Murad Wilfried Hofmann (1931 – 13 January 2020) was a German diplomat and author. He wrote several books on

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

, including ''Journey to Makkah'' () and ''Islam: The Alternative'' (). Many of his books and essays focused on Islam's place in the West and, after 11 September, in particular, in the United States. He was one of the signatories of

A Common Word Between Us and You "A Common Word between Us and You" is an open letter, from October 13, 2007, from Muslim to Christian leaders. It calls for peace between Muslims and Christians and tries to work for common ground and understanding between both religions, in line ...

, an open letter by Islamic scholars to Christian leaders, calling for peace and understanding.

Biography

Hofmann was born in

Aschaffenburg Aschaffenburg (; Hessian: ''Aschebersch'', ) is a town in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg, despite being its administrative seat, is not part of the district of Aschaffenburg. Aschaffenburg belonged to the Archbishopric ...

to an intellectual family related to Hugo Ball, a co-founder of

Dadaism Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

. Although raised a Catholic, he converted to Islam in 1980. He studied at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. His conversion was met with some controversy due to his high profile in the German government.A brief biography at IslamOnline.net
He converted to Islam as a result of what he witnessed in the

Algerian War of Independence The Algerian War (also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence) ''; '' (and sometimes in Algeria as the ''War of 1 November'') was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (Algeri ...

, his fondness for

Islamic art Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslims, Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across ...

, and what he saw as contradictions in

Paulist The Paulist Fathers, officially named the Missionary Society of Saint Paul the Apostle (), abbreviated CSP, is a Catholic society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right for men founded in New York City in 1858 by Isaac Hecker in collaboration wi ...

Christian doctrine. Hofmann served in the

German Foreign Service The Federal Foreign Office (, ; abbreviated AA) is the foreign ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany, a federal agency responsible for both the country's foreign policy and its relationship with the European Union. It is a cabinet-level ...

from 1961 to 1994. He first served in

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

as a specialist on issues concerning

nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics * Nuclear space *Nuclear ...

defence. He went on to serve as Director of Information for

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

from 1983 to 1987, Ambassador to

from 1987 to 1990, and Ambassador to

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

from 1990 to 1994. Hofmann was an honorary member and advisor to the

Central Council of Muslims in Germany The Central Council of Muslims in Germany (ZMD; ) is an Islamic organization in Germany. With 15,000 to 20,000 members, mainly German, German Arab, and German Turkish Muslims, it has less than half the size of the Islamrat für die Bundesrep ...

Commendations

Federal Cross of Merit The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

, Germany. * Commander of the Order of Merit, Italy. *Order of Merit in the Arts and Sciences, 1st Class, Egypt. *Grand Cordon

Publications

*1973 ''Of Beauty and the Dance: Towards an

Aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...

of Ballet'', in: Three Essays in Dance Aesthetic, Dance Perspectives No. 55, New York *1981 ''Wie MBFR begann'', in: Im Dienste Deutschland und des Rechtes, Festschrift für Wilhelm G. Grewe, Nomos, Baden-Baden *1984 ''Is NATO's Defence Policy facing a Crisis?'', in: Non-Nuclear War in Europe, Groningen University Press, Groningen *1981 ''Ein philosophischer Weg zum Islam'' *1984 ''Zur Rolle der islamischen Philosophie'' *1985 ''Tagebuch eines deutschen Muslims'' *1992 ''Der Islam als Alternative'', Diederichs, *1996 ''Reise nach Mekka'', Diederichs, *1998 Überarbeitung der

Koran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

übersetzung von

Max Henning Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) ( ...

, Istanbul und München *2000 ''Der Islam im 3. Jahrtausend'', Diederichs-Hugendubel, *2008 – 'Mustaqbal al-Islam fī al-Gharb wa-al-Sharq' he Future of Islam in the West and the East co-authored with ^cAbd al-Majid al-Sharafī, published by Dar al-Fikr in Damascus, 2008A book review was placed in Al-Hayah, 3 May 2008 and reviewed by Arab-West Report
2008, week 18, art. 27

References

External links

* , an essay by Hofmann
islamicity.com – Los Angeles Times: U.S. Freedoms Give American Muslims Influence Beyond Their Numbers
quotes Hofmann. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hofmann, Murad Wilfried People from Aschaffenburg 1931 births 2020 deaths German Sunni Muslims German former Christians Ambassadors of Germany to Algeria Ambassadors of Germany to Morocco Converts to Sunni Islam from Roman Catholicism Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Harvard University alumni German male writers Date of birth missing

Biography

Commendations

Publications

See also

References

External links