Jörg Matthias Determann's Blog

Hard-Science SF Zoom on “Science Fiction and Astrobiology in the Muslim World”

I am asking Gloria McMillan to accept my deep gratitude for inviting me to speak at the Hard-Science SF Zoom hosted by the Tucson Hard-Science SF Writers and Artists Group. On November 1, 2025, I will have the joy of talking about “Science Fiction and Astrobiology in the Muslim World.” I am very grateful to Emad El-Din Aysha for introducing me to Glo back in September 2024. In her public relations (PR) for this event, she used a collage from Ayham Jabr’s series “Damascus under Siege.” If you would like to be updated about this and other sessions organized by Glo, please email her at scifi200111@gmail.com. You can also subscribe to the Tucson Hard-Science SF Channel on YouTube or follow the HardScience SF Writers Readers Artists Zoom Group on Facebook. https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regis...

Amin Elfeshawi successfully defends dissertation

Big congratulations, herzlichen Glückwunsch and ألف مبروك to Amin Elfeshawi on successfully defending his doctoral dissertation at the University of Vienna on October 14, 2025! His thesis is entitled “The Individual between Jihadism and Islam Hadhari – the Contest of the Individual in Nation States of modern Islamic thinkers.” Anja Zalta, Yavuz Köse, Rüdiger Lohlker and I had the privilege of watching his presentation and asking him questions. Ingrid Jost and Jitka Kloudová provided essential administrative support. I joined the defense on Zoom from home rather than—as I had initially planned—from my office, as my daughter Maria was sick. I thank our nanny Marilou Magsayo Semetara for looking after her, while I participated in the defense from our living room. You can read the abstract of Amin’s thesis in English and German here: https://utheses.univie.ac.at/detail/7...

Recording of “UFOs and UAP in the Muslim World” on YouTube

A big round of thank-yous to all who attended the October Colloquium of the Society for UAP Studies (SUAPS). I thoroughly enjoyed talking about “UFOs and UAP in the Muslim World” on Google Meet. I thank Michael Cifone for inviting me and for serving as my discussant. I am further grateful to Adam Dodd and Zak Swenson for organizing this event. Always helpful, Byrad Yyelland proofread my synopsis. Jeanne Vaz stayed up late the evening of my lecture, in case our daughter Maria woke up and needed one of us parents. A recording is now available on the SUAPS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EHFX...

“Islamic Theology Meets ETI” by Ted Peters

My friend and collaborator Shoaib Ahmed Malik and I are enormously thankful to Ted Peters of the Graduate Theological Union for his continued interest in, and support of, our work. On October 3, 2025, Ted participated in the colloquium which I gave for the Society for UAP Studies and which was chaired by Mike Cifone. Based on my talk and Shoaib’s and my edited volume on Islamic Theology and Extraterrestrial Life (I.B. Tauris), Ted wrote a post for his Substack blog The Voice of Public Theology. He published his post on October 8, 2025, under the title “Islamic Theology Meets ETI.” He appreciates the theological engagement with extraterrestrial intelligence by Muslims and Christians alike. He concludes that “any clarity of thinking that might arise in this endeavor will help us all.” https://tedp.substack.com/p/islamic-t...

World Space Week at Al Thuraya Planetarium concludes

Thank you and يعطيك العافية (literally “may He give you health”) to everyone who contributed to making the celebration of World Space Week at Al Thuraya Planetarium a great success! Khalid Al-Sayed presented my fellow lecturers Rabeea Al-kuwari, Mohammad Saif Al-Kuwari and me with trophies on October 7, 2025. Concluding the activities of the week, we released balloons with messages into the open sky. Mine read السلام لكل العالم “Peace to the whole world.” Abir Althalathini, Safa Alkilani, Abdulaziz Al Hammad and Mohamed Hamad documented the event for Qatar Television and Katara. Le Vesuvio provided delicious food. You can read more about the program of the World Space Week on the website of the Qatar News Agency: https://qna.org.qa/en/News-Area/News/...

Lecture on “Space is for All” at Al Thuraya Planetarium

May God bless you and بارك الله فيك, Rashid Ali Al Kubaisi, for enabling me to give a presentation as part of World Space Week at the Al Thuraya Planetarium in Katara on October 6, 2025. The topic of my lecture and the children’s workshop as a whole was “Space is for All.” I extend my gratitude to Fawaz Ahmed for introducing me to our audience and for sending me photographs afterward. In addition to the employees of Katara, I am very grateful to Rakesh Bhoj‏ and Suhail Ck‏ of Techno Q for their support with the superb audiovisual systems in the dome. If you want to zoom into my slides, please go to Prezi: https://prezi.com/view/oToqbmdJjF8B9z...

Part 2 of LinkedIn workshop at VCUarts Qatar

A round of thank yous to everyone who participated in the LinkedIn workshop led by Jacqulyn Williams and me in the Library at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar on September 30, 2025. Roshni Baker publicized this event, took photographs and set up a delicious lunch prepared by Volume Cafe. Diya Koshy and her fellow members of our Library Student Advisory Council (LSAC) were instrumental in bringing about this event. During our session, we proudly showcased exemplary LinkedIn profiles by some of our alumni, including Sam Shehab and Anusheh Zaman. Based on the success of this workshop, we plan to offer part 2 later this month. Please join us again. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FA...

Parviz Tarikhi reviews slam, Science Fiction and Extraterrestrial Life

As long as I live, I will be indebted to you (من تا عمر دارم مدیون شما هستم), Parviz Tarikhi. Thank you for evaluating my book, Islam, Science Fiction and Extraterrestrial Life (I.B. Tauris). Parviz’s review appeared in the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 52, no. 4 (2025), 1028–30. Parviz calls my volume a “rich study spanning contemporary dimensions of science fiction in Muslim world.” He adds that my work “fills the gap in the status and development of science fiction and idea of extraterrestrial life.” I also thank everyone involved in editing and producing the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, and especially Lloyd Ridgeon, Alam Saleh and Shanthini Muthukrishnan. The periodical is published by Taylor & Francis for the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/...

Amin Elfeshawi’s dissertation defense at the University of Vienna

Danke noch einmal and thanks again to Rüdiger Lohlker for asking me to examine a doctoral dissertation by one of his students at the University of Vienna! He entrusted me with grading Amin Elfeshawi’s thesis in Orientalistik (Islamwissenschaft) entitled “The Individual between Jihadism and Islam Hadhari – the Contest of the Individual in Nation States of modern Islamic thinkers.” The public defense is set for October 14, 2025. I am joined as an examiner by Anja Zalta of the University of Ljubljana and our chair, Yavuz Köse. Ingrid Jost has supported us with formal procedures and paperwork. I also thank Byrad Yyelland for enabling me to use our office to join the defense remotely on Zoom. https://ssc-philkultur.univie.ac.at/s...

Recording of presentation “One Planet, One Sky”

Once again, I express thanks to the staff of the Humanities Research Center at Virginia Commonwealth University for allowing me to give a book talk within the Meet VCU Authors series. Cristina Stanciu kindly introduced me and my presentation entitled “One Planet, One Sky: Internationalism in Modern Astronomy.” Hilary Levinson and Ellie Musgrave did much work behind the scenes. My wife Jeanne Vaz helped me bring our daughter Maria to bed, before I spoke on Zoom from our living room in Doha. If you missed the event on September 22, 2025, or would like to rewatch, please find the video recording on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sih5...