ex oriente was first published in october 2005 as printed magazine at the Institute for Arabic Language and Islamic Sciences at the University of Münster, Germany. After some time there were not enough contributors for this project so I decided to end ex oriente in its printed version. Beside that I have to thank all people who worked at that time with me and who gave much of their energy, their ideas and their time for that enterprise.

For myself I could not sit back and watch because I found the mixture of many different stories related to the orient quite fascinating. After some time I decided to create a platform on the world wide web which should deal with issues around orient and islam. In memory for the printed version also the websites name is ex oriente. Beside that I am using the same logo which was used for the printed version. It is a calligraphy designed by Iyad Shraim which says ex oriente in arabic “min a-sharq”.

Through a world wide web version you can reach many people but this project is also about you as possible contributors. You are mostly welcome to participate in any form. I think at this point it would be important to talk about the reasons why I am doing this because many people are asking me: Why are you dealing with islam? Are you a muslim? Will you be a muslim?

Why again a blog? I can also switch on the TV!?

You are right but the TV is not really interactive and does not demand any activity from you. It only demands your ear and your eyes to absorb standardized news without any background or real opinions. and that is the issue: Not everything what you will read here will completely please you because it is my opinion. A blog is a wonderful possibility to gain back freedom of speech which is of great importance in this times. The next issue is that this website allows you also to exchange opinions. My aim is not to convince you with my point of view on different issues. My aim is to give you kind of a push to develop your own thoughts on issues regarding orient and islam. Why are some certain things not said or published, why are they said and how are they expressed and in which detail lies the mistake of the whole story?

We are living in times in which we are exposed to a huge flood of information. It is an achievement of our society that we have a free press and that we can satisfy our appetite for information through a variety of different sources. I think this freedom is kind of superficial because a few media companies are ruling over the market and news became kind of a economical factors because a story about a enviromental disaster in asian pacific region with thousands of dead people can generate more income than a story about, let’s say Max, who is leaving his country to study abroad. Like that stories about the next topmodel or a music producer who is looking for the next singing talent is more valuable than a story of a corruption case in an international company. Because we have access to many sources for information it is more and more important to be more selective. Important is not to forget that also the media is often presenting us only one opinion. The western media consumer is in danger to loose the whole picture and therefore he is not able to realize the importance of problems. Like there is a western point of view regarding different issues there is also an arabic-islamic point of view which has to be a different one. For example if we talk about the holocaust in germany iranian president Ahmadinejad is asking a question which must be a slap in the face of the victims of Nazi-Germany: Did the holocaust happen? Yes, there is a scientific answer which is is backed by historical facts and that is known also by Mr. Ahmadinejad. More exciting is what was not discussed in german media: The thoughts of Ahmadinejad linked to that question mentioned above. Who is responsible for the holocaust and must not the responsible one help in creating a jewish state? Sure that is without any question unhistorical because we are living here and now with a state Israel. But this way of thinking tells us that there are different awareness of history and ways of dealing with it. One aim of this blog is also to tell you something about how and why these different ideas developed.

Beside that it is also my aim to familiarize you with issues related to arabic-islamic culture. In this regard it is also very important to be very careful in the use of language. If you are talking with a westener about islam he will maybe use vocabulary which could be misunderstood. Most of the people gain their information about islam from the media but for example the bradcasting media is not interested to transport stories about arabic-islamic issues in an educational way and does not back up stories scientifically. This is always very obvious then so called “terrorism experts” do believe that they can link terrorism in a scientific and appropriate way with islam. They can not because they are political scientist in disguise and are only able to simplify issues which leads to a concept which evoces only feelings of hatred or fear towards everything which is non-western and everyone who believes in something else than the majority of people in the west.

We can be glad that there are some people who are not dealing with islam because of inappropriate reasons like for self-exposure in the media to raise their book sales. Many people deal with islam in a scientific way and this for years and years of their lifes. Orientalists in general and islamic scientists particularly are not heard if we are talking about terrorism because they would back up what they say with scientific facts and they would explain issues. You can imagine that this is not something which leads to record newspaper sales because they would point on mistakes being made in the media for example if we talk about usage of arabic language in the western media. People like to hear sensational breaking news and dramatized stories but real experts would only lead to a relativization of news which has a big economical impact on any media company which is always thinking of “exclusive stories”.

The islamic scientist deals with the whole arabic-islamic culture and is familiarized with many fields. He deals scientifically with another or his own (?) culture. Basically it is not important if he belongs to that culture or not. He does not have to be a muslim or religious at all. I think that these attributes which are related to this persons are always linked with positive and negative aspects if they deal with islam and orient scientifically.

It is not important if you consider religion as an important aspect of our world. Since 9/11 the whole muslim community is under general suspicion. Its not important if this suspicion is expressed openly or by discriminating regulations within democratic states. It is hard for many people to differ islam itself from islamism, which uses religion as an instrument to achieve aims in a political agenda and it is also hard for them to fight against stereotypes they have regarding muslims. For some people it is more easy to let their bumper-sticker wisdom speak or to offer populist slogans to discuss problems the easy way and the broadcasters are doing their own job if they are talking and talking about the “Clash of Civilizations” which must not mean at all war or fighting.

Maybe this website will contribute to show you the grayscales between black and white. It is more important that you go through this world with open eyes and ears and that you inform and educate yourselfes and that you critizise if you need to. Do not be just a consumer of the media!

Yours
Daniel Roters