Prof. Dr. Johannes J.G. Jansen (Amsterdam 1942) was Houtsma professor for Contemporary Islamic Thought in the Department of Arabic, Persian and Turkish at the University of Utrecht (The Netherlands) from 2003 till his retirement in 2008.
Dr. Jansen taught Arabic and Islamic Studies at Leiden University from 1982 till May 2005. From early 1979 till the summer of 1982 he was director of the Dutch research center in Cairo, the Nederlands Instituut voor Arabische Studiën en Egyptische Archeologie. He also taught at Groningen University (1975-1979) and at Amsterdam University (1982).
He studied in Amsterdam (1960-1964), Cairo (1966-1967) and Leiden (1964-1968). He received degrees from the Theological Faculty of Amsterdam University (Biblical Hebrew and the History of Philosophy, 1961), the Amsterdam University Faculty of Arts (BA, Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic, 1964) and the Leiden Faculty of Arts (MA, Arabic, Turkish, and History of the Middle East). He received a doctorate at Leiden in 1974. In Dutch he writes as ‘Hans Jansen’. In 2010 and 2011 he was witness for the defense in the trial against Geert Wilders. See also: www.arabistjansen.nl
The prepared text of Prof. Jansen’s speech
Previous posts about the Brussels Process:
How enormously helpful is the distinction between the “divinely-derived” Koran and the man-made Sharia.
A useful tool to challenge the Muslim by making them aware of the human origin of the Sharia, whilst not offending them by denying the divine origin of the Koran.
Professor Jansen’s comment that an Arabic or Muslim state cannot afford to offend the Sharia academics in any way is ominous and full of pessimism for peace.
It makes me feel that Jansen’s discussional prescription for undermining Sharia (and with it Islamism) will not succeed, since the power is with the authorities and not the Muslim person.
Furthermore, delusions (fixed but false beliefs) are not changed as beliefs by discussion and reason, which is what the Professor is recommending, I believe. The Hitler/Fuhrer delusion was not changed in the minds of the ordinary people until fighting had proved Hitler to be empty of the power he had proclaimed to possess for so long.
Indeed, the paladins around him never lost their delusion in his god-like greatness and swallowed prussic acid as they held on to their fixed false beliefs.
My view is that fighting Sharia and Islamism is the only way of defeating this particular religious delusion. Iran will force nuclear confrontation on the world. When it is over, the Muslims who remain alive will be able to change their delusion to something either true or no longer dangerous though still delusional.