Abdoldjavad Falaturi (1926–1996) () was a German scholar of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ian origin.

Education

He attended a German-Persian high school in his hometown of

Isfahan Isfahan or Esfahan ( ) is a city in the Central District (Isfahan County), Central District of Isfahan County, Isfahan province, Iran. It is the capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is located south of Tehran. The city ...

and took private lessons in Arabic literature and Islamic studies. He carried on his education at Mahad and Tehran. Later, he attended the

University of Tehran The University of Tehran (UT) or Tehran University (, ) is a public collegiate university in Iran, and the oldest and most prominent Iranian university located in Tehran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as ...

's Faculty of Theology, where he graduated with a bachelor of arts in philosophy in 1333/1954. While in Germany, Falaturi studied a variety of courses, including philosophy, psychology, comparative religion, Greek, and Latin; he earned his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

in 1962.

Career

He has also written several other official publications (together with Udo Tworuschka) for education in Germany on

Islamic theology Schools of Islamic theology are various Islamic schools and branches in different schools of thought regarding creed. The main schools of Islamic theology include the extant Mu'tazili, Ash'ari, Maturidi, and Athari schools; the extinct ones ...

(initially "Der Islam im Unterricht. Beiträge zur interkulturellen Erziehung in Europa", in: ''Beilage zu den Studien zur Internationalen Schulbuchforschung, Braunschweig'' : Georg-Eckert-Institut, 1992.) From 1974 through 1996, he was a professor of Islamic philosophy, theology, and law at the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...

. He played a significant role in developing the

Shiite Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

collection in the University of Cologne's Oriental Department beginning in 1965. He co-established the Islamic Academy for Research into the Interrelationships with Western Intellectual History and Culture in Cologne; formed in 1978) and was a founding member of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany (created in 1986). Falaturi was one of the few Persian religious intellectuals in close contact with Azhar University administrators after the Islamic Revolution of 1979, and he was then appointed to their Islamic council, the Majles al-al le-aeon al-lam al-eslm. He focussed on the confusion between cultural habits and religious rules. Among others, he writes that it is incorrect to state that the

chador A chādor ( Persian, ), also variously spelled in English as chadah, chad(d)ar, chader, chud(d)ah, chadur, and naturalized as , is an outer garment or open cloak worn by many women in the Persian-influenced countries of Iran, Afghanistan, Azerba ...

is a religious obligation.

Bibliography/Works

* * Co-authored with Elizabeth Petuchowski and Jakob Josef Petuchowski * * ''Elementary Persian Grammar'', 1967 * * ''An unpublished treatise of Miskawaih on Justice or Risāla fī Māhiyat al-'adl li Miskawaih.'', 1968 (German and English Edition) * ''Islam in the classroom: Contributions to intercultural education in Europe.'' German Edition, 1991 (Co-authored with Udo Tworuschka) * ''History of Religion in Public'' (Cologne publications on the history of religion; Vol. 1). German Edition * ''Muslim thoughts for Teachers and textbooks authors'' * ''Qişşat al-īmān baina al-falsafa wa al-'ilm wa al-qur'ān.'', 1965 (German edition) * ''Zur Interpretation der Kantischen Ethik im Lichte der Achtung. Mit einem Anhang: Vorarbeit zu Studien zu einem allgemeinen Kantwörterbuch / Abdoldjavad Falaturi'', 1965 (Thesis (doctoral)--Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, 1926.) * * ''Analysis of the Catholic religion books on the subject of Islam (Islam in the school books of the Federal Republic of Germany)'', 1988 (Co-Author) German Edition * * ''Beitrage zu islamischem Rechtsdenken'', 2006 doi:10.2307/1570994 * (German Edition), (Contributing author) * * ''Die Umdeutung der griechischen Philosophie durch das islamische Denken'' (German Edition), 2018.

References

External links

Abdoldjavad Falaturi's List of Publications

Abdoldjavad Falaturi

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Author: Abdoldjavad Falaturi's books

1926 births 1996 deaths Iranian writers Iranian writers in German German-language writers Islamic philosophers German Shia Muslims German male writers Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies of the University of Tehran alumni Burials at Takht-e Foulad People from Amol {{Islamic-theologian-stub