Ednan Aslan

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Ednan Aslan (born on November 7, 1959 in Bayburt ) is an Austrian - Turkish professor for Islamic religious education at the Institute for Islamic Theological Studies at the University of Vienna . His main area of ​​research is the religious upbringing of Muslim children.

Study and teaching

Aslan completed his studies as a social pedagogue at the University of Applied Sciences for Social Sciences in Esslingen in 1988 . From 1990 to 1992 he studied education and political science at the Universities of Tübingen and Stuttgart . He received his doctorate in 1996 on the religious upbringing of Muslim children in Austria and Germany. Various teaching activities followed in the academic field, since 2005 Aslan has been working as a specialist inspector for Islamic religious instruction at compulsory schools in Vienna. Since 2008 he has been Professor of Islamic Religious Education at the Institute for Educational Science at the University of Vienna . His main research interests include Islam in Europe , the theory of Islamic education in Europe and Muslim migrant children in public schools. In 2019 he was dismissed as head of the Institute for Islamic Theological Studies at the University of Vienna, with the dean of the faculty, Melanie Malzahn, taking over.

position

Aslan originally had a traditional, conservative understanding of Islam . As a young man he was fascinated by the Iranian revolution , among other things . Today, however, he is considered a representative of a liberal Islam. He distances himself from Islam as an unchangeable structure of dogma, since the Sharia has to adapt flexibly to the given circumstances of time and place. This shows an openness to secularism without the European Muslims having to alienate themselves from their religious and cultural roots. With regard to the face veil of Muslim women, he speaks of an “archaic and all too simple theology”, a “theology of violence” and “theology of spiritual destruction”. Those who defend the face veil prepare the way for the glorification of theological violence.

Assessment of Islam in Austria

Aslan misses an intra-Islamic discourse in Austria. In an interview with the press , he said that the discourse in Baghdad in the 9th and 10th centuries was more diverse and more liberal than the current one in Vienna. In his assessment, some Muslim leaders represent a traditional Islam internally, while externally they appear to present an Islam that is open to the present.

He considers a “theology of violence”, which has prevailed since the 15th century and which has solidified into the norm, as one of the causes of Islamist terrorism .

With regard to the amendment of the Austrian law for the recognition of Islam as a religious community, Aslan wrote a statement in which he countered the criticism of various Islamic organizations of the draft law. Among other things, he defended the planned ban on foreign funding for Muslim organizations and the reorganization of imam training .

In a large-scale study in 2017, Aslan came to the conclusion that, contrary to what is often reported in the German press, violent Islamist criminals do have knowledge of their religion, Islam. The study is based on 29 biographical interviews with delinquent Muslims in Austria.

“Regardless of their level of religious knowledge, a radicalized person sees an offer in theology that gives meaning and structure to their life. It is revealing that the majority of those questioned come from a devout Muslim family and knew the basics of Islam even before the radicalization ... People who have a higher level of theological knowledge act as authorities and play a central role in spreading the ideology ... It is important to them [sc. the interviewees [the demarcation to the majority of believers ... The radical groups and individuals see them as the only true Muslims ... The social environment is perceived as depraved, democracy rejected, the West declared the enemy of the Muslim world. "

- Aslan on Muslim violent criminals in Austria, 2017

Study on Islamic Kindergartens

The pilot study on Islamic kindergartens in Vienna was financed by the Ministry of Integration after the city of Vienna, which had awarded the original contract, failed to provide funding due to a lack of funds. The study led to controversial public discussions after the publication of an interim report on the results in December 2015. A preliminary study was published in March 2016, and a comprehensive study on Islamic kindergartens in Vienna was announced for autumn 2017. According to Aslan, there are around 150 Islamic kindergartens and 450 Islamic children's groups in Vienna; a total of more than 10,000 children are cared for there. The study covered about a fifth of these children.

The study was accused of methodological deficiencies. Aslan's criticism is not directed against a religious upbringing of children per se, but he considers it dangerous if it leads to “a religiously-politically justified isolation” of the children and to the contempt of people with different views. In July 2017, Falter reported that officials from the Foreign Ministry had intervened in the preliminary study and exaggerated and changed the content. Aslan replied that he had ordered changes and was behind the study. Mouhanad Khorchide saw the criticism of Aslan's study as an attempt at distraction: "Instead of dealing with the actual questions about the quality of these kindergartens and their educational mission, the debate is personified by those who find the results of the study too negative."

In a statement, the employees of the Institute for Islamic Theological Studies, headed by Aslan, highlight the free and transparent way of working at the institute, which also applies to the work on the kindergarten study.

In July 2017, the Austrian Agency for Scientific Integrity (OeAWI) was commissioned by the University of Vienna to review the study. In November 2017, the examiners came to the conclusion that there was no scientific misconduct, but that the work was deficient. For example, the ministry confirmed that it was exerting influence, but in most cases these were changes that would not have changed the content.

Publications

  • Religious education of Muslim children in Austria and Germany. Dissertation. Klagenfurt 1997
  • Religious Pluralism in Christian and Islamic Philosophy: The Thought of John Hick and Seyyed Hossein Nasr. Curzon, Richmond 1998, ISBN 0-7007-1025-6
  • (Ed.): Islamic Education in Europe. Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2009, ISBN 978-3-205-78310-7
  • (Ed.): Islamic Textbooks and Curricula. Lang, Frankfurt [a. a.] 2011, ISBN 978-3-631-63013-6
  • (Ed.): Between mosque and society. Imams in Austria. Lang, Frankfurt [a. a.] 2012, ISBN 978-3-631-63076-1
  • with Zsófia Windisch (Ed.): The Training of Imams and Teachers for Islamic Education in Europe. Lang, Frankfurt [a. a.] 2012, ISBN 978-3-631-63452-3
  • with Martin Rothgangel & Martin Jäggle (eds.): Religion and Community. The question of integration from a Christian and Muslim perspective. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2012, ISBN 978-3-8471-0074-4
  • (Ed.): Islamic Theology in Austria. Institutionalization of the training of imams, pastors and theologians. Long edition, Frankfurt 2013, ISBN 978-3-631-62869-0
  • with Elif Medeni & Marcia Hermansen (eds.): Muslima Theology. The Voices of Muslim Women Theologians. Long edition, Frankfurt 2013, ISBN 978-3-631-62899-7
  • with Margaret Rausch (Ed.): Islamic Education in Secular Societies. Long edition, Frankfurt 2013, ISBN 978-3-631-64586-4

See also

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ orf.at: Aslan deposed as head of the Islamic Institute . Article from April 20, 2019, accessed April 20, 2019.
  2. ↑ Erich Kocina, Eva Winroither: “ Islam professor between the fronts” , in: DiePresse from July 9, 2017.
  3. ↑ Ednan Aslan: A theology of violence puts down roots . In: The press . November 22, 2008
  4. ↑ Erich Kocina: Ednan Aslan: “Muslims need certain impulses” . In: Die Presse, July 2, 2012
  5. ↑ Evelyn Finger : Islamist Terror: “This violence is preached” , in: Die Zeit 52, December 17, 2014.
  6. ^ Draft: Federal law amending the law on the recognition of followers of Islam as a religious society
  7. ^ Aslan's position on the draft Islam law
  8. ↑ Austria: Islam becomes native , in: Die Zeit , March 3, 2015, by Ednan Aslan
  9. ↑ Islam plays a bigger role in radicalization than assumed , Die Welt , August 3, 2017, report from Die Tagespost
  10. ↑ Kindergarten study: Islamic scholar Ednan Aslan under criticism . In: profil.at . July 8, 2017 ( profil.at [accessed July 15, 2017]).
  11. ↑ See also:
  12. ↑ Preliminary study: “Kindergartens, sites of political Islam”. In: The press. March 1, 2016, accessed July 6, 2017 .
  13. ↑ Eva Winroither, Anna Thalhammer: Muslim kindergartens: the blurring of Aslan study. February 29, 2016, accessed July 6, 2017 .
  14. ↑ Islam Study: "Has nothing to do with research". In: The Standard. July 6, 2017. Retrieved July 6, 2017 .
  15. ↑ Aslan in a guest commentary in Standard from December 16, 2015 : A study, a lot of excitement and little sense of proportion .
  16. ↑ Kindergarten study: Ministry under criticism. In: ORF. July 4, 2017. Retrieved July 6, 2017 .
  17. ↑ Study rewritten? Islam theologian defends Aslan , in: Die Presse , July 5, 2017
  18. ^ Statement by the staff of the Institute for Islamic Theological Studies
  19. ↑ OeAWI: Austrian Agency for Scientific Integrity ( Memento of the original from November 1, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved November 1, 2017.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.oeawi.at
  20. ↑ Kindergarten study: Commission for Scientific Integrity of the OeAWI starts work ( Memento of the original from November 1, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Press release of July 24, 2017, accessed on November 1, 2017. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.oeawi.at
  21. ↑ derStandard.at: Study on Islamic kindergartens: examiners see no scientific misconduct . Article dated November 8, 2017, accessed November 8, 2017.
  22. ↑ [1] . Link to the reports in the media portal of the University of Vienna, accessed on March 25, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Aslan, Ednan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Aslan, Adnan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian-Turkish religious educator
DATE OF BIRTH November 7, 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH Bayburt , Turkey