Hamed Abdel-Samad

Hamed Abdel-Samad
Hamed Abdel-Samad (2013)
Native name	حامد عبد الصمد
Born	(1972-02-01) 1 February 1972 (age 45) Giza, Egypt

Hamed Abdel-Samad (Arabic: حامد عبد الصمد‎‎, IPA: [ˈħæːmed ʕæbdesˈsˤɑmɑd]; born in 1972 in Gizeh, Egypt) is a German-Egyptian political scientist and author.

Abdel-Samad was born as the third of five children, the son of a Muslim Sunni Imam. Abdel-Samad came to Germany in 1995 at the age of 23. He soon married an 18 years older, "rebellious, left-wing teacher with a penchant for mysticism." Abdel-Samad studied Japanese, English and French in Cairo as well as political science in Augsburg. He worked as a scholar in Erfurt and Braunschweig. In Japan, where he was involved with eastern spirituality, he met his second wife. He taught and conducted research until the end of 2009 at the Institute for Jewish History and Culture at the University of Munich; his dissertation topic was: Bild der Juden in ägyptischen Schulbüchern ("Image of the Jews in Egyptian textbooks”). Subsequently he decided to become a full-time professional writer.

A member of the Muslim Brotherhood in his university days, a stay in a summer camp run by them triggered doubts, causing him to become skeptical, and finally identify as an atheist.

Abdel-Samad became known to the German public through his book Mein Abschied vom Himmel (My Farewell from Heaven) (2009). It is neither a settlement with his culture, nor a call to abandon the Muslim faith. According to Abdel-Samad, he just wanted to understand the contradictions of his life. Following the book’s publication in Egypt, a group issued a fatwa against Abdel-Samad and he was put under police protection.

Abdel-Samad calls for an "Islam light" in Europe without shari'a, jihad, gender apartheid, proselytism and “entitlement mentality”. He criticized the German political establishment for appeasing Islam, while ignoring fears about Islam. According to Abdel-Samad, this behavior created resentment in the German population.