On the night of Sunday, 3 August 2025, Professor Dr. Udo Steinbach passed away unexpectedly at the age of 82 after a short illness. He was not only one of Europe’s most important Orientalists, but also a bridge builder between cultures, committed to many causes and always ready to help. He was close to our association as a whole, but also to various other members of the Ibn Rushd Fund in projects and collaborations. It was therefore important to collect the appreciated traits and achievements from the individual members; it was a small challenge to write an obituary that would do justice to his work.
Professor Udo Steinbach was considered one of Europe’s most renowned scholars of Islamic and Middle Eastern studies and dedicated his life to bridging the gap between East and West. Born on 30 May 1943 near Zittau, Steinbach studied Oriental Studies and Classical Philology. His academic career led him to an outstanding position as a researcher of contemporary history and political developments in the Middle East. He taught at numerous universities and later became director of the Centre for Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the Maecenata Foundation.
For over three decades (1976–2006), he was director of the German Oriental Institute in Hamburg and published groundbreaking research on Arab and Islamic societies, which has become essential reading for politicians and academics. His works challenge Western stereotypes by conveying a nuanced understanding of Islam. He lamented that the Western media’s fixation on violence belies the peaceful majority of Muslims.
Udo Steinbach had a gift for making complex and complicated issues graspable. He helped many people understand the Middle East without ever compromising his depth of knowledge, without resorting to inadmissible, “popularising” simplifications, and without lowering the level of discourse. He was a master of sweeping overviews and comprehensive analyses; instead of focusing on just one country or one aspect of a problem, he established connections; he connected the dots.
Establishing connections was also his endeavour in other respects, as Udo Steinbach was a bridge builder between cultures and was committed to intercultural dialogue throughout his life. He was a strong advocate for the interests of Muslims and Arabs and played a decisive role in promoting understanding between the Arab World and Germany. He was honest, pugnacious too, and always advocated a balanced view of the Middle East and its conflicts, seeking balance and compromise; in our polarised times, this attitude unfortunately brought him not only appreciation but also some hostility.
Udo Steinbach was a warm-hearted person – he was involved in many different activities and always ready to help others establish their projects. His involvement with the Ibn Rushd Fund began after he gave the laudatory speech for the winner of the 2012 Ibn Rushd Prize, Syrian democracy and human rights activist Razan Zaitouneh. He subsequently became a member of the Ibn Rushd Fund and often provided us with advice and support. As recently as February 2023, he and Sudanese human rights activist Manal Seifeldin discussed Tunisian former president Moncef Marzouki’s book on ideologies in crisis with the latter.
Seemingly hopeless situations did not discourage Udo Steinbach, and he did not shy away from even the most complex tasks. Time and again, he travelled in regions ravaged by crises in his capacity as a bridge builder: not so long ago in Iraq and, just a few weeks ago, in Iran.
Udo Steinbach lived life to the fullest until the very end. It is admirable how much he accomplished even in his very advanced age, how much he wrote, how he kept going full steam ahead until the very end. We will remember him as the active person he was until the end. With his death, we have lost not only a brilliant thinker, but also a sincere, warm-hearted friend whose astute analyses and far-sighted assessments will be sorely missed, especially in today’s crises-ridden and polarised times. His legacy is to continue to maintain and promote mutual understanding between Europe and the Arab world.