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Disciplining the ‘Muslim Subject’: The Role of Security Agencies in Establishing Islamic Theology within the State's Academia
Abstract
The following article discusses the establishment of centers of Islamic Studies (Islamische Theologie) in Germany. While many authors have discussed different theories which shape the accommodation of Islam in Western European nation states, I suggest that the security dispositif (Foucault) has a strong impact on the way the state and religious communities interact with each other. I argue that against the backdrop of a hegemonic Islamophobic discourse and a securitization of Islam, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution ( Verfassungsschutz) as the main actor in charge of domestic security issues within the Ministry of Interior, shapes the construction of the German ‘Muslim subject’ to discipline and govern Germany's Muslims. The Verfassungsschutz becomes a defining power in the attempt to locate Islam in the German religio-political landscape by influencing the politics of several state agencies. This is due to broadening the notion of security which affects the ‘integration policy’ of several state agencies and makes the integration issue a priority in other policy areas. A hegemonic Islamophobic discourse, in which Islam has become a security threat, seems to foster such a policy. I will elaborate the securitization of Islam through the Verfassungsschutz by tracing its role in the institutionalization of Islamic Studies at state universities.
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References
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Cesari does not solely rely on such a constructivist notion of security, but rather goes on to argue that the ‘securitization of Islam’ leads to a de facto transformation of conservative Muslims into fundamentalists and thus meets the dialectic aspect of discoursive theory.
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Ibid.
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Ibid., p.6.
Ibid., p.7.
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Ibid., p.56.
Ibid., p.56
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Werner Schiffauer, 2008b.
Kerem Öktem, 2013, pp.45–53.
For a critical reflection in public debates as well as in academic writings see: Norbert Gestring, ‘Parallelgesellschaft, Ghettoisierung und Segregation — Muslime in deutschen Städten’, in: Hendrik Meyes & Klaus Schubert (eds), Politik und Islam , Wiesbaden: VS, 2011, 168–190.
Werner Schiffauer (2008a). For further reading on effects of combatting ‘legalist Islamism’: Kerem Öktem 2013, pp.45–80.
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BvF 2008, pp.8–9. All citations of the VS are the author's.
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Ibid. pp.95–7
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Michael Kiefer, ‘Islamische Theologie, islamischer Religionsunterricht — Kritische Anmerkungen zur Funktion und Praxis’, in: Heiner Barz & Matthias Jung (eds.), Gehört der Islam zu Deutschland? Fakten und Analysen zu einem Meinungsstreit, Vortragsreihe der IIK-Abendakadmie , Band 2, Düsseldorf: Düsseldorf University Press (213–227), 2013, p.214. The WR is one of the most important policy advisory bodies in the field of sciences in Germany. Its 32 members are appointed by the President of the Federal Republic of Germany based on a proposal by leading academic institutions of the Republic of Germany. Its main objective is to advise the Federal Government and the governments of the German Länder (Federal States). For this reason, it regularly publishes recommendations and prepares reports relevant to scientific institutions, especially universities. See “Function”: http://www.wissenschaftsrat.de/en/about/function.html (accessed 23 October 2013) and “Organisation and procedure”: http://www.wissenschaftsrat.de/en/about/organisation_structure_and_methods.html (accessed 23 October 2013)
Wissenschaftsrat, Recommendations on the Advancement of Theologies and Sciences concerned with Religions at German Universities , Drs. 9678-10, Berlin 29 01 2010, Köln: Sutorius Printmedien, pp. 153–155.
ibid. p.8. All citations of the WR's paper are originally in English.
Jürgen Habermas & Joseph Ratzinger, Dialektik der Säkularisierung Über Vernunft und Religion , Freiburg: Herder Verlag, 2005, and Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde, Kirche und christlicher Glaube in den Herausforderungen der Zeit. Beiträge zur politisch-theologischen Verfassungsgeschichte 1957–2002 , 2., erweiterte Auflage, Berlin: LIT Verlag, 2007.
While Christian Theology is provided at Christian theological Faculties, Islamic Studies is only offered in Philosophy departments due to the non-existence of Islamic theological Faculties, which is seen as inappropriate by some critics. See: Michael Kiefer 2013, p.215.
Wissenschaftsrat, 2010, p. 13.
A decision of the Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht) in regard to Catholic theology states: “The establishment at a public university of a ‘Diplom’ degree program in Catholic theology whose goal is the training of a Catholic ‘Volltheologen’ — concluding with a Diplom in theology and a national exam — is a common affair of the State/University and the Church (Guiding principle 1, BVerwGE 101, 309 = ZevKR 41 (1996), p. 460, cited in: Wissenschaftsrat, 2010, p. 17).
Ibid., p.72.
Ibid. p.19–20. Art. 140 in conjunction with art. 137 para. 3 WRV (cf. footnote 8) says: These rights of participation are realized especially through the religious communities influencing the composition of the faculty personnel. (BVerfG 1 BvR 462/06 of October 28, 2008, 63, http://www.bverfg.de (cited in Wissenschaftsrat, 2010, p.71)
Ibid. p.71
Ibid. p.75
Ibid. p.76
The KRM is an umbrella organization of the four largest Muslim civic associations and umbrella organizations, the Islamrat der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, the Zentralrat derMuslime, the Verband Islamischer Kulturzentren (VIKZ) and the DITIB (Türkisch-Islamische Union der Anstalt für Religion). It was founded in 2006, shortly before the DIK was established, due to the German state's longing for a Muslim counterpart. The KRM represents the four largest Muslim associations working on a grassroots-level via educational institutions and mosques.
Ibid., p.76–77. After five years, these institutions should be evaluated.
Michael Kiefer, 2013, 215–17.
Wissenschaftsrat, 2010, p.74.
Farid Hafez, ‘Institutionalised Austrian Islam: One institution representing the many’, in: Samuel Behloul, Susanne Leuenberger & Andreas Tunger-Zanetti (eds.), Debating Islam. Negotiating Religion, Europe, and the Self , Bielefeldt: Transcript Verlag, 2013, pp. 217–232.
Wissenschaftsrat, 2010, p. 72
Ibid. p.73
In late 2013, the Europäische Institut für Humanwissenschaften, a private institute, was founded, but not accredited by the state authorities.
Ibid. 72–73
In fact, looking at the personnel granted professorships at the different centers of Islamic Studies reveals that a majority possess Ph.D. degrees in non-theological disciplines and that the theological knowledge is — if at all — pursued by a degree from a course in distance learning. I.e. Prof. Mouhanad Khorchide (University of Münster) obtained his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Vienna and studied in Lebanon Islamic Studies via Distance Learning. Prof. Harry Harun Behr (University of Erlangen-Nürnberg) is a teacher by training with no Ph.D. in Islamic Studies/Theology.
Wissenschaftsrat, 2010, p. 80
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See: Studium, http://www.uni-muenster.de/ZIT/Studium/index.html (accessed 27 October 2013)
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Hermann Horstkotte, Studium für Islam-Lehrer, 2012.
Zentrum für Islamische Theologie an der Universität Tübingen: Berufung und Konstituierung des Beirats, in: Newsletter Uni Tübingen aktuell , Nr. 3/2011: Forschung, 05 July 2011, http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/aktuelles/newsletter-uni-tuebingen-aktuell/2011/3/forschung/1.html (accessed 10 December 2013)
Letter of Jürgen Rottenecker, principal oft he university, entitled “Einladung zu einem weiteren Gespräch an der Universität Tübingen”, November 2 2010, GZ I-7713.47.
Wichtiger Schritt auf dem Weg zu “Islamisch-Religiösen Studien” an der FAU, in: uni | mediendienst | aktuell, Nr. 42/2012, 06 March 2012, http://www.uni-erlangen.de/infocenter/meldungen/nachrichten/2012/3/6/1526.shtml (accessed 28 November 2013)
Ibid.
Department Islamisch-Religiöse Studien in Erlangen eröffnet, 27 September 2012, http://blogs.fau.de/news/2012/09/27/department-islamisch-religiose-studien-in-erlangen-eroffnet/ (accessed 29 November 2013)
Ibid.
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