The taz reached Hamed Abdel-Samad by telephone in Beirut, Lebanon. He says he spends every winter there, even during wartime. It is obvious that the cold season in the Middle East is not as cold as in Berlin. The fact that Abdel-Samad feels safer in Lebanon than in Germany has to do with the fact that the controversial Islam critic has been living under police protection for years. “I have the same security rating as the Chancellor,” he jokes. He has not been to his home country of Egypt for years and several fatwas were issued against him there.
taz: Mr. Abdel-Samad, the Arabic translation of “What is Israel allowed?”, an argumentative correspondence with Philipp Peyman Engel, in Germany Spiegel-Bestseller, should last week to be presented at the Cairo Book Fair. Now the book was apparently banned before it could even be published. The publication of your new novel “The Cloud Factory” has probably also been banned. On what grounds?
Hamed Abdel-Samad: I’m still puzzling over this question. There are, of course, critical passages in “What is Israel Allowed?”, especially what Philipp writes about the Arab and Muslim world in general and Egypt in particular. He wasn’t squeamish about his criticism, and that could have played a role. My new novel is about the topic of euthanasia – a taboo in the Arab world. And then of course my person comes into play: I am in Egypt a “controversial” person, whatever that means, for several reasons.
Im Interview: Hamed Abdel-Samad
was born in 1972 in Giza, Egypt; as a student he was a member of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. He has lived in Germany since 1995 and is one of the best-known and most controversial critics of Islam in this country. He is the author of numerous books, for example on “Islamic fascism”, the Koran and the Prophet Mohammed. His guest contributions have appeared in media such as Welt, NZZ, Cicero and the right-wing blog “Axis of Good”. The book “What is Israel allowed to do? A dispute” by him and Philipp Peyman Engel was published by dtv, Munich 2025, 160 pages, 16 euros.
taz: To what extent?
Abdel-Samad: Because I am an oppositionist and do not support President Sisi. I have always discussed human rights violations in Egypt – against Copts, women, religious people and atheists. But there was an incident ten days before the start of the book fair that may have had something to do with the ban.
taz: Namely?
Abdel-Samad: I uploaded a video message to Sisi criticizing that Egyptian security authorities At the beginning of November, several young atheist activists and YouTubers were arrested and disappeared – without an arrest warrant or trial. Their families don’t even know where they are. And the president is responsible for that. The video went viral. And two days later, at least some of the boys showed up again and were brought before the prosecutor. Now there is a regulated procedure.
The Israel-Palestine conflict is discussed controversially, especially in left-wing circles. There are also some fundamentally different positions on this in the taz. In this section you will find all comments and debate contributions on the topic of the Middle East.
taz: So you suspect that you will be punished for this by banning your books?
Abdel-Samad: Yes, because I took the big step of contacting Sisi directly. Some in the power apparatus probably consider this to be a breach of a taboo. And now there is a ban, although as is often the case there is no official letter that the books are banned.
taz: How did you find out about the alleged ban on your books?
Abdel-Samad: My publisher, Al-Mahrousa, had already announced both books, but after the book fair started, several people wrote to me saying that they couldn’t find them anywhere. The publisher didn’t want to tell me anything about it, I was angry. And then they apologized to me. The department head at the publisher didn’t tell me that they were banned. If he were to say that, the entire publishing house could be excluded from the book fair – one common means of security authorities. In the meantime, a well-known Egyptian author who was supposed to appear with me at an event in Toronto in May has canceled his participation again – he was forbidden by the security authorities because of my person. I know from him that the security authorities also banned my books.
taz: Is there a market in the Arab world for a discussion with a pro-Israel Jew about October 7th, Israel’s warfare and the Middle East conflict?
People didn’t talk about the Holocaust until it was over – and that was a mistake
Abdel-Samad: The publisher was very enthusiastic about the idea because this format simply does not exist in Arabic. The translation of the book is called “Conversation with my Jewish friend”. Sounds kind of paradoxical.
taz: “Conversation” is a friendly expression for a sometimes very heated argument. She and Engel have been friends for years. Did this friendship suffer as a result of October 7th and the war in Gaza?
Abdel-Samad: There is the argumentative dimension, where we are miles apart. And then there is the human one. I would argue that the book actually brought us closer because you gain more insight, not only into the other person’s thoughts, but also into their emotional state.
taz: What have you learned about angels?
Abdel-Samad: I know what it means for Philipp when he describes the story of his Jewish mother in Iran, when he talks about the threats that he has to endure as a Jew in Germany. That’s where I feel as a critic of Islam, As someone who is under police protection myself, a closeness because I know that we are actually in the same boat.
taz: In the book you also write that you are “horrified” by angels. They suggest that he is “the press spokesman for the Israeli government.” He is “caught in the invisible bonds” of his Jewish identity. That doesn’t sound so friendly.
Abdel-Samad: Understanding something does not mean agreeing with something. And telling him that is a sign of respect and honesty. I tell him this as a friend.
taz: Immediately after October 7th, you unequivocally condemned the Hamas massacre, and then just as clearly condemned Israel’s conduct of the war, which you consider to be a genocide – the latter was the trigger for the correspondence with Engel. You will be criticized from all sides because of this combination. Do you still have any fans?
Abdel-Samad: I definitely have in both debates lost many readers, But as a writer, as an intellectual, I don’t see my job as serving any clientele. But primarily in the analysis to the best of our knowledge and belief. But also in pushing the boundaries of what can be said in favor of freedom of expression. Where there are big taboos, I have to intervene and ask why? Why is it racist to criticize Islam? And why is the word “genocide” so taboo even though it can neither be 100% proven nor refuted?
taz: At the very beginning of the book you make a very clear judgment: “There is only one word that accurately describes what is currently happening in Gaza: genocide.” This is not an ambivalent question, but a controversial statement of fact.
Abdel-Samad: In the book I distinguish between, on the one hand, the legalistic dimension of what genocide is – that is something that others have to judge, namely the international court, the United Nations and genocide researchers. Many are already of the opinion that this is a genocide, others deny this and need further evidence. And on the other hand, the term “genocide” as a warning and a cry for help. People didn’t talk about the Holocaust until it was over – and that was a mistake.
taz: Are you seriously comparing the war in Gaza with the Shoah?
Abdel-Samad: Please put this comparison club aside! In this context, I only speak of the use of the term “genocide” when everything was too late. In Rwanda and Bosnia, too, the term “genocide” was only used after hundreds of thousands had lost their lives.
taz: As early as October 7th itself, when Hamas commandos were still rampaging through the Jewish state, there were people who accused Israel of genocide in Gaza. A premature judgment is not necessarily an accurate one. The International Court of Justice must first be able to carry out its work independently and without prejudice.
Abdel-Samad: And, absolutely. I’m not denying that there are people who, from the beginning, were waiting for Israel to make some sort of mistake in bringing the G-word into the world. There are people who hate Israel for several reasons, primarily ideological. But the false suspicion at the beginning doesn’t mean that it wasn’t the case in the end.
taz: Was Engel able to change your mind in any way on this question?
Abdel-Samad: I’ve definitely thought about the impact of words. So when someone shouts genocide, genocide, genocide, it has an effect on Jews worldwide. They are associated with anti-Semitic stereotypes – as child murderers and genocide perpetrators who hate humanity.
taz: What will happen to the two books after the ban?
Abdel-Samad: Apparently no book of mine can ever be published in Egypt again, because everyone knows that I am now apparently on the index. But I have already received three offers for the works from other publishers, in Lebanon, Tunisia and from an Arabic publisher in Toronto.
taz: What does it do to you that you can neither enter your home country nor publish books there?
Abdel-Samad: I’m not defaming Egypt, I just want the best for the country. I love Egypt. And I still have a lot of fans there, including in the regime, but they would never say it publicly. From abroad I can criticize many things that no one there would be allowed to say. I consider that a privilege – and a duty. And just like in Germany, it is the same in Egypt and everywhere in the Arab world: There are many people who like me very much and many people who hate me very much. But there is hardly anyone who doesn’t care about me.