“People’s expectations of us are very high”
The Centre for Islamic Theology (ZIT) at the University of Münster has been very popular ever since it was established in 2011. In this interview with André Bednarz and Norbert Robers, ZIT’s director, Prof. Mouhanad Khorchide, speaks about the challenges and expectations facing the institute and, at the same time, he looks back at the milestones of the past decade.
When the Wissenschaftsrat (the German Science and Humanities Council) recommended the setting-up of Islamic Centres at German Universities in 2010, it hoped, in doing so, that these Centres would play a key role in supporting young talent and would, as quickly as possible, train not only Islamic teachers for religious instruction but also scholars of Islam. Has ZIT at Münster fulfilled all these expectations?
It certainly has, and we are sticking to our successful course. One way to recognise this success is that we have around 150 graduates who now work as teachers, professors or heads of academic institutions. Having said that, we have to take into consideration the fact that we are still at a very early stage in building up religious instruction for the approximately 400,000 Muslims at schools in North Rhine-Westphalia.
What is special about ZIT in comparison with other Islamic Centres at German universities?
Firstly, ZIT stands for a progressive, enlightened Islam which is also open to inter-faith dialogue. This is a major hallmark we have. And secondly, we have intensive contacts with countries which have a predominantly Muslim population. Both Münster University and ZIT are very well-known there. We just recently started publishing the ‘Münster Journal of Islamic Theology and Philosophy’ in Arabic.
Is this profile of ZIT’s reflected in student numbers?
We started with 13 students, and today we have around 750. Some of these students actually come from other states in Germany because for example they value our contemporary reading of the Quran. And we receive many enquiries from students from the Islamic world who would like to write their PhDs here with us. In short: ZIT is very popular with both scholars and students …
… but wasn’t there anything that proved difficult in building up the Centre?
The greatest challenge consisted in finding suitable applicants for professorships and for academic staff below that level. The market is small and we are in competition with the other centres. And it goes without saying that we encountered opposition from fundamentalists.
Was there a particular moment – or several, even – over the past few years when you noticed that ZIT enjoys special attention? Both in a positive and in a negative sense?
I recall one unpleasant event, and one very nice one. After my book ‘Islam is Mercy’ was published in 2012, Islamic organisations called on me, in a Turkish magazine, to repent. Me – a simple professor in sedate Münster – and then an appeal from Turkey! I became aware of the extent to which I was under observation in this job. The positive moment was the invitation from the then Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Joachim Gauck, who wanted to discuss Islam with me, just the two of us. Just imagine: he asked me how he could be of assistance to me in drawing people’s attention to our portrayal of Islam in society. The result was the visit he paid to Münster University and to ZIT in November 2013, which was a great help as far as demonstrating recognition and appreciation were concerned. By this time, at the latest, I knew that our work was being heeded far beyond Münster and that people’s expectations of us were very high.
So the German President, too, was interested in your modern interpretation of Islam. Was that the plan you had from the beginning, or did things just turn out that way over the years?
It was primarily a result of the staff we had. Looking to the future, we are currently working on a sort of statement of principles in order to ensure that this direction we are taking – which has brought us much recognition and attention worldwide – will remain unchanged, even after staff come and go.
That will not, presumably, go unchallenged in the Islamic world?
No, but it’s what we expected, and we stand by our approach.
Talking of staffing matters, has the model of a Muslim Advisory Body, which is involved in appointing professors and course design, proved its worth?
Without a doubt: from the beginning, it wasn’t easy for both sides. It was a learning process, and today at any rate we have constructive cooperation.
The Rectorate is pursuing the plan to expand ZIT into a faculty – which would be the first Islamic faculty in western Europe. What would this change mean for ZIT, regarding both content and organisation?
It would above all represent an appreciation – unique in western Europe – of Islamic Theology and of all Muslims, for whom recognition that they are a part of our society would thus be advanced. Muslims recognise for example how the German state – through the teachers trained in Münster – ensures that their children receive religious instruction. They greatly appreciate that. We would also get clearer structures, for instance through a faculty board and a Dean’s office. This would mean we could raise and consolidate our profile.
This profile also includes research. What are the focuses of research at ZIT?
Our aim – or at least my overriding aim – is to draw up our own modern theology which deals with the questions and challenges of the present: a theology of mercy as a counteroffer, and one which is urgently needed in the Islamic world, to what is currently a widespread restrictive interpretation …
… Respect! That sounds like a project of the century!
It’s a very long process, naturally enough. We want to draw up the basics and coming generations would have to continue this work. At the opening of ZIT, the former German Minister of Education, Annette Schavan, said that I had given Islam a merciful face – and that is what we want to continue to develop, regarding both theology and the philosophy of religion.
That sounds as if it were necessary, too. Is there still a widespread notion in the West that Islam is a religion lacking in mercy?
Over the past decades, Islam has been exploited repeatedly as a way of exercising power and legitimising rule – and this has happened on the basis of a religion of restrictions, paternalistic behaviour and control. Muslims – especially imams and multipliers – need to understand this mechanism, reject it and turn back. Above all, change must come from inside, from Islam itself.
But is it at all conceivable that a theology redesigned on this scale, and in Catholic Münster, will be accepted in the Islamic world?
Let me say, in all humility, that a lot of people in Egypt, North Africa, the Gulf states and Indonesia know ZIT and have a high opinion of it. People are confident that we can do it, many of them are actually waiting for it and are encouraging us to establish a new theology. In addition to this we have the good fortune that the Islamic world is currently opening up, for pragmatic reasons, and even a country like Saudi Arabia is allowing massive reforms for economic reasons. The solution in the old days was: either you are devout or you are an infidel. People are looking for new things on offer, and we are offering them this alternative at exactly the right time.
This article was first published in the University newspaper “wissen|leben” No. 6, 12 October 2022