Science
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COVID-19 in Egypt
Safely through corona crisis? Go on, take my used mask
Even now, during the coronavirus pandemic, risk awareness in Egypt is disturbingly low. What lies behind this phenomenon? By Khaled el-Khamissi
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COVID-19 on the Nile
One Egyptian's dream of a brave, new, post-coronavirus world
For decades, Egypt's successive governments have neglected to provide adequate support for science and culture. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the coronavirus crisis were to lead to a change of heart and policy, asks Khaled al-Khamissi
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Interview with James Morris
Ibn Arabi's vision for a fully human global civilisation
Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi (1165-1240) is one of the most influential Arab philosophers and mystics. James Morris, Professor of Islamic Theology at Boston College, explains why his writings are still popular and why, today, they give the most productive answer to fundamentalist approaches in Islam. Interview by Claudia Mende
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Goethe anniversary
Orient and Occident
Two hundred years of the "West-Eastern Divan": "North and West and South shatter, thrones burst and empires tremble" – why Islam is part of German literature. By Heinrich Detering
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Schools in Turkey
Erdogan's youth, religious but not educated?
The Turkish school system is in crisis: pupil performance is slipping. Critics blame the Erdogan government for the trend, which has recently founded hundreds of Imam Hatip religious schools. Information from Burcu Karakas and Daniel Derya Bellut
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Book review: Charlie Englishʹs "The book smugglers of Timbuktu"
Of myths and heroes
Timbuktu, the ancient desert city in Mali, has always been shrouded in myths. Charlie English’s "The book smugglers of Timbuktu" proves that the city has not lost its magic. By Dagmar Wolf
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Book review: Susannah Heschel on "Jewish Islam"
Jewish Orientalism?
In her book Susannah Heschel investigates the role of Islam in the emergence of a Jewish identity and seeks to pay tribute to the academic legacy of Jewish-German scholars of Islam of the 19th and 20th centuries. But the romantic narrative of a somewhat different kind of Orientalism has its pitfalls. By Ozan Keskinkilic
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Book review: Joseph Croitoru's "Die Deutschen und der Orient"
Between contempt and fascination
In his new book, Joseph Croitoru shows how German politics, academia and literature all grappled with the Orient in the eighteenth century. By successfully weaving together these different threads, he provides an overview of attitudes towards the East in Germany during the Age of Enlightenment. By Melanie Christina Mohr
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Germany′s Academy for Islam in Research and Society
Filling a void in the discourse
Germany's Academy for Islam in Research and Society took up its work one year ago. Its mission is to promote Islamic theological research and to provide a sound factual basis for the public discourse on Islam. By Canan Topcu
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Islam and single-use plastics
Appealing to Indonesia's Muslims
The Indonesian government and Greenpeace have teamed up with Islamic organisations to promote plastic waste reduction. Can including religion make environmental campaigns more effective? By Rizki Nugraha and Ayu Purwaningsih
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Exhibition: "Jews, Christians and Muslims" in Berlin
Dispelling myths
The Berlin exhibition "Jews, Christians and Muslims: Scientific Discourse in the Middle Ages 500–1500" shows the circuitous routes by which knowledge made its way around the medieval world while dismantling the theory of a Judeo-Christian Europe. By Gustav Seibt
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Debating secularism and religion in the Islamic world
No threat to faith
Jordanian journalist Mousa Barhouma criticises the recurrent Arab tendency to equate secularism with apostasy and heresy. In his view, Islam does not prescribe any specific form of government