Nayef Ballouz, der frühe Islam und die Orientwissenschaft der DDR

The article deals with the studies the Syrian philosopher Nayef Ballouz undertook in East Berlin and the possible effect their result had on the Oriental Studies in the GDR. Ballouz explored the background and circumstances of the emergence of Islam in the context of Late Antiquity. He argued that certain features of Islam enable it to be used in the fight against the oppression in the Arab World. This standpoint, at first rather isolated, subsequently got more popular with Orient scholars in the GDR. In a later study of Islam written in 1986 in Syria, Nayef Ballouz took up and corroborated his earlier findings.