#islamic studies

Hardly a day in Western media and on the political stage goes by without a discussion about Muslims and Islam. Yet, we still seem to grapple with understanding the complexity of Muslim identities. We talked with Ulrike Freitag, director of Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient in Berlin, about internal diversity, hands-on research, and the importance of “unmuting” marginalized voices.

While we’re rapidly approaching the third decade of the 21st century, the world seems weirdly out of whack. A postmodern plurality of everything – lifestyles, identities, interpretations of the world we live in – has led to an unprecedented degree of both personal freedom and a general uneasy feeling of uncertainty. This is the tightrope between boon and bane that members of modern Western society have to walk. Our uncertainty pertains to all aspects of life: Whom should I love? How do I raise my children? What makes me a good person? What should I do with my life?