«The last and final belief is belief in a fiction that one knows to be a fiction.» These words were written over a hundred years ago by the American lawyer and poet Wallace Stevens. With this statement, he touches on the fundamental question that has preoccupied us since the festival was founded: What is reality and why do we believe in it?

In this edition, we put this question to Ahmad Milad Karimi.

Karimi is undoubtedly one of the most interesting voices in the German-speaking world today. Born in Afghanistan in 1979, he fled to Germany with his family at the age of thirteen, studied philosophy and Islamic studies, translated the Koran into German and is now professor of Kalām, Islamic philosophy and mysticism at the University of Münster. His field of work ranges from the deconstruction of religious thought to contemporary pop culture. He is considered one of the most prominent Islamic scholars in Europe. For Karimi, the Koran represents the revelation of God, but one that must be interpreted. God can be believed in, but never truly understood. It is the famous leap into the void.

Are you betting on fiction, Professor Karimi? And is there a subversive power in that?