Dr. Andreas Christmann
Lecturer in Contemporary Islam
Email: andreas.christmann@manchester.ac.uk
Telephone: +44-(0)161-275 5667
Fax: +44-(0)161-275 3264
Office Hours: Wednesdays 12-2p.m.
Research Specialisation
Religious Thought and Practice in Modern Syria and Egypt (reformism, liberalism, modernism, and fundamentalism); Contemporary Muslim Exegesis of the Qur'an (Tafsir); Islamic Legal Discourse (Ritual Purity); Sufism and Modern Hagiographical Writings; Methods in Literary Analysis. The main focus of his current research is the interface of Qur'anic hermeneutics, Islamic liberalism and political Islam in the Syrian/Egyptian context. He is working on the works of the main contributors to the recent debates, such as Muhammad Shahrour, Tayyib Tizini, Nazr Hamid Abu Zayd and 'Abd al-Halim Mahmoud. A further project of his specialises in the scholarship of the Damascene Kurdish scholar Muhammad Said Ramadan al-Buti.
Research Students
Necmettin Gokkir: Modern Literary Criticism and the Study of the Qur'an in
Contemporary Turkey, PhD.
Muhammad Khalid: Modern Legal Theory and the Concept of al-'Urf, PhD.
Husain Qutbuddin: A Framework for an Ismai'li Tafsir of the Qur'an, PhD.
Farid Fachruddin: Post-traditional Islam or Liberal Islam: Islamic thought among traditionally-rooted Young Muslims in Indonesia, PhD.
Mehmet Toprak: Khu'i and Khumayni' on the authority of the fuqaha', PhD.
Imtiyaz Hussain: The Reformist Approach of the Tunesian Scholar Muhammad Ibn
'Ashur, MA.
Irfan Chichti: Usama bin Laden's Jihad-Fatwa in the Light of the Classical Fiqh-Sources, MA.
Osman Altaybi: Ibn al-'Arabi and Modern Sufism, MA.
Jehangir Hussain Shah: 'Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi's Work on Wahdat al-Wujud, MA.
Bakhtyar Pirzada: Modernity and Critical Thinking in Islam: the Work of Sheikh
Karam Shah, MA.
Publications
(The list below contains selected publications.Click on the highlighted link to view a full list of publications)
Publications in Edited Works:
2005: Ascetic Passivity in times of Extreme Activism: the Theme of
Seclusion in a Biography by al-Buti, Festschrift for the Journal of Semitic Studies, (Philip Alexander, Andreas Christmann, George Brooke, John Healey and Philip Sadgrove, eds.), Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2005: 'Manchmal habe ich mit Phantasie einige Lücken gefüllt': Muhammad Sa'id Ramadan al-Butis Rezeption von E. Xanîs 'Mem û Zîn' , in: S.Hajo; C.Borck; E.Savelsberg; B.Kemmerich (eds.), Syrien und die Kurden: Vom Osmanischen Reich bis in die Gegenwart, Münster: Unrast Verlag.
2001: "An Invented Piety" Subduing Ramadan in Syrian State Media", in Armando Salvatore (ed.), Muslim Traditions and Modern Techniques of Power, Yearbook of the Sociology of Islam, 3, Hamburg, Lit Verlag, and New Brunswick and London, Transaction Publishers, pp.: 243-263 (revised version of the French article, see below).
Reviews (Sample)
McAuliffe, Jane Dammen (ed.): Encyclopaedia of the Quran. Volume 1 and 2 A-D and E-I, Leiden-Boston-(Köln) 2001 and 2002, Academic Publishers Brill. - Journal of Semitic Studies
MERI, JOSEF W., The Cult of Saints Among Muslims and Jews in Medieval Syria.. Oxford
Oriental Monographs. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Journal of Jewish
Culture and History
Rippin, Andrew, The Qur'an and its Interpretative Tradition (Variorum Collected Studies
Series CS715). Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot 2001. - Journal of Semitic
Studies
Saeed, Abdullah and Hassan Saeed, Freedom of Religion, Apostasy and Islam, 2003, Aldershot and Burlington: Ashgate. Journal of Contemporary Religion
Schaebler, Birgit and Leif Stenberg (eds.), Globalization and the Muslim World: Culture,
Religion, and Modernity. New York: Syracuse University Press 2004. - Periplus:
Jahrbuch für Aussereuropaeische Geschichte
Turner, Colin (ed.): The Koran (4 vols), RoutledgeCurzon, London 2004. - Journal of Semitic Studies
Twardella, Johannes, Moderner Islam. Fallstudien zur islamischen Religiosität in Deutschland, Hildesheim-Zürich-New York 2004, Georg Olms Verlag. Zeitschrift fuer Religionswissenschaft
Papers for Conferences, Workshops, Seminar Series:
Mar 2005: What is al-Tasawwuf al-Islami?: Abd al-Halim Mahmud and the islamization
of Sufims in Contemporary Egypt, Conference on Sufism and Theology,
Glasgow.
Oct 2004: Sufism and Politics: The Syrian scholar Sheikh Muhammad Sai'd Ramadan
al-Buti, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Oxford.
Sept 2004: Rückzug und Isolation als permanenter Passageritus: die biographischen
Texte von Sa'id Ramadan al-Buti, Deutscher Orientalistentag, Halle.
Jul 2004: Modern Qur'an Commentaries in Syria and Egypt, Summer Workshop
Islam and Modernity , Budapest.
Sept 2003: Innovative Change or Sheer Provocation?: Mohamed Shahrour and the
Study of the Qur'an in Contemporary Islam, BASR-conference, Chester.
Mar 2003: The Kurdish Scholar Sa'id Ramadan al-Buti and his Adaptation of Ehmede
Xani's Mam u Zin , Conference of the German Society for the Study of Kurdology, Berlin.
Professional Biography
Andreas Christmann studied Comparative Religion, History of Islam and Arabic at the University of Leipzig, where he got his M.A. degree in 1993. He completed his Ph.D. thesis on 'Social change and ritual practice in Damascus (Syria)' in Leipzig in 1999. During his PhD-period he was awarded the Volkswagen-Research-Fellowship and prepared his field work in Syria at St. Antony's College in Oxford (1995-1997).
He participated in a two-year research project on The Islamic World and Modernity, organized by the Social Science Research Council in Washington and the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, convened by the German-American Academic Council, where he took part in the working group on Islamic discourse and Modern Muslim scholarship , and he was a participant in the workshop Multiple Modernities: Between Nation-Building and Muslim Traditions, sponsored by GARN (German-American Research Network) and co-organized by the working group on Muslims, Practices, and the Public Sphere (Florence 1999).
He is member of the German Association for the History of Religion (DVRG).
Professional advisory work:
Since Jun 1999 Member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Semitic Studies,
advising on the publications of articles and reviews in Arabic and Islamic Studies.
Since 2002 External Examiner for the Arabic and Islamic Studies Programme at Manchester Metropolitan University
External Examiner of PhD-theses (Leeds)
Referee for Academic Foundations (Mubarak Trust)
Internal Examiner for: Shuruq Naguib The Meaning of Purity in Classical Exegesis of the Qur'an, 2003.
Andreas Z. Stephanous Religion and Politics in the Middle East: Political Christianity in the Islamic Context, 2002.
Ibrahim Saad The Translation of Transactional & Literary English into Arabic, 2002.
Recep Çi dem The Register of the Law Court of Istanbul 1612-1613: A Legal Analysis, 2001.
Ibrahim Hakki Inal The Presentation of the Murji'a in Islamic Literature, 2001.
Teaching Areas
Undergraduate Courses:
First year: NE1061 Introduction to Islam
Second year: NE2501 Issues in Contemporary Islam
Final Year: NE3141 Modern Islamic Texts in Arabic (Tafsir)
NE3032 Introduction to Qur'an and Hadith Studies
Postgraduate Courses:
NE6132 Methods and Theory in the Study of Islam
Contributions to:
NE6101 Islamic Political Thought
NE6122 The Middle East and Islamic Studies
NE6070 Research Methods in Middle Eastern Studies