Navid Kermani

Navid Kermani studied at University of Bonn. The recorded working language is German. The field of work recorded is oriental studies, German-language literature and opinion journalism. Places of work recorded in the authority are Cologne. Employment is recorded with University of Bonn. Distinctions recorded are Hannah Arendt Prize, Peace Prize of the German Publishers' and Booksellers' Association, Buber-Rosenzweig-Medal and State Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia.

• Name — Navid Kermani • Birthplace — Siegen, West Germany • Born — 27 November 1967 • Occupation — Novelist, essayist

Kermani was born in Siegen as the fourth son of Iranian parents who immigrated to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1959. A medical doctor, his father worked at the Catholic St. Mary's Hospital in Siegen.[3] Kermani's three older brothers are also practicing physicians.[4] Navid Kermani has both German and Iranian citizenship. He grew up in the historically Protestant city of Siegen, where he attended the academic high schools Fürst-Johann-Moritz-Gymnasium and Gymnasium am Rosterberg (later renamed Peter-Paul-Rubens-Gymnasium).[5] After graduating from high school, Kermani interned with Roberto Ciulli at the theater Theater an der Ruhr in the city of Mülheim before moving to Cologne in 1988 to pursue university studies. Until 2020, Kermani was married to Islamic studies scholar Katajun Amirpur;[6] they are the parents of two daughters.[7] Kermani has been a fan of the soccer club 1. FC Köln[8] since 1971.

Kermani majored in Middle Eastern languages and literature, with minors in philosophy and theater studies, at the University of Cologne, Cairo University, and the University of Bonn. During his semester breaks, he worked as an assistant director and later as a dramaturge at the municipal theaters Schauspiel Frankfurt and Theater an der Ruhr. Kermani wrote his master's thesis in 1993 at the University of Bonn (supervisors: Stefan Wild and Monika Gronke) on the persecuted Egyptian Koranic scholar Nasr Hamid Abu Zaid, whom he later met in Cairo and who had a formative impact on Kermani's approach to religious studies.[9] With the support of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, Kermani wrote a dissertation entitled Gott ist schön (God is Beautiful),[10] again under the supervision of Arabist Stefan Wild and Iranian studies scholar Monika Gronke. Kermani received his doctorate in Middle Eastern languages and literature at the University of Bonn in 1998. In 2006, he completed his postdoctoral dissertation entitled The Terror of God – Attar, Job, and the Metaphysical Revolt.[11] From 2000 to 2003, Kermani held a long-term fellowship at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (Institute for Advanced Studies Berlin), where he headed the Modernity and Islam working group. He initiated several international research projects, including the project Jewish and Islamic Hermeneutics as Cultural Criticism. This gave rise to a proposal for a Jewish-Islamic academy in Berlin.[12][13] In 2002, Kermani had his debut as an independent author with the book Die von Neil Young Getöteten [Those Killed by Neil Young]. In 2003, Kermani left the Wissenschaftskolleg to return to Cologne, where he has since been living as a freelance writer. He resides in the Eigelstein district, not far from Ebertplatz.[15] The original idea for the Akademie der Künste der Welt (Academy of the Arts of the World), which opened in Cologne on October 27, 2012, was conceived in 2007 by Kermani, together with Bernd M. Scherer, director of the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (House of World Cultures) in Berlin.[16]

At the age of fifteen, while still in high school, Kermani began to work as a freelancer for the local editorial office of the regional daily newspaper Westfälische Rundschau.[17] During his university studies, he wrote for national German newspapers, working as a regular contributor to the arts and culture section of the daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung from 1996 to 2000. Since 2006, Kermani has been co-hosting the Literarischer Salon [Literary Salon] in Cologne's Stadtgarten with fellow writer Guy Helminger.[18] Kermani spent 2008 as a Villa Massimo fellow in Rome.[19] Beginning in 2012, he co-directed the "Herzzentrum" Heart Center at Hamburg's Thalia Theater together with dramaturge Carl Hegemann.[20] Kermani's literary work thematizes the human experience of extremes in everyday life, music, art, sexuality and in the face of death. His novels and essayistic books straddle the boundaries between autobiography and fiction, while his academic writings focus on the aesthetics of the Koran and Islamic mysticism.[22] Kermani is also well known as a journalist who reports from crisis areas around the world. In September 2014, he reported from Iraq for the news magazine Der Spiegel.[23][24] In October 2015, he traveled in the direction of the refugees to meet them on their route in the opposite direction, from Budapest to Turkey.[27] Many of his reports, which he wrote primarily for the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the news magazine Der Spiegel and the weekly newspaper Die Zeit, were also published in expanded versions as books, becoming bestsellers.[28] In cooperation with the Avicenna relief organization founded by his father Djavad Kermani, Kermani initiated fundraising campaigns for aid projects in Aceh (Indonesia), Lesbos, Madagascar and Tigray after returning from his reporting trips.[29] Kermani's books have been translated into numerous languages. In his public statements and speeches, Kermani regularly comments on issues of society, politics and religion. Jan-Werner Müller described him in the New York Review of Books as one of Germany's most thought-provoking intellectual voices. From 2009 to 2012, Kermani was a senior fellow at the Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut (KWI) Institute for Advanced Humanities Study in Essen.[31] In 2009, he was appointed a corresponding member of the Akademie der Wissenschaften [Academy of Sciences] in Hamburg. In the summer semester of 2010, Kermani served as guest lecturer in poetics at the Goethe University Frankfurt, where he gave the Frankfurter Poetikvorlesungen [Frankfurt Poetics Lectures], which were later published as a book entitled Über den Zufall. Jean Paul, Hölderlin und der Roman, den ich schreibe [On Contingency: Jean Paul, Hölderlin, and the Novel I Am Writing].[32] In the winter semester of 2011/12, Kermani delivered the Göttingen Poetics Lecture series,[33] and in 2014, the Mainz Poetics Lecture series.[34] In the summer semester of 2013, he was a visiting professor for Islamic intellectual history at the Goethe University Frankfurt. In the spring of 2014, he taught German literature as Max Kade visiting professor at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. From 2017 to 2020, Kermani taught creative writing as a visiting professor at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne.[35] On 22 October 2023, Kermani read texts on Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at the Berlin Philharmonic during a concert by the German Symphony Orchestra Berlin under Robin Ticciati.[36]

At the 2010 election for the German Federal President, Kermani served as a member of the 14th Federal Assembly at the recommendation of the Green Party of Hessen. And in 2017, Kermani was mentioned as a potential candidate for German Federal President in that year's federal presidential election.[37] According to a report in Der Spiegel, then-SPD chairman Sigmar Gabriel, in cooperation with other parties, had intended to nominate Kermani to run for Federal President. However, the plan failed due to resistance from the Greens. In particular, Kermani was rejected by the Realos wing of the Green Party, because the Realos were aiming to form a Black-Green coalition (i.e. a coalition with the Christian Democrats) subsequent to the general federal elections and thus did not want to be seen as endorsing a Red-Red-Green (i.e. Social Democratic, Left Party and Green Party) coalition.[39]

Kermani opposed the Iraq War.[40] This opposition notwithstanding, Kermani viewed Saddam Hussein's regime as a terrible terrorist regime, the end of which he welcomed. In the arts section of the Süddeutsche Zeitung and in his book Strategie der Eskalation, Kermani wrote in 2005 that not only the U.S. but also Europe had failed in the Iraq War—and that the Old World was on the verge of repeating the same mistakes in the conflict with Iran. Kermani stated that the "American project to reorganize the Middle East" appeared to be far closer to the hearts of most Iranians today "than the Europeans' policy, which tends to present itself as altruistic". In the article, Kermani calls Europe's pretense that reform efforts still exist in Iran an act of self-deception. As evidence, he cites the suppression of the freedom of the press by Iran's rulers, the imprisonment of opposition figures, and the manipulation of parliamentary elections to restore a "conservative" majority. "War is the wrong means, but liberation is not the wrong end goal", Kermani notes.

At the gala evening marking the 50th anniversary of the reopening of the Vienna Burgtheater following its destruction in World War II, Kermani criticized Europe as a community of values, calling into question the EU's very refugee and asylum policies.[41] After all, Kermani reminded his audience, poets have been dreaming of a Europe without borders and without nationalism for centuries.[42]

On June 4, 2007, Kermani published a report in the Süddeutsche Zeitung about a public hearing on the construction of a mosque in the district of Cologne-Ehrenfeld. In the report, Kermani expressed enthusiasm for the open atmosphere of discussion. Attesting that the citizens present embodied "democracy in its purest form", Kermani noted that there is a "broad, cosmopolitan middle" in Cologne whose members are far more tolerant than many intellectuals.[43]

In February 2011, Kermani praised the Arab Spring, noting that the demonstrators had taken to the streets for "freedom, dignity, the rule of law, and equal opportunity". He criticized the policies of Western governments. "Criminality and complicity (with dictatorships)", Kermani wrote, "seem to have become the norm in some European government palaces". He spoke positively of Al Jazeera's role, observing that the network had contributed significantly to a culture of debate. Kermani dismissed the coverage by German media—in which, according to Kermani, people "ramble on about how state and politics are one and the same in Islam"—as a "religiously tinged colonial lens". The protests, Kermani argued, were not about religion. He also spoke out against multiculturalism as a form of culturalism that legitimizes dictatorships, saying that, "Conversely, discussants fall into relativism and claim that people elsewhere do not want democracy at all because they are supposedly simply different and have different traditions." Such a view would work against the original leftist goals of equality for all people and the leveling of living conditions. In general, the "overemphasis on otherness, whether of migrants or Hartz IV [welfare] recipients,... serves primarily to reinforce differences—especially economic differences".[53]

Amid intense public debate surrounding the Cologne Regional Court's 2012 ruling on circumcision, Kermani published an article in the daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung titled "The Triumph of Vulgar Rationalism".[54] In this article, Kermani accused the Cologne Regional Court of "casually and in the blink of an eye declaring four thousand years of religious history obsolete". The Enlightenment, Kermani argues, does not merely signify the rule of reason, but also an acknowledgment of reason's limitations. "Then again, vulgar rationalism—as expressed in the Cologne Regional Court's ruling—elevates one's own, that is, contemporary, understanding to an absolute, unconditional value." Joachim Gauck has since adopted the term vulgar rationalism in his statements on the circumcision debate.[55]

On May 23, 2014, the German Parliament Bundestag held a ceremony commemorating the proclamation of the Basic Law on May 23, 1949. Kermani was invited as the keynote speaker.[56] In his speech, he analyzed the language of the Basic Law, comparing its impact to that of the Luther Bible.[57] Kermani discussed the historic progress made in the postwar period and noted that the Basic Law had created a new reality. Kermani praised the Federal Republic of Germany for upholding constitutional norms. He also commended German society for its willingness to bring about integration and its efforts in this regard. He mentioned Willy Brandt several times. Referring to Brandt, Kermani noted, “If I were to name a single day, a single event, a single gesture in postwar German history for which the word ‘dignity’ seems appropriate, (…) it would be Brandt’s kneeling in Warsaw.” Kermani sharply criticized the restriction of the right to asylum through the 1993 amendment to the Basic Law (asylum compromise), which he described as a distortion of Article 16a and a mutilation of the Constitution.[59] Nevertheless, he emphasized the opportunities that the Federal Republic of Germany has offered immigrants. He concluded his speech—on their behalf—with the words Thank you, Germany. Some members of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group criticized the speech as one-sided or biased; Georg Nüßlein (CSU) left the chamber. In[60] the German media, however, the speech was well received and positively discussed.[61] The University of Tübingen honored the speech as Speech of the Year 2014.[62]

In August 2014 in the daily newspaper Berliner Zeitung, Kermani called for the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq to be stopped, even by military means. He compared the conflict’s significance to that of World War I and warned of a genocide against Christians, Yazidis, and other religious minorities. In his statement, he emphasized the importance of humanitarian corridors for refugees and warned of a Pol Pot-style version of Islam stretching from the borders of Iran to the Mediterranean coast.[64] In his Peace Prize acceptance speech in October 2015, Kermani called for action against the Islamic State, action that would have to be taken militarily, if necessary, but, above all, through diplomacy and civil society, however, much more resolutely than before. While saying that he was not calling for war, he pointed out that the war could no longer be ended in Syria and Iraq alone. It could only be ended by the powers behind the opposing armies and militias: Iran, Turkey, the Gulf states, Russia, and also the West.[65]

On January 14, 2015, Kermani delivered a speech at the Appellhofplatz in Cologne during the memorial rally “We Are Charlie – For Freedom and Diversity.” The rally was organized by the coalition Köln stellt sich quer [Cologne puts up resistance] in memory of the victims of the Islamist-motivated terrorist attack on the editorial office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Garnering nationwide attention, Kermani’s speech was widely discussed. It directed itselfprimarily at Muslims and the frequently repeated argument that Islam has nothing to do with terror and violence. At the same time, Kermani advocated for assigning greater importance to compassion and, first and foremost, to remaining free.[66]

[The Cologne Declaration, also known as the Rhineland Declaration (2015/16)] On New Year’s Eve from December 31, 2015, to January 1, 2016 in Cologne, numerous sexual assaults on women were committed by groups of young men, primarily from North Africa and the Arab world, particularly at Cologne Central Station and in the area surrounding the cathedral. This led to Kermani’s initiating the Cologne Declaration[71], which numerous prominent figures from Cologne and the Rhinelandsigned and which read, in part: „Zero tolerance for sexual violence, opposition against organized crime, accountability for administrative shortcomings, and an end to xenophobic incitement[72]“. The Declaration was translated into many languages, including Arabic and Persian, received international attention, and spurrednumerous public civic dialogues.[73] In recognition of this declaration, Kermani was awarded the Citizens’ Prize of the German Newspapers in 2017.[74]

In a speech marking the 20th anniversary of the Chair of Jewish History and Culture at LMU Munich, Kermani spoke about his feelings during a visit to the Auschwitz concentration camp memorial site and about how living and working in the German language entails a sense of responsibility for the crimes of World War II.[75]

At the opening of the Hamburg Harbourfront Literature Festival in September 2020, Kermani criticized two authors who had refused to share the stage with Lisa Eckhart. According to Kermani, this refusal led to Eckhart’s disinvitation. Eckhart had been invited on account of her debut novel Omama, “[…] the stage is a public space, and since an independent jury had selected her novel, she had the same right to enter that public space[76] […].“ The two authors clarified that they had not wanted for Eckhart to be disinvited.[77]

In 2022 in the weekly newspaper Die Zeit, Kermani presented his view on the use of the generic masculine from a writer’s perspective. In this essay, Kermani notes that German is the only language “from which the gender-neutral use of masculine nouns and pronouns could disappear entirely.” He deeply regrets this possible development. After all, the generic masculine “allows for a great deal of linguistic differentiation,” whereas its abolition would promote the sexualization of language and “would not advance gender equality one bit.” As an example, Kermani mentions that German female authors who did not wish to explicitly emphasize their gender still naturally referred to themselves as “Autoren” as recently as the 1970s. But now, the generic masculine is on the decline and is often no longer understood: “No matter how often a linguist may point out that a word like ‘reader’ (‘Leser’)is a generic term and that, strictly speaking, one should say ‘male readers’ when referring exclusively to men—as soon as no one hears female readers implied in the word ‘reader’ anymore, the scholar is, at best, correct only from a historical linguistic perspective.” – Navid Kermani: Mann, Frau, völlig egal [Man, Woman, It Doesn’t Matter at All] According to Kermani, the unique stylistic achievement of the generic masculine is that it does a good job of doing justice to “the diverse transitions, overlaps, and ambivalences” that define what it means to be human. The generic masculine does better than other linguistic means of expression that assign a biological sex to everything and everyone. “Language […] categorizes; that is its nature as a system of signs. In other words, language assigns the diverse, ambivalent, and—in its complexity—ultimately infinite world of experience to a necessarily limited number of concepts. […] Language speaks of ‘man’ and ‘woman,’ even though all wisdom traditions, in one way or another, offer the insight that no human nature—and certainly not our sexuality—fits into a rigid gender dichotomy. […] Gender attributions do not fall into two categories, but nor do they fall into 27.” In German, the generic masculine provides a means of expression that entirely dispenses with such attributions, according to Kermani whocompares and contrasts German with Persian. Persian has no gender at all and thus allows writers, among other things, to compose poetry which is potentially homoerotic in that the poetry can remain entirely open as to whether the beloved is a man or a woman. In German, on the other hand—at least in prose—the gender of the beloved must always be revealed, which robs the reader’s imagination of preciousspace. On the other hand, however, the generic masculine in German often allows for nuances that would not be possible in other languages, according to Kermani: “For example, when I send an email to my friends to invite them to my birthday party, I purposely do not address them as ‘male and female friends’ (‘Freundinnen und Freunde’).” As Kermani states, the use of the generic masculine is frequently understood as a provocation—that is, as the opposite of what it actually achieves: a renunciation of sexualization. At the same time, Kermani notes, for reasons of politeness and in public situations where the generic masculine might be perceived as an affront, hehimself will opt for a form of address that includes both male and female genders. If the presence of a masculine grammatical form came to indicate that it no longer ignored gender identity but, on the contrary, that it overemphasized gender identity, the generic masculine would be dead for good. - Navid Kermani: Mann, Frau, völlig egal [Man, Woman, It Doesn’t Matter at All][78]

In 1994, Kermani founded a language and cultural center in his parents' hometown of Isfahan, which he ran until 1997, the year the center had to close due to deteriorating German-Iranian relations.[79] Since fall of 2014, Kermani has been serving as a patron of the initiative Willkommen für Flüchtlinge [Welcome to Refugees] via the Ehrenamt and Flüchtlinge [Volunteering and Refugees] project run by the Kölner Freiwilligenagentur [Cologne Volunteer Agency] which coordinates its offerings with the Kölner Flüchtlingsrat [Cologne Refugee Council].[81]

Torsten Hoffmann, a literary scholar, a professor at the University of Stuttgart[100], and a recognized and long-standing expert on Kermani's extensive literary work, classifies Kermani’s narrative work as follows: Most of Kermani’s literary texts draw on an auto-fictionalapproach (in his most extensive novel, „Dein Name“ [Your Name][101], the protagonist is also named “Navid Kermani”). Furthermore, they are characterizing by a particular interest in fundamental human experiences such as birth, love, and death, along with a programmatic combination of (sometimes drastic) everydayness with an affinity for art (including literature, music, film, and the visual arts) and religiosity. The boundaries between his works of fiction and works more commonly regarded as nonfiction (such as „Ungläubiges Staunen“ (Wonder Beyond Belief) or „Jeder soll von da, wo er ist, einen Schritt näher kommen“ (Everyone, Wherever You Are, Come One Step Closer) and travelogues are fluid. For while Kermani’s nonfiction books often employ literary narrative techniques, conversely, many of his works of fiction contain essayistic passages.[102]

Kermani's first literary text appeared in 2002: „Das Buch der von Neil Young Getöteten“ [The Book of Those Killed by Neil Young][104] which combines three themes: first, the music of Neil Young, to whose songs numerous song interpretations are dedicated; second, the astonishing therapeutic effect of Neil Young’s music on the first-person narrator's daughter while suffering from three-month colic and during her first year of life; and third, the narrator's biography, which has been significantly influenced by Neil Young (whose importance to the narrator is as obvious as the narrator’s tendency toward ironic exaggeration). Omnipresent (self-)irony as the book’s foremost narrative principle allows the narrator to integrate the major literary themes, ranging from God to love to death, into the flow of his narration without making the text seem overloaded. Whereas the first half of the text is shaped by philosophical and literary reminiscences where Neil Young's lyrics undergo exacting philological analysis, the second half focuses on the mystical dimensions that the narrator regards as constituting the core of Neil Young's music and of his own listening experience. The enigmatic title of the book refers to „The Book of Those Killed by the Koran[105]“, an historic manuscript that tells of mystics who heard the Koran and died as a result. For the narrator, this calls to mind the existential significance of Neil Young's music for his own life, giving him the impulse to write the Neil Young book in the first place.

Kermani's second literary work, Vierzig Leben [Forty Lives][106], contains forty short stories in which approximately the same number of characters (mostly appearing only once) are featured, with one detail from their lives being recounted. Each text is dedicated to what the blurb calls “principal words”: those special human states already noted around the year 1000 by the Sufi poet Khadje Abdollah Ansari, which the list of words that introduces the text references. The list of words catalogs such terms as Love, Zeal, Longing, Concern, and Thirst. However, the stories, which are titled, for instance, On Hope, On Thirst, and On Duty, do not contain philosophical reflections on these concepts (as is the case, for example, in Adorno's similarly structured Minima Moralia, to which the narrator alludes as an important point of reference). Rather, these respective title words appear as parts of the anecdotal narratives. The tone of the anecdotes is reminiscent of oral storytelling, but at the same time they also contain intricately composed, long, nested sentences. This diversity of motifs and moods forms a counterbalance to the work’s temporal and spatial condensation: all the events reported originate in the immediate present and deal with people who have at least a loose connection to the city of Cologne. Furthermore, the texts are held together by a first-person narrator who is at times reminiscent of the author and who insists he heard all the stories from relatives, friends, or casual acquaintances.

A parallel (including excursions into the scholarly realm) is discernable here with Kermani's narratively oriented 1999 dissertation „Gott ist schön“ (God is Beautiful). The dissertation, after all, investigates the (musical) aesthetics of the Koran and contains a subchapter entitled “Those Killed by the Koran“.

Published in 2005, Du sollst [Thou Shalt][107] is Kermani's first literary work that does not features a first-person narrator. Narrated by an uninvolved narrator, the text provides insights into the most intimate moments of ten heterosexual couples (with a slight preponderance of the male perspective). We do not learn much about the characters' lives; not even their names are mentioned. Instead, the text focuses on brief sex and bedroomscenes – echoing Arthur Schnitzler's controversial play La Ronde. The narrative focuses less on sexual practices and more on the conversations and thoughts that unfold during these encounters. An insurmountable closeness, as it were, marks almost all of the relationships. Apart from one short story in which the possibility of symmetrical and emphatic love appears Honor Thy Father and Mother, the relationships presented are characterized by misunderstandings and deceptions, fears and dependencies, power struggles and violence. At the height of physical union, many of the characters feel a painful loneliness—this dialectic of love being the subject of the texts' special psycho-microscopic attention. The first ten stories are each preceded by one of the Ten Commandments, to which the texts refer with varying degrees of directness.

The children's book „Ayda, Bär und Hase“ [Ayda, Bear and Rabbit][108] revisits the father-daughter relationship motif from the Neil Young book. The father, called Bâbâ, resembles other protagonists in Kermani's books (and the author himself): he has Iranian parents, lives in Cologne, and is a fan of the soccer team 1. FC Cologne and of Neil Young. The focus, however, is now on his five-year-old daughter Ayda, who is ill at ease with her small stature and befriends a bear and a rabbit who can talk. The book’s central themes include multicultural tolerance, the insight “that you can be happy even if not everything is perfect,” and overcoming fears together.

Translated from German into English by Friederike von Schwerin-High (professor of German studies at Pomona College since 2005; PhD from UMass Amherst in comparative literature; research interests: narrative theory, translation studies and eighteenth-century literature).[109] Klaus von Stosch, a comparative theologian from Bonn who has held the Chair of Systematic Theology at the University of Bonn[110] since the 2021/2022 winter semester, has been familiar with Kermani's religious studies work since its inception[111] and classifies it as follows: Even though Kermani does not consider himself a theologian, his texts on Islam and religious studies clearly go beyond a purely descriptive approach. In many places, the texts are a plea for a new take on the Koran and on Islamic tradition, but also for a more comprehensive view of other religions. Emphasizing the mystical, experiential dimension of religions, his texts tend to approach religion on an aesthetic level. However, his writings do not only address the union of human beings with God, which is paramount tomysticism, and to the associated notions of love and happiness. He is also concerned with the glory and terror of God, in other words, with all aspects of God's inexpressible mystery. From a theological point of view, Kermani attaches importance to the unity of God and the unity of all being in a decidedly classical sense. Everything comes from the One and returns to it—like the breath of human beings. However, this means that human beings must also reconcile everything with God and His reality and cannot keep the abysses and cracks of reality separate from the mystery of God. It is thisstruggle with the ambiguity of God and reality that informs Kermani's work. A plea against reducing God to a legitimation for political strategies or human wishful thinking gives shape to his theological concern. Kermani's first Islamic studies text, his master's thesis, appeared in 1996. In it, he developed the first foundations of his thinking by way of an investigation into the Egyptian reform theologian Nasr Hamid Abu Zaid. Demonstrating not only Abu Zaid's reformist approach to revelatory thinking, Kermani also analyzes in detail why Abu Zaid came into conflict with the political and religious authorities in Egypt: not because of theological innovations, but because Abu Zaiddepicts how elites have seized upon tradition in order to seek a monopoly on the interpretation of the Koran and in order to manipulate its message in accordance with their interests.

In his dissertation Gott ist schön (God is Beautiful), which focuses on reception aesthetics and philology, Kermani shows how prominently Islamic tradition perceives the aesthetic dimension of the Koran. The Koran is described as a beguiling, captivating work of art, its beauty capturing people's hearts with an irresistible appeal. The beauty and clarity of the Koran is thus proof of its divine inspiration. According to this conception, God communicates in the Koran in an aesthetically mediated way in hopes to be understood accordingly by those whom the Koran addresses. If God seeks understanding recognition rather than blind obedience, he must encounter receptive people in an aesthetic way. For—at least according to Navid Kermani's thesis informed by his analytical view of Islamic tradition—religious recognition in Islam is conveyed aesthetically as the thrilling, goose bump-inducing hearing of a language described as beautiful, i.e. as an experience of beauty. Kermani is therefore concerned with appreciating the power of aesthetics on a religious level. He views this mystical insight as being entirely in line with the more recent Western aesthetics since Hegel. In almost all philosophical theories of art in the modern tradition, aesthetic experience is about truth. Indeed, contrary to Kant, aesthetic experience need not be about enjoyment or disinterested pleasure. It may simply be about discovering the truth, whatever the cost. As exciting and promising as Kermani's attempt to ground the belief in revelation in aesthesis and to understand the knowledge of God as a perception of the heart may be, this approach raises the question of how to deal with the sensory experiences of pain and the absence of God in the world. The abysses of suffering in our world —especially with this kind of aesthetic approach to the belief in revelation — compel us to ask how experiences of suffering and salvation, of horror and the beauty of God can be reconciled.

It is precisely this question that Kermani addresses in his postdoctoral thesis Der Schrecken Gottes: Attar, Hiob und die metaphysische Revolte (The Terror of God: Attar, Job and the Metaphysical Revolt). In this book, Kermani takes up the basic idea of practical-authentic theodicy, which consists in demanding God's justice against the injustice of the world, that is, in Kantian terms, postulating the reality of God and thus God's authentic self-justification without attributing to God the wish to achieve this doctrinally himself. This postulate necessarily includes protest against suffering, which is expressed in quarreling with God and accusing God. Even though wrestling with God is largely frowned upon in Islamic orthodoxy, as it is in Christian orthodoxy, the Islamic mystical literature cited by Kermani, as well as the Book of Job, reveal ways of wrestling with God that are nourished by devotion to God and can accompany the indispensable, postulative discourse on God. For Kermani, the most significant testimony to this wrestling is The Book of Suffering by the Persian mystical poet Attar (1145–1221), a text that shows how in the Islamic tradition it is possible to argue and quarrel with God. From the perspective of the fools whom Attar references, God appears both as the persecutor and tormentor of humankind and yet also as its last hope. On the one hand, God remains responsible as the creator of the world and is thus also the ultimate cause of suffering—at least in the sense that his creation of the world made suffering possible in the first place. On the other hand, there are situations in which no finite power can save or help human beings. For by definition, only God is the reality that can save us even in death—if he exists. But how can I ask for help from the very one who made my misery possible in the first place? Kermani sees no way to rationally justify this question. Rather, he describes those voices that do not want to abandon God even in misery. The fools he cites do not simply lament the terror of God. Instead, they remind God of the promises he once made in creation. They insist on God's faithfulness, which God describes and promises in His self-revelation. The fools are therefore not blind to reality. On the contrary, they consider all the questions about the reality of a loving God that every human being experiences on a daily basis. Their adherence to God does not dull their senses or take away the horror of suffering. But it enables them to face the abysses and terror of reality without, however, giving up hope. Belief in God thus operates as an imposition that can drive one to madness. At the same time, however, it appears as the last possibility for putting up with the world in its ambiguity without losing one's own humanity.

While Kermani's scholarly theses deal with Islamic tradition, he has since repeatedly turned his attention to Christianity. Particularly prominent and noteworthy in this regard is his Wonder Beyond Belief: On Christianity published in German in 2015 and in English in 2018. The book approaches Christianity in an aesthetic way—through thoughtful reflections on images by various Christian artists, especially from the Italian Baroque period. These self-contained, deeply researched art-historical essays open up exciting perspectives on central characteristics of Christianity and have met with great resonance. In a highly original approach to the cross, Kermani's characteristic linking of beauty and the terror of God can be found once again. Attracted by the aesthetic power of artist and sculptor Karl Schlamminger's cross sculpture, but also by the beauty and grace with which the cross is carried in Botticelli's depictions, Kermani is moved by the aesthetic power of the cross. However, he also recognizes the cross as a believer's approach to suffering itself—for example, when he compares the thieves on the cross to mercenaries who crucify agitators in Syria or Iraq today. Indeed, Kermani associates the cross with human victims throughout history, citing Jesus's lamenting accusation on the cross. He insists on not separating Jesus from ourselves and on discovering our own suffering in Jesus's suffering. Two somewhat longer chapters in the book deviate slightly from the rest of the text because they do not contain any image analysis but instead focus on individual persons. Particularly noteworthy is the last part of the second chapter, which movingly describes the life story and the mission of Father Paolo Dall'Oglio, who for Kermani embodies everything he admires about Christianity: a form of unconditional love for one's neighbor that, especially in monks and nuns, goes beyond what a person can achieve without God. Kermani vividly describes the great love for Islam that characterizes Father Paolo and the Mar Musa monastery Paolo founded in Syria, which Kermani characterizes as a place of coexistence between religions. For Father Paolo, his conversion to Islam was not an act of benevolence but rather one that enriched his own life and faith; he is a monk, a disciple of Jesus, who is in love with Islam – as Kermani puts it. Kermani clearly sees this as a model for interfaith dialogue and Christian-Muslim rapprochement. By kidnapping the priest Father Paolo, who loves Islam like no other, the Islamic State has attempted to force Christians to fear Islam as an enemy. Kermani counters this attempt at intimidation with a declaration of his own love for Christianity, responding to Father Paolo and demonstrating how love can be used to counter violence. Kermani also repeatedly explains in his book how he has learned from Christianity—for example, in terms of remembering the suffering and death of others. This aspect of the book has become known to a wider public through Kermani's repeated tributes to Father Paolo and his order, for example in Kermani's highly acclaimed German Publishers Association Peace Prize speech.

In 2022, Kermani published his most successful religion-related book to date, with the programmatic title: Everyone, Wherever You Are, Come One Step Closer. It is written as an address to Kermani's daughter. Responding to her questions about God and religion, the book offers an excellent introduction to faith for young people. While Kermani mainly focuses on Islam and explains many of the specifics of this religion, his mystical approach to religion offers a great deal of relatable content for people of all faiths. The book's detailed analysis of modern physics as a form of contemporary adaptation of traditional beliefs is striking, and the book succeeds in offering a complex and thoroughly thought-out understanding of religion in a humorous and accessible style.

* * * * • (2018 Schlegel-Tieck Prize.) * * * * * *

In 2009, the German state of Hesse decided to award its 45,000 euro Hessian Cultural Prize in July 2009 jointly to a Jew, a Muslim, a Catholic and a Lutheran 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. The issue was ultimately resolved, and Cardinal Karl Lehmann, Peter Steinacker, Kermani and Salomon Korn jointly received the prize on 26 November 2009.[152][153] Kermani donated his share of the award to a Christian priest.[154]

Kermani holds German and Iranian citizenship. He has two children with the Islam scholar Katajun Amirpur, from whom he was divorced in 2020.[155] He lives in Cologne.

Navid Kermani worked in oriental studies, German-language literature, opinion journalism and Irfan. He was employed by University of Bonn. He belonged to German Academy for Language and Literature and North Rhine-Westphalia Academy for Sciences and Arts. He worked at Cologne.

Navid Kermani is recorded as having received Hannah Arendt Prize, Peace Prize of the German Publishers' and Booksellers' Association and Buber-Rosenzweig-Medal.

In 2009, following a temporary revocation of the award, Kermani received the Hesse Cultural Award — along with Cardinal Karl Lehmann; the former president of the Church of Hesse-Nassau; Peter Steinacker; and the vice president of the Central Council of Jews, Salomon Korn. That year's ceremony was held under the theme of interreligious tolerance.[44] The prize was offered to Kermani on March 20, 2009, after the originally intended recipient, Fuat Sezgin, had declined to accept it on the grounds that his co-recipient, Salomon Korn, supported Israel's military actions. On May 13, 2009, Kermani learned that the award intended for him had been revoked.[45] He went on, however, to describe how this view had been shaken by what he described as the aesthetic experience: "For the first time, I thought: I — not just 'one' — I could believe in a cross." On April 24, 2009, Lehmann stated in a letter to Hesse's Minister President Roland Koch that Lehmann "cannot accept the award under these circumstances".[46] Commentators described Lehmann's tone as "subtly... defamatory", "smug", "mean-spirited", and "condescending";[47] Kermani, too, found it "defamatory".[48] In the end, after a conversation with Kermani, Lehmann and Steinacker decided to accept the award jointly. The award was ultimately presented to the four laureates on November 26, 2009. At the ceremony, Minister President Koch apologized to Kermani.[51] Kermani donated his prize money to Franz Meurer, the pastor of the Catholic parish of St. Theodor in Cologne-Vingst.[52]

Kermani’s moving acceptance speech, Über die Grenzen – Jacques Mourad und die Liebe in Syrien[69] [Across/AboutBorders — Jacques Mourad and Love in Syria] was widely received and became the subject of heated debate. He dedicated his speech, given at Frankfurt’s Paulskirche, to the Christian priest Jacques Mourad, who feels a connection to Islam. Mouradwas abducted from the Mar Elian monastery in Syria by terrorists of the so-called Islamic State and was later freed by Muslims. Islam and Christianity, religious traditions that appear to be bitterly opposed can also signify the transcendence ofboundaries. Kermani focused his speech on the beauty and spiritual depth of Islam, as well as on terrorism committed in the name of Islam. He also addressed the West’s failings in its dealings with countries such as Saudi Arabia. In this context, Kemani lamented the lack of public discourse on these issues in Germany. He concluded his speech with a prayer for the priests, for the Christians in Syria, and for freedom in the countries of the Middle East.[70]

• 2000: Ernst Bloch Promotional Award for his book Gott ist schön. Das ästhetische Erleben des Koran [Godi s Beautiful. The Aesthetic Experience of the Koran] (1999)[112] • 2003: Annual Prize of the Helga-und-Edzard-Reuter-Foundation[113] • 2004: Schwarzkopf-Europe-Prize of the Foundation Schwarzkopf-Stiftung Junges Europa[114] • 2007: Member of the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung[115] • 2008: Fellowship of the Villa Massimo in Rom[116] • 2009: Hessian Cultural Prize[117] • 2011: Nomination of the novel Dein Name for the German Book Prize[118] • 2011: Buber-Rosenzweig-Medal[119] • 2011: Hannah Arendt Prize; Award Presentation Speech: Marie Luise Knott[120] • 2012: Kleist Prize for the novel Dein Name (2011)[121] • 2012: Honorary Prize of the City of Cologne Culture Prize Kölner Kulturpreises[124] • 2012: Cicero Prize for public speaking[125] • 2014: Gerty Spies Literature Prize[126] • 2014: Prize of the Association of German Institutions of Dialogue des BDDI[127] • 2014: Joseph Breitbach Prize[128] • 2015: North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts, Member[129] • 2015: Peace Prize of the German Publishers' Association • 2015: Jan Michalski Prize for Literature finalist for Zwischen Koran und Kafka: West-östliche Erkundungen • 2016: Marion Dönhoff Prize for International Understanding and Reconciliation[132] • 2017: Hermann Sinsheimer Prize of the City of Freinsheim[133] • 2017: ECF Princess Margriet Award for Culture of the European Cultural Foundation[134] • 2017: Civic Engagement Award of the German Newspaper Publishers,[135] Award Presentation Speech: Wolf Lepenies[136] • 2017: State Prize of the Federal State North Rhine-Westphalia, Award Presentation Speech: Wolfgang Schäuble[137] • 2018: Samuel Bogumil Linde Prize; Award Presentation Speech: Joachim Gauck[138] • 2020: Friedrich-Hölderlin-Preis[139][140] • 2021: Appointed Honorary Member of the Board of Trustees of the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne[141] • 2021: Austrian Book Publishers Award for Tolerance in Thought and Action[142] • 2022: Honorary Degree of the Philosophy Department of the University of Siegen[143][144] • 2023: Member of the authors association PEN Berlin[145] • 2023: Winfried Prize of the City of Fulda[146] • 2023: Hans Ehrenberg Prize[147] • 2024: Thomas Mann Prize[148]