Farid Esack

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Farid Esack (* 1959 in Wynberg , South Africa ) is a South African Islamic theologian and political activist. He gained notoriety for his role as an activist for the anti-Israel campaign Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions ( BDS ).

Live and act

Youth and education

Farid Esack was born in South Africa and grew up there in poor conditions. At the age of nine he joined the Tablighi Jamaat movement. At the age of ten he taught at a madrasa (religious school) . Since his youth he has been active against apartheid . He received a scholarship to study in Pakistan . Farid Esack was impressed with the relations between Muslims and Christians in Pakistan. This caused him to look at the Koran from a different perspective. He later studied in the United Kingdom and in Germany at the Philosophical-Theological University of Sankt Georgen in Frankfurt am Main .

Esack taught u. a. at the University of the Western Cape , in Hamburg , at the Gadjah-Mada University , at the Union Theological Seminary in New York and at the Xavier University of Cincinnati and was visiting professor at Harvard University in the USA. Since 2008 he has been Professor of Islamic Theology at the University of Johannesburg .

Political commitment

From 1994, Esack served as the Nelson Mandela's government equal opportunities officer for four years . In addition, he worked in numerous organizations, including a. in the fight against AIDS and among the positive Muslims . In the Muslim Youth Movement (MYM) he headed a commission that examined how MYM was involved in the campaign against apartheid; Esack came into conflict with conservative groups that refused to cooperate with non-Muslims, as well as with ultra-left groups such as the Black Consciousness Movement . Then Esack and others founded the Call of Islam (COI) organization on June 17, 1984 , which joined the United Democratic Front and campaigned among Muslims not to cooperate with the apartheid government. To this end, public meetings were organized, demonstrations, Friday prayers, door visits, calls for boycotts and political papers were written. Overall, the COI wanted to promote political awareness among Muslims in order to "build a non-racist, non-sexist and democratic society in South Africa".

Esack is chairman of the board of directors of the anti-Israel " BDS " movement of South Africa.

Esack is accused of being linked to the terrorist organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine . For example, he received Leila Chaled during a fundraising campaign in 2015 .

Political Theory and Consequences

At the Islamic Center in Hamburg , Esack demanded: “The idea of ​​an Islamic state in Germany must be allowed to be represented”.

As a result of a boycott campaign in March 2011, the University of Johannesburg cut off all ties with Ben-Gurion University in Israel. In particular, it was about a research project on water treatment. One of the central coordinators and protagonists of the boycott initiative was Esack. This boycott campaign laid the foundation for the establishment of the BDS movement under Esack and Muhammed Desai.

After the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015 , during which 130 civilians were murdered and 368 wounded, Esack published a statement on Facebook :

“I'm not praying for Paris on November 15, 2015; i don't judge anyone. Why the hell should I do this? I had nothing to do with it. It makes me sick to see the constant expectation of judgment. I turn away from your shitty racist and Islamophobic expectations and from the fact that I should always feign horror when your chickens come home to rest. Stop supporting and funding terrorist tools, move away from other people's countries and continents, stop making peaceful resistance to occupation illegal like the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, give up your cultural imperialism, destroy your arms industry that provides the weapons that kill hundreds of thousands every year. The logic is very simple: if you eat, it's foolish to assume that shit will never come out of your body. Yeah, I feel sorry for the victims the shit falls on. But, hell, take it your own, it's your shit! "

Controversy

In 2015, two lectures by Esack on alleged parallels between Israel and the South African apartheid regime at universities in Tolouse and Paris were canceled as part of a lecture tour through France following protest letters from the Union des étudiants juifs de France and the Bureau National de Vigilance Contre l'Antisémitsme . Esack said that he could not understand the allegations made, especially not those of anti-Semitism; He pointed out that he had been working scientifically for 25 years on forms of anti-Semitism, especially among Muslims, and was clearly speaking out against it.

In January and February 2017, Farid Esack was supposed to speak in Berlin, Freiburg, Bonn and Hamburg in particular on "BDS and anti-Semitism". The German-Israeli Society in Berlin, Freiburg student representatives and a city council spoke out against an event by Café Palestine in January 2017 in a lecture hall at the University of Freiburg . University rector Hans-Jochen Schiewer and university spokesman Rudolf-Werner Dreier stated that the event could not be canceled by the university. The university is a place of discourse that has to endure different and extreme opinions.

In the 2016/17 winter semester, the Academy of World Religions at the University of Hamburg invited Esack as a visiting professor. However, an event in the Kaisersaal of the town hall was canceled. Above all, his work as an activist for BDS South Africa was criticized. The Israeli embassy, ​​which Esack attributed anti-Semitic statements, the Jewish community and several politicians, among others. a. the CDU , the Greens and the AfD intervened. In university circles, his appointment was then described as a mistake. Science Senator Katharina Fegebank then described calls for boycotts against Israel and the Jewish people as "completely unacceptable" and pressed for an explanation of the selection criteria for Esack's appointment; the university initiated an internal review process. Esack himself said that he could not understand the allegations; he had always spoken out against anti-Semitism; his activism at BDS corresponds to his engagement against South African apartheid: "At that time this boycott was not directed against white people, but against a certain regime." The German-Palestinian Society and the then taz journalist Daniel Bax commented that Esack could not be an anti-Semite be valid. The advisory board of the responsible academy of the world religions now classifies the decision in favor of Esack's vocation as a mistake due to his attitude towards Israel: “Taking into account the facts now known, a decision, Prof. Dr. Appointing Esack to a visiting professorship would certainly have turned out differently. "

Fonts (selection)

  • The Struggle. Call of Islam, Maitland, South Africa 1988, ISBN 0-620-12519-5 .
  • But Musa went to Fir'aun! , Call of Islam, Maitland, South Africa 1989, ISBN 0-620-14105-0 (compilation of questions and answers on the role of Muslims in the South African struggle for freedom)
  • Quran, Liberation and Pluralism! an Islamic perspective of interreligious solidarity against oppression . OneWorld, Oxford 1997, ISBN 1-85168-121-3 (deals with Koranic statements, especially on relationships between Muslims and members of other religions)
  • Islam and Politics , Third World Foundation, London 1998.
  • On being a Muslim, finding a religious path in the world today , OneWorld, Oxford 1999 ISBN 1-85168-146-9 (thematizes the search for a religious path in today's world)
  • Truth and Dialogue: Thoughts of a Muslim Theologian , in: Wolfram Weisse (ed.), Truth and Dialogue: Theological Foundations and Impulses of Contemporary Religious Education (= Religious Education in a Multicultural Society, Vol. 4), Waxmann, Münster a. a. 2002, ISBN 3-8309-1140-8 , 43-52.
  • Islam and Gender Justice. Beyond Apologia , in: John C. Raines, Daniel C. Maguire (eds.): What Men owe Women: Men's Voices from World Religions , Albany 2001, 187-210.
  • The Qur'an: A Short Introduction. OneWorld, Oxford 2002 ISBN 1-85168-231-7 .
  • The Qur'an: A User's Guide. OneWorld, Oxford 2005 ISBN 1-85168-354-2 .
  • ed. with Sarah Chiddy: Islam and AIDS: Between Scorn, Pity, and Justice . Oneworld, Oxford 2009, ISBN 978-1-85168-633-9 .
  • On the way to an Islamic liberation theology , in: Klaus von Stosch , Muna Tatari (ed.): God and Liberation. Liberation Theological Concepts in Islam and Christianity , Paderborn 2012 (= Contributions to Comparative Theology, Vol. 5), ISBN 978-3-506-77317-3 , 19–42.
  • The acid test of faith - economic justice in the early Meccan suras , in: Christian Ströbele, Anja Middelbeck-Varwick, Amir Dziri, Muna Tatari (eds.): Poverty and justice. Christian and Islamic Perspectives , Pustet, Regensburg 2016, ISBN 978-3-7917-2775-2 , 30–54.

literature

  • Jocelyne Cesari: Encyclopedia of Islam in the United States. Greenwood Press, Westport 2007, pp. 218-220 (entry on Esack).
  • Anja Middelbeck-Varwick : Arguing for justice with the Koran. On Farid Esack's program of liberation theology. In: Christian Ströbele , Anja Middelbeck-Varwick, Amir Dziri, Muna Tatari (eds.): Poverty and Justice. Christian and Islamic Perspectives. Pustet, Regensburg 2016, pp. 23–29.
  • Andreas Renz : Theological view and legal position of Christianity in Islam. Hermeneutical new approaches using the example of Farid Esack and 'Abdullah An-Na'im. In: Münchner Theologische Zeitschrift 58 (2007), pp. 146–159.
  • Muna Tatari: A practice of justice and love. Similarities and differences in Christian and Islamic drafts of a theology of liberation based on Gustavo Gutiérrez and Farid Esack. In: Klaus von Stosch , Muna Tatari (ed.): God and Liberation. Liberation Theological Concepts in Islam and Christianity. Paderborn 2012, pp. 255-276.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ On the COI and Esack's work at COI cf. Inga Niehaus: Muslims of South Africa in the field of tension between political participation and exclusion: participation of a religious minority in the democratization process , Waxmann, Münster 2008, ISBN 978-3-8309-1993-3 , 158-162; Farid Esack: Three Islamic Strands in the South African Struggle for Justice , in: Third World Quarterly 10/2 (1988), 473-498; Heinrich Matthee: Muslim Identities and Political Strategies: A Case Study of Muslims in the Greater Cape Town Area of ​​South Africa, 1994-2000 , Kassel 2008, 89-96; 250-259 et passim.
  2. ^ Niehaus 2008, 160.
  3. ↑ See BDS-South Africa website , accessed Jan. 20, 2017
  4. ↑ a b Benjamin Weinthal: Palestinian terror group backer teaching at German university sparks row , The Jerusalem Post , January 25, 2017.
  5. ↑ Bernhard Sprengel : "Islamophobia has never been as strong as it is today". In: The world . January 16, 2017. Retrieved January 25, 2017 .
  6. ^ Esack: University of Johannesburg Upholds Academic Boycott of Israel. University of Johannesburg Upholds Academic Boycott of Israel, July 9, 2011, accessed January 25, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Translation by Ahmed Aref: I'm not praying for Paris - SA Muslim academic. In: news24. January 17, 2017. Retrieved January 25, 2017 . : “November 15, 2015 I am not praying for Paris; I am not condemning anyone. Why the hell should I? I had nothing to do with it. I am sickened by the perpetual expectations to condemn. I walk away from your shitty racist and Islamophobic expectations that whenever your chickens come home to roost then I must feign horror. Stop supporting and funding terror outfits, get out of other people's lands and continents, stop outlawing peaceful resistance such as Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions ( BDS ) Movement, to occupations, abandon your cultural imperialism, destroy your arms industry that provides the weapons that kill hundreds of thousands of others every year. The logic is quite simple; When you eat, it's stupid to expect that no shit will ever come out from your body. Yes, I feel sorry for the victims on whom the shit falls. But, bloody hell, own it; it's yours! "
  8. ^ Esack banned from speaking in France | Voice of the Cape . In: Voice of the Cape . March 26, 2015 ( vocfm.co.za [accessed January 26, 2017]).
  9. ↑ Interview from April 6, 2015.
  10. ↑ See comment from Audiatur-online from January 23, 2017.
  11. ↑ Cf. Simone Höhl: Controversial lecture in a larger lecture hall , as well as Freiburg Café Palestine is in the criticism , both in: Badische Zeitung of January 13, 2017.
  12. ↑ See article in the Hamburger Abendblatt from January 26, 2017.
  13. ^ Christoph Heinemann, Christian Unger: Universität Hamburg Anti-Semite as visiting professor? University defends itself. In: Hamburger Abendblatt. January 24, 2017. Retrieved January 25, 2017 .
  14. ^ Declaration by the CDU Hamburg , January 25, 2017.
  15. ↑ Jakob Koch: University examines allegations against controversial lecturers , Welt.de, January 24, 2017.
  16. ↑ Jakob Koch: Volker Beck attacks Hamburg University sharply. Retrieved January 26, 2017 . ; Oliver Schirg: Dispute over lecturer Esack: Green Volker Beck criticizes Uni , in: Hamburger Abendblatt from January 28, 2017.
  17. ↑ Jakob Koch: Fegebank puts Hamburg University under pressure , Welt.de, February 3, 2017.
  18. ↑ See Daniel Bax : Follow-up due to criticism of Israel , taz.de, February 6, 2017.
  19. ↑ Oliver Schirg: Dispute over lecturer Esack: Green Volker Beck criticizes Uni , Hamburger Abendblatt, January 28, 2017.
  20. ↑ Daniel Bax: More than just an "Israel critic" , taz.de, February 9, 2017.
  21. ^ Antisemitism dispute: Advisory board of the academy fears for reputation - WELT. Retrieved February 19, 2017 .
  22. ↑ Oliver Schirg: Academy Advisory Board criticizes the controversial guest professor Esack. Retrieved February 19, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Esack, Farid
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African Islamic theologian and political activist
DATE OF BIRTH 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH Wynberg , South Africa