The Arab League and the Iraqi-Syrian Relationship
The Arab League's mission in Syria is coming in for heavy criticism – and so is Iraq, which brokered the mission: the country has performed a drastic about-face that many find quite astonishing. Birgit Svensson in Baghdad has the details More »
Anniversary of the Egyptian Rebellion
On the face of it, not much has changed since the protests against former President Hosni Mubarak's regime began a year ago. Now, activists want to start another revolution to topple the military council. Viktoria Kleber reports from Cairo More »
Turkey's Military versus the Government
Opinion in Turkey remains divided over whether the recent remand of a former chief of General Staff on charges of coup plotting represents a further blow against an older, less democratic order, or a move by the incumbent government to further consolidate its power. Fatma Kayabal investigates More »
Omar Hamdan, Professor of Islamic Theology
Germany's first Centre of Islamic Theology was recently opened at the University of Tübingen. The head of the centre is the Koranic expert Omar Hamdan, who so far is the only professor teaching at the centre. Arnfrid Schenk spoke to the professor about his work and the degree course he is teaching More »
Stefan Weidner's Book on Islam and the West
With his new book, Stefan Weidner would like to straighten out our simplified, cliché-ridden perception of Islam by looking at phenomena such as Sharia from an unusual perspective. Albrecht Metzger read the book More »
Mansoura Ez Eldin on Women's Rights in Egypt
In her essay, the well-known Egyptian writer Mansoura Ez Eldin sketches a gloomy picture of post-revolutionary social conditions in her homeland, where she says women are facing increasing political marginalisation and being robbed of their basic rights More »
Cultural Change in Oman
The Royal Opera House in Muscat, the first opera house on the Arabian Peninsula, is a symbol of the nature of the changes which have taken place in Oman. By Laura Weißmüller More »
Creative Protest against Syria's Regime
With sketches from the "Diary of a Little Dictator", the puppet theatre group "Masasit Mati" is one of the many creative forms of protest to emerge on the Internet and on social networking sites in Syria. Mohamed Ali Atassi takes a closer look at how this particular brand of political satire rails against the Assad regime More »
