muslim background to be practicing Muslims, or even Islamic, and to comment on Islam-related issues in their work” (311). As such the novel itself could be read as Kermani’s own commentary on Islam. 19 See Jordan’s and Matthes’s analyses of the novel, both of whom mention Dariusch’s objectification of women and his reliance on technology as a form of interpersonal communication. 20 Kermani’s website has links to many reviews in major publications. See: navid.kermani.de, “Pressestimmen.” 21 Jung, “Einer dieser Typen von Scientology”; Magenau, “Ein Ekelpaket auf der Jagd nach Liebe.” Scientology is never mentioned, but critics and reviewers have noted that Boger’s Center, which appears to link spirituality and business success, is similar to some of the tenets of Scientology. Clearly Kermani wanted this to be ambiguous and thus did not place Boger’s center in California. See Matthes for more on the similarities to Scientology. 22 Several émigré Muslim writers have written such cautionary tales, including Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Laila Lalami’s Secret Son. 23 See Buruma’s excellent study and analysis of this phenomenon. 24 Fink, “Die Verwandlung,” Frankfurter Rundschau � 25 Translated into English as The Terror of God: Attar, Job and the Metaphysical Revolt. I quote here from the English translation in keeping with my broader interpretive strategy. 26 Badke, “Unsympathisch und faszinierend.” 28 David N. 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