curriculum Vitae:
| 1981 | born in Osnabrück |
| since 2002 | Islam and Arab Studies, Political Science and Sociology at the University of Münster |
| 2005-2006 | 12-month study visit to Damascus, Syria and Cairo, Egypt |
| 2008 | Master of Arts, thesis: “Menschen- und Bürgerrechte bei Rasid al Gannusi unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Nicht-Muslime” (Human and civil rights with Rasid al Gannusi, particularly considering non-Muslims) |
| 2004-2005 and 2006-2008 | Student assistant at the Centre of Religious Studies (CRS), chair for Islamic Religion |
Research interests:
- Strategies of religious self-affirmation and problems of violence
- Reform Islam in the Near and Middle East, and Europe
- Islam and human rights
- Prerequisites, possibilities and opportunities of the inter-religious dialogue
- Migration and development
- Principles, topics and initiatives of the inner-Islamic dialogue (especially Sunnite-Shiite)
- Dealing with religious and ideological pluralism by Muslim agents in the Middle East and Europe
Ph.D. project:
“National dialogue in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – an analysis of the discourse on the inner-Islamic and inter-religious dialogue” (working title)
The social and political fabric of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is based on a close commitment of the political governance to the Wahhabi Islam, which is regarded as the exclusivistic school of thought. Until late into the 1990s, based on this politico-religious alliance, the royal house advocated a national consciousness that propagated, in addition to the “common destiny” shared by the royal house and its subjects, the Saudi Ummah of Wahhabism in particular as a central characteristic. In accordance with the Wahhabi dogma, other religious schools within Sunni Islam as well as the country’s Shiite minority, Ismailites and Sufism were marginalised and declared to be “misbelievers” (Arabic: “takfīr”).
The experience of Islamist terrorism abroad and in the Kingdom itself, however, caused a destabilisation of the traditional Saudi system of legitimation and identity. The “Center for National Dialogue”, founded in 2003, can be interpreted as a reaction to this destabilisation of the Saudi Arabian self-conception. It offers all social and religious groups a platform for discussion, thus representing a novelty within the Saudi religious and social policies. In addition, lively debates about the terms “citizenship” and “dialogue” as well as about the determination of the self-conception, the relationship of the inner Islamic and the outer Islamic “other”, and the correlation between Islamist motivated violence and the dogmas of the Wahhabi doctrine are reflected in numerous publications of the past years.
Previous investigations have shown that both representatives of the official Wahhabi Islam and representatives of the religious minorities participate in this public discourse, have a direct or indirect exchange, and develop approaches to dealing with the “other” which are in part critical and innovative. The project aims to determine in which form the increasing public presence of other beliefs is being made the subject of discussion by representatives of the Wahhabi Islam and Saudi intellectuals, and in which form tendencies are coming up of reinterpreting the dogma of Wahhabism towards “others” and of developing concepts that allow for their inclusion and that may substantiate a reformulation of political and social identity. The analysis will be carried out based on an interpretation of the publications from the past fifteen years of public and semi-public institutions, Saudi Arabian religious scholars of diverse denominations and notable Saudi intellectuals. Supplementary material is provided by interviews with representatives of each of the groups, which were conducted in March 2010 in the course of a four-week research visit.
Function within the Cluster/Membership in Projects and Groups:
Member of Project D12: A Comparative Study of Strategies for the Pacification of Religious Legitimacy Claims
Publications:
- (Review): Frédéric Volpi (Hrsg.): Political Islam. A critical Reader. Routledge New York 2011, 471 S. ISBN: 978-0-415-56028-3. In: ORIENT. Zeitschrift für Politik, Wirtschaft und Kultur des Orients. Nr.II/2011 (52. Jahrgang). S. 65-67.
- Herausforderung der Gewissheit? Politischer Islam zwischen Absolutheitsanspruch und Toleranz, in: Jürgen Werbick / Muhammad Sven Kalisch / Klaus von Stosch (eds.), Verwundete Gewissheit. Strategien zum Umgang mit Verunsicherung in Islam und Christentum, Paderborn – München – Wien – Zürich 2010 (Beiträge zur Komparativen Theologie; 1), 189–205.
- Die Diaspora als Ressource. Zur Bedeutung der Auslandstürken für die türkische Wirtschaft. In: Hunger, Uwe und Dietrich Thränhardt (eds.): „Brain Circulation“ – Diaspora als treibende Kraft bei der Entwicklung der Herkunftsländer. Arbeiten aus dem Seminar „Brain Drain und Brain Gain. Migration und Entwicklung“. Münster 2006. P. 49-76.
- Saudi-Arabien zwischen Islam und Moderne, in: Rüdiger Robert / Daniela Schlicht / Shazia Saleem (eds.), Kollektive Identitäten im Nahen und Mittleren Osten. Studien zum Verhältnis von Staat und Religion, Münster – New York – München – Berlin (vom Waxmann Verlag angenommen, erscheint in 2010).
- (Review): Ceylan, Rauf. Die Prediger des Islam. Imame – wer sie sind und was sie wirklich wollen. Freiburg i.Br.: Herder 2010. 191 S. pb. Euro 12,90 ISBN 978-3-451-30277-0. In: Theologische Revue 1 (107) 2011, Sp. 73-75.
- Tunesien als islamische Demokratie? Rashid al-Ghannushi und die Zeit nach der Revolution. Münster 2011.
Contact
Menno Preuschaft M. A.Center of Religious Studies
Domplatz 20-22
D-48143 Münster
Germany
Tel.: +49 251 83-23218
Fax: +40 251 83-26114
menno.preuschaft@uni-muenster.de
