Hamel Abdel-Samad’s childhood in Egypt is shaped by profound religiosity and brutal violence. The older he becomes, the less he is able to bear the disparity between these extremes. He seeks support in radical Islam but doesn’t find any answers to his questions there either and decides to leave Egypt. It is only in Germany that he is able to free himself from the past and begins to critically examine the inhuman Islamic double standards.
Today Abdel-Samad is ranked amongst the most renowned German-speaking intermediaries between the Arab world and Europe. His commitment to the Arab Spring and his staunch criticism of political Islam has lead fanatics to pronounce a Fatwa, sentencing him to death. In the significantly expanded new version of his autobiography, he tells of a life in constant danger and of a kidnapping by criminals, which lasted several days.
