Navid Kermani (; ; ; born 27 November 1967) is a German writer and orientalist. He is the author of several novels as well as books and essays 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 ...

, the Middle East and Christian-Muslim dialogue. He has won numerous prizes for his literary and academic work, including the Peace Prize of the German Publishers' Association on 18 June 2015.

Life

Navid Kermani was born the fourth son of Iranian parents in

Siegen Siegen () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the Arnsberg (region), Arnsberg region. The university town (n ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. He began his writing career at age 15 as a local reporter for the ''Westfälische Rundschau''. As a student he published in German national newspapers; from 1996 to 2000 he was a regular contributor to the cultural section of ''

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...

''. He studied philosophy, Oriental studies and drama in Cologne, Cairo and Bonn. His doctoral thesis has been published in English translation as ''God Is Beautiful: The Aesthetic Experience of the

Quran 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 ...

''. He regularly publishes articles,

literary review ''Literary Review'' is a British literary magazine founded in 1979 by Anne Smith, then head of the Department of English at the University of Edinburgh. Its offices are on Lexington Street in Soho. The magazine was edited for fourteen years b ...

s and travelogues, especially in ''

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of ''SZ'' is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and ...

'', ''

Die Zeit (, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The first edition of was ...

'', ''

Neue Zürcher Zeitung The (''NZZ''; "New Newspaper of Zurich") is German language daily newspaper, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in Zurich. The paper was founded in 1780. It has a reputation as a high-quality newspaper, as the German Swiss newspaper of record ...

'' and ''

Der Spiegel (, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

''. In the preface of his book ''Between Quran and Kafka: West-Eastern Affinities'' he acknowledges that he is an Orientalist and his world view has been shaped by his childhood interactions living in German society.

Bibliography

* ''Offenbarung als Kommunikation: Das Konzept ''wahy'' in Nasr Hamid Abu Zaids ''Mafhum an-nass, Frankfurt et al. 1996 (Peter Lang). * * ''Nasr Hamid Abu Zaid: Ein Leben mit dem Islam'', Freiburg 1999: Herder. * ''Iran: Die Revolution der Kinder'', Munich 2000: C. H. Beck. * ''Dynamit des Geistes: Martyrium, Islam und Nihilismus'', Göttingen 2002: Wallstein. * ''Das Buch der von Neil Young Getöteten'', Zurich 2002: Ammann: Cologne 2004; Kiepenheuer; Berlin 2013: Suhrkamp. * ''Schöner Neuer Orient: Berichte von Städten und Kriegen'', Munich 2003: C. H. Beck; Munich 2007: dtv. * ''Toleranz: Drei Lesarten zu Lessings Märchen vom Ring im Jahre 2003'' (with Angelika Overath and Robert Schindel), Göttingen 2003: Wallstein. * ''Vierzig Leben'', Zurich 2004: Ammann. * ''Du sollst'', Zurich 2005: Ammann. * ''Der Schrecken Gottes'' Munich 2005: C. H. Beck. * ''Strategie der Eskalation: Der Nahe Osten und die Politik des Westens'', Göttingen 2005: Wallstein. * ''Nach Europa'', Zurich 2006: Ammann. * ''Ayda, Bär und Hase'', Vienna 2006: Picus. * Mehdi Bazargan, ''Und Jesus ist sein Prophet: Der Koran und die Christen'', German trans. from the Persian by Markus Gerhold, ed. and with an introduction by Navid Kermani, Munich 2006: C. H. Beck. * ''Kurzmitteilung'', Zurich 2007: Ammann. * ''Wer ist Wir? Deutschland und seine Muslime'', Munich 2009: C. H. Beck. * ''Ausnahmezustände: Reisen in eine beunruhigte Welt'', Munich 2013: C. H. Beck. * ''Zwischen Koran und Kafka: West-östliche Erkundungen'', Munich 2014: C. H. Beck. * ''Ungläubiges Staunen: Über das Christentum'', Munich 2015: C. H. Beck. * ''Sozusagen Paris'', Munich 2016: Hanser. * ''Einbruch der Wirklichkeit: Auf dem Flüchtlingstreck durch Europa'', Munich 2016: C. H. Beck. * ''Entlang den Gräben: Eine Reise durch das östliche Europa bis nach Isfahan'', Munich 2018: C. H. Beck. * ''Morgen ist da: Reden'', Munich 2019: C. H. Beck. * ''Jeder soll von da, wo er ist, einen Schritt näher kommen: Fragen nach Gott'', Munich 2022: Hanser.

In English translation

* * * * * (2018

Schlegel-Tieck Prize The Schlegel-Tieck Prize for German Translation is a literary translation award given by the Society of Authors in London. Translations from the German original into English are considered for the prize. The value of the prize is £3,000, while t ...

.) * * * * * *

Awards and distinctions

* 2009:

Hessian Cultural Prize The Hessian Cultural Prize () is an annual German culture prize awarded by the Government of Hesse. The prize was established in 1982. With a trophy of 60,000 German marks, now 45,000 Euro, it is currently the highest endowed culture prize in Germ ...

* 2011:

Buber-Rosenzweig-Medal The Buber-Rosenzweig-Medaille is an annual prize awarded since 1968 by the Deutscher Koordinierungsrat der Gesellschaften für Christlich-Jüdische Zusammenarbeit (DKR; German Coordinating Council of Societies for Christian-Jewish Cooperation) to in ...

* 2011:

Hannah Arendt Prize The Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought () is a prize awarded to individuals representing the tradition of political theorist Hannah Arendt, especially in regard to totalitarianism. It was instituted by the German Heinrich Böll Foundation ...

* 2012:

Kleist Prize The Kleist Prize is an annual German literature prize. The prize was first awarded in 1912, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the death of Heinrich von Kleist. The Kleist Prize was the most important literary award of the Weimar Rep ...

* 2012:

Cicero Prize Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that ...

for public speaking * 2014: Joseph Breitbach Prize * 2015:

North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts The North Rhine-Westphalia Academy for Sciences, Humanities and the Arts (''Nordrhein-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Künste''), shortly known as NRW is a learned society in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia. With more than 28 ...

, Member * 2015: Peace Prize of the German Publishers' Association *2015:

Jan Michalski Prize for Literature Jan Michalski Prize for Literature (French: Prix Jan Michalski) is a Swiss literary prize for any work of fiction or non-fiction published anywhere in the world in any language. It is meant to recognize authors from around the world and world liter ...

finalist for ''Zwischen Koran und Kafka: West-östliche Erkundungen'' *2020:

Friedrich-Hölderlin-Preis Friedrich-Hölderlin-Preis is a German literary prize. It was established in 1983. The City of Bad Homburg vor der Höhe awards the prize annually in June. It is endowed with 20,000 euros and is awarded as a general literary award for outstanding ...

*2024:

Thomas Mann Prize Thomas Mann Prize (''German'': Thomas-Mann-Preis) is a literary prize of Germany. In full the title is "Thomas Mann Prize of the city of Lübeck and the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts". It is given in alternate years in Lübeck and in Munich. The ...

Other activities

* Avicenna-Studienwerk, Member of the Board of Trustees *

Goethe Institute The Goethe-Institut (; GI, ''Goethe Institute'') is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit German culture, cultural organization operational worldwide with more than 150 cultural centres, promoting the study of the German language abroad and en ...

, Member of the Committee for the Goethe Medal * Green Helmets, Member of the Board of Trustees

Controversy

In 2009, the German state of

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

decided to award its 45,000

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

in July 2009 jointly to a

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

, a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

, a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and a

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

to honour those involved in interfaith dialogue. There was controversy over Kermani's nomination as one of the three winners because of an essay in which Kermani wrote about his feelings about seeing a painting of the crucifixion by the seventeenth-century Italian painter

Guido Reni Guido Reni (; 4 November 1575 – 18 August 1642) was an Italian Baroque painter, although his works showed a classical manner, similar to Simon Vouet, Nicolas Poussin, and Philippe de Champaigne. He painted primarily religious works, but al ...

. The issue was ultimately resolved, and Cardinal

Karl Lehmann Karl Lehmann (16 May 1936 – 11 March 2018) was a German prelate and cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Mainz from 1983 to 2016, being elevated to the cardinalate in 2001. He served as chairman of the Conference of the ...

, , Kermani, and Salomon Korn jointly received the prize on 26 November 2009.Hessen Cultural Prize: Koch apologizes to Kermani
/ref> Kermani donated his share of the award to a Christian priest.

Personal life

Kermani holds German and Iranian citizenship. He has two children with the Islam scholar

Katajun Amirpur Katajun Amirpur (; ; born 1971) is a German-Iranian professor of Islamic studies, Islamic Studies at the University of Cologne. Biography Amirpur graduated in Iranian Studies at the University of Bonn. She subsequently taught at the Free Unive ...

, from whom he was divorced in 2020. He lives in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kermani, Navid 1967 births Living people German people of Iranian descent German Muslims 21st-century Muslim scholars of Islam Academic staff of the University of Bonn People from Siegen Islam-related controversies in Europe German Shia Muslims German male writers German scholars of Islam