The legacy of 9/11
Why the world needs to re-think its war on terror
Military parade attack in Ahwaz, Iran
The Islamic Republic reels
Fighting Western reductionist perceptions
Arab, Muslim – whatʹs the difference?
The HAFʹs fruit tree nursery project
Muslim-Jewish goodwill blossoms in Morocco

The legacy of 9/11

Why the world needs to re-think its war on terror

Seventeen years have passed since 9/11, which marked a turning point in relations between the West and the Islamic world. Jordanian Islamism expert, Hassan Abu Haniyya, offers Ouifaq Benkiran the following observations about the most important repercussions of the war on terrorRead more

The Iraq War fifteen years on: "America destroyed my country"Europe's treatment of IS returnees: Eroding the constitutional statePolitical prospects after the Arab Spring: At a crossroadsInterview with Hassan Abu Haniyya: The Muslim Brothers' rigid structures

Military parade attack in Ahwaz, Iran

The Islamic Republic reels

Following this weekendʹs attack on a military parade in the southern Iranian city of Ahwaz, fears that the United States, Saudi Arabia and others may seek to destabilise the country by instigating ethnic unrest are rife, writes James M. Dorsey, raising the likelihood of a clampdown against opposition groups at home and abroadRead more

U.S. sanctions against the Islamic Republic: Playing poker with Iran Rescuing the nuclear deal with Iran: Europe should negotiate without the U.S.U.S. de-certifies Iran nuclear deal: Madmen at the helmSaudi-Iranian conflict: Sleepwalking into war

Fighting Western reductionist perceptions

Arab, Muslim – whatʹs the difference?

Writer and activist Myra Al-Rahim examines the nature of her own Arab identity, the prejudices of her American peers and why religion is not the last wordRead more

The dictators' scourge: Of 'heresy' and humanistsDebating secularism and religion in the Islamic world: No threat to faithAtheism in Saudi Arabia: God's own country

The High Atlas Foundationʹs fruit tree nursery project

1

Muslim-Jewish goodwill blossoms in Morocco

Since 2012, the Moroccan Jewish community has been helping local farmers by donating land around ancient cemeteries for the planting of fruit tree nurseries. The aim: ending systemic rural poverty by transitioning from grain to crops more suited to local growing conditions. By Yossef Ben-Meir, director of the High Atlas FoundationRead more

Official High Atlas Foundation websiteWaste separation and recycling in Morocco: Morocco's recycling pioneersWomen's self-help project "Amal" in Morocco: The single mothers of MarrakeshSnow in Moroccoʹs Atlas mountains: Calling the King to account

Politics

Attack of the World Trade Center, 11 September 2001 (photo: picture-alliance/AP Photo/C. Soi Cheung)

The legacy of 9/11

Why the world needs to re-think its war on terror

Seventeen years have passed since 9/11, which marked a turning point in relations between the West and the Islamic world. Jordanian Islamism expert, Hassan Abu Haniyya, offers Ouifaq Benkiran the following observations about the most important repercussions of the war on terrorMore

The Iraq War fifteen years on: "America destroyed my country"Europe's treatment of IS returnees: Eroding the constitutional statePolitical prospects after the Arab Spring: At a crossroadsInterview with Hassan Abu Haniyya: The Muslim Brothers' rigid structures
Caskets of those who died in a terror attack on a military parade in Iran are displayed in Ahvaz, Iran, 24 September 2018 (photo: picture-alliance/AP Photo/E. Noroozi)

Military parade attack in Ahwaz, Iran

The Islamic Republic reels

Following this weekendʹs attack on a military parade in the southern Iranian city of Ahwaz, fears that the United States, Saudi Arabia and others may seek to destabilise the country by instigating ethnic unrest are rife, writes James M. Dorsey, raising the likelihood of a clampdown against opposition groups at home and abroadMore

U.S. sanctions against the Islamic Republic: Playing poker with Iran Rescuing the nuclear deal with Iran: Europe should negotiate without the U.S.U.S. de-certifies Iran nuclear deal: Madmen at the helmSaudi-Iranian conflict: Sleepwalking into war
Young people protest against the government in the southern Iraqi city of Basra (photo: AP/picture-alliance)

From Basra to Baghdad

Young Iraqis rise up for a life worth living

Major rallies against the nation's political elite have been raging in Iraq for months, so far resulting in 15 deaths and 120 injuries. Birgit Svensson reports from Basra, where the protests first flared up and quickly spread through the entire southern half of the country to BaghdadMore

A new quality of civil unrest: Is Iraq steering towards post-sectarianism?Iraqʹs political future: Entering a new eraThe Iraq War fifteen years on: "America destroyed my country"
Art demonstrates against right-wing agitation and violence: Brandenburg artist Rainer Opolkaʹs sculpture of a bronze wolf giving the Hitler salute, positioned in front of the Karl Marx Monument in Chemnitz (photo: dpa/picture-alliance)

Islamophobia and xenophobia

The West’s racism problem

The mob in Chemnitz had a lot in common with the neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan followers and other extremists who caused mayhem a year ago in Charlottesville, Virginia, writes Ian BurumaMore

More humanity post-Chemnitz: #WirSindMehr: "Hostility is the failure of identity"Islamophobia: Criticism of religion? Blatant racism!Resurgence in European populism: Itʹs an ill wind
more Politics »

Society

Writer and activist Myra al-Rahim (photo: Myra al-Rahim)

Fighting Western reductionist perceptions

Arab, Muslim – whatʹs the difference?

Writer and activist Myra Al-Rahim examines the nature of her own Arab identity, the prejudices of her American peers and why religion is not the last wordMore

The dictators' scourge: Of 'heresy' and humanistsDebating secularism and religion in the Islamic world: No threat to faithAtheism in Saudi Arabia: God's own country
U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco, Dwight Bush, Sr., the provincial governor, Younes Elbathaoui, the president of the Moroccan Jewish Community of Marrakech-Safi, Jacky Kadoch, and president of the High Atlas Foundation, Yossef Ben-Meir distribute fruit trees to farmers and schoolchildren in 2016 (photo: High Atlas Foundation)

The High Atlas Foundationʹs fruit tree nursery project

1

Muslim-Jewish goodwill blossoms in Morocco

Since 2012, the Moroccan Jewish community has been helping local farmers by donating land around ancient cemeteries for the planting of fruit tree nurseries. The aim: ending systemic rural poverty by transitioning from grain to crops more suited to local growing conditions. By Yossef Ben-Meir, director of the High Atlas FoundationMore

Official High Atlas Foundation websiteWaste separation and recycling in Morocco: Morocco's recycling pioneersWomen's self-help project "Amal" in Morocco: The single mothers of MarrakeshSnow in Moroccoʹs Atlas mountains: Calling the King to account
Moroccan women demonstrate against rampant youth unemployment in front of the parliament in Rabat (photo: Asmae Boukhems)

Youth unemployment in the Arab world

MENA's generation jobless

A lack of jobs and bleak social prospects for young people in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are undermining the political stability of what is already a deeply troubled region. The problem cannot be solved by simply modernising education and labour markets. By Nassir DjafariMore

Young people and protests in the Arab world: So shall you reapCorruption in the Arab world: Bought loyaltiesCritical reflections on the Arab revolutions: Profiteers from authoritarian decay
Women's self-help project "Amal" in Marrakesh (photo: amalnonprofit.org)

Women's self-help project "Amal" in Morocco

The single mothers of Marrakesh

Single mothers in Morocco still experience social discrimination today. They upset the traditional image of the nuclear family, although that has long since become outdated. The "Amal" project in Marrakesh supports theses mothers, who are often among the poorest members of society. By Claudia MendeMore

"Amal" self-help project websiteIslamic inheritance law in Morocco and Tunisia: Feminist Asma Lamrabet under pressureQantara dossier: Cuisine
more Society »

Culture

Hoda Marmar, administrator of Beirutʹs Bookoholics (photo: Hoda Marmar)

Profile: Hoda Marmar, administrator of Beirutʹs Bookoholics

Truly, madly, deeply into books

Hoda Marmar is the administrator of the popular bilingual "Bookoholics" group in Beirut, which recently celebrated its sixth anniversary and which has, in those six years, discussed 125 books in Arabic and English. By Marcia Lynx QualeyMore

Arab teens and Young Adult literature: The new waveKurdistan′s Book Cafe: In praise of female entrepreneursArabic literature as a cultural asset: Uncharted watersThe Arab world: (Not) an unlimited book market?
"Two Niles to Sing a Melody: The Violins & Synths of Sudan" CD cover and booklet (released by Ostinato Records)

Album review: "Two Niles to Sing a Melody"

The strings and synths of Sudan

Ostinato Recordsʹ latest release, "Two Niles to Sing a Melody", is not only a collection of sixteen songs from the peak period of the country’s popular music era, the 1970s, it also contains fascinating first-hand accounts from a variety of musicians who survived the purges during the subsequent clampdown on popular culture. By Richard MarcusMore

Album review: Lost Somali tapes: ″Sweet as broken dates″Album review: "Jinja" by The Nile Project: Go with the flowRap music from the Sudan: Emmnuel Jal's vision of peace
Iraqi youth and elders browse a book display at a festival titled "I am Iraqi.. I read" at a park in Mosul on Saturday in the first event of its kind after the city was retaken from IS militants (source: Rudaw English; Twitter)

Iraq post-IS

Mosulʹs cultural comeback

Music is back in Mosul, as are books and paintings. With Islamic State gone, locals are enjoying their newfound freedom and embracing culture. Will it last? Judit Neurink reports from MosulMore

Baghdad City of Peace Carnival: Grassroots, green shootsKurdistan′s Book Cafe: In praise of female entrepreneursAl Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad
Amine Ennaji in a still from "Kilikis, Town of Owls" (written and directed by Alaoui Lamharzi Azlarabe)

Film review: "Kilikis, the town of owls"

The power of reflected suffering

Directed by Azalarabe Alaoui, the Moroccan film "Kilikis, the town of owls", though not a documentary, is based on the notorious Tazmamarat prison, where political opponents were incarcerated during the reign of the late King Hassan II. Time to face up to the past? By Ismail AzzamMore

Nabil Ayouch's film ''God's Horses'': Ostracised and forgottenAlgerian cinema: Young, rebellious and full of beansSyrian detainee No. 72
more Culture »

In brief

More

Facebook

Most Recent Photo Essay

Umar is an indigenous former Protestant pastor who converted to Islam in the late 1990s and now acts as a mediator between local Christians and Muslims in San Christobal de las Casas, Chiapas. "Our religion is monotheistic," he said. "But we are not practicing a holy cult here"

The indigenous Muslims of Chiapas, Mexico

A trip to the indigenous Mayan heartland of Mexico shows how vital the Muslim community is in this predominantly Roman Catholic country. The southern state of Chiapas is home to hundreds of predominantly indigenous Tzotzil men and women, many of whom have converted to Islam from Catholic or other Christian denominations. By Edgard Garrido

Searching for the missing in Yemen

This Amnesty report details how scores of men have been subjected to enforced disappearance after being arbitrarily arrested and detained by United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemeni forces operating outside the command of their own government. Many have been tortured, with some feared to have died in custody.More

Tolerance. Understanding. Coexistence: Oman's message of Islam

Oman's touring exhibition: ‘Tolerance, Understanding and Coexistence – Oman‘s Message of Islam’

"The aim of exchange is to reflect on the foundations of our thinking, a common morality and a common sense of justice," says Sheikh Abdullah al-Salimi, Omanʹs minister of religious affairs. "Only when we are aware of these similarities, while accepting cultural differences, will we and our children enjoy a peaceful future."More

Remembering the Iranian scholar Ehsan Yarshater

Iranian scholar Ehsan Yarshater, deceased (photo: anamnews)

Ehsan Yarshater, an eminent Iranian historian who founded and edited the Encyclopedia Iranica, a magnum opus of Iranian history and culture that helped transform the modern understanding of Persian civilization, died on 2 September in Fresno, California. He was 98.More

How Europe is making its migration problem worse

Nigerian migrant waits his turn to leave the Golfo Azzurro rescue vessel as it arrives at the port of Pozzallo, south of Sicily, Italy, with hundreds of migrants aboard, rescued by members of Proactive Open Arms NGO, on 17 June 2017 (photo picture alliance/AP Photo/E. Morenatti)

Ever since the apex of the refugee crisis, European leaders have been working in concert to prevent a new upsurge in arrivals. Whether their strategy of helping would-be migrants before they ever set out for Europe is the answer remains to be seen.More

Integration in Germany: The master barber of Berlin

A Palestinian barber puts his stamp on Berlin by transforming a rundown American school bus into a stylish barbershop on wheels. In this Al-Jazeera reportage, he reveals his recipe for real integration in Germany.More

Iranian Vahid Jalilvand's social drama in Oscar nomination race

A seemingly minor traffic collision has far-reaching consequences in this story of a well-meaning medical examiner haunted by the death of a child he might have prevented. As the story unfolds, his fate becomes inextricably bound up with that of the grieving family. In only his second feature, Jalilvand coaxes brilliantly understated performances from a superb cast for this compelling, considered meditation on guilt and grief.More

DW documentary: Jewish life in Baghdad until the 1950s

Until the 1950s, Baghdad’s vibrant Jewish community played a large role in the cultural and social life of the city. But then anti-Semitic violence forced almost all Jews to flee Iraq. To date little has been told about Jewish life in Baghdad. This very personal documentary follows the family history of a Jewish Iraqi who is now returning to buy a house in Iraq.More