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Introduction
MuradWilfried Hofmann was born in Aschaffenburg near Frankfurt in 1931. His university studies of German and American law began at Union College in Schenectady, New York, and concluded at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
From 19611994, he worked in the German Foreign Service, including as information director of NATO and as ambassador in Algiers and Rabat. In 1980 Hofmann accepted Islam.
Among his books, available in German, English, and Arabic, include Diarj of a German Muslim, Islam:The Alternative, Voyage to Makkah, Religion on the Risehlam in the 3rd Millennium, Islam and Qur'an, and a translation oftheQur'an into German.
Here we are producing with his kind consent a few pages from his Diary of a German Muslim; presenting a few glimpses of his experience while making his way back to Islam. [Ed.]
Istanbul, 20 July 19802
St. Paul, the Heretic
One cannot expect a reply if one asks how tall Jesus [peace be on him]3 was, which color he liked best, whether he had been fond of honey or garlic, or which shoes he put on first in the morning.
To be sure, these are all rather banal aspects of a great personality's life. But the point can be made: we know all of these and other details about Muhammad [peace be on him], the Prophet. From the Gospels, on the other hand, Jesus merely emerges as a legendary figure with vague contours.
Some attribute this difference to the difficulty of documenting the life of a person who lived 600 years before Muhammad [peace be on him].
There is a better explanation: The numerous, painstakingly collected and sifted accounts of the beginnings of Islam (ahadith), handed down to us in prestigious hadith-collection, have been given exclusively by trusthworthy eye-witness. The Gospels, on the other hand, are to a large extent rather late reconstructions, frequently based on hearsay only.
We hardly ever hear Jesus speak himself. Rather, we read later interpretations of what he meant to say.
Indeed, in as much as the New Testament is not a primary but secondary source, it by no...