Author: Sonja Zekri

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Bayterek Tower is visible in central Astana as a soldier stands guard outside the presidential palace in Astana, Kazakhstan, 1 July, 2013 (photo by LEON NEAL / POOL / AFP)

Kazakhstan

Tyrants of the steppe

Over 160 Kazakhs die as President Tomayev orders his security forces to "shoot to kill without warning". So what kind of country are we actually talking about? By Sonja ZekriMore

Protests in Kazakhstan: Putin's nightmare?Kazakhstan says nearly 8,000 arrested after week of deadly unrestOpinion: Kazakhstan unrest will curtail Moscow's aggressionIslamic revival in Kazakhstan: A pragmatic Islam
In "Homeland", starring actress Claire Danes, Shia Hezbollah are allied with the Sunni al-Qaida through their mutual hatred of the U.S. (photo: Sifeddine Elamine /Imago)

The West and Islam 20 years after 9/11

Paranoia, now

A deluge of books, movies, series and cover stories: ever since the events of 9/11, the West has seemed almost manically preoccupied with Islam. Yet this has rarely led to deeper understanding. Instead, what has been reinforced is the concept of Islam as fate. By Sonja ZekriMore

Germany and the discussion surrounding "Political Islam": Berlin 2021 is not Tehran 1979Islam the bogeyman: Tarred with the same brushRepercussions of 9/11: The West and the Islamic world – mutually radicalised?Pankaj Mishra's "Age of Anger": The embittered majorityThe Muslim world and the West: Europe is not under threat
Ayaan Hirsi Ali (photo: Mike Myers/Penguin Random House/dpa/picture-alliance)

Ayaan Hirsi Ali's "Prey"

Condemning Islam, glorifying the West

Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s new book "Prey" claims to examine how Muslim immigration threatens the rights of Western women. Indeed the injustices women face only seem to matter to her when Muslims are involved, writes Sonja ZekriMore

Ayaan Hirsi Ali's controversial theories on Islam: Hailed as a "female Luther"Islamophobia: Criticism of religion? Blatant racism!Germanyʹs Islam debate: The need to meet Islam critics head onAyaan Hirsi Ali: The only real Muslim
Hijab-wearing law student stands in Bavaria's Administrative Court. The young woman had appealed against the fact that she was not allowed to wear a headscarf during her legal traineeship in the courtroom (photo: dpa/picture-alliance)

Germany's headscarf ruling

The things headscarves reveal

The judges at Germany's Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe are wrong to treat the hijab as a purely "religious symbol". The act of a woman demonstratively covering her head is not a gesture of subjugation, but of rebellion. A commentary by Sonja ZekriMore

Book review: Emel Zeynelabidin's "You grow up only in this life": The headscarf is not a gauge of devoutnessInterview with Dina El Omari on feminism and Islam: "Muslim women need space for critical self-reflection"Qantara dossier: The headscarf controversy
Cover of the German translation of the novel "Beer in the Snooker Club" by Waguih Ghali (source: C.H. Beck)

Book review: Waguih Ghali's "Beer in the Snooker Club"

The cruel disillusionment of an entire generation

The novel "Beer in the Snooker Club" by the Egyptian author Waguih Ghali was first published in London in the mid-1960s. It was rediscovered during the Arab Spring. A German translation has recently been published. Sonja Zekri read the bookMore

Alaa Al Aswany′s novel ″The Automobile Club of Egypt″: Microcosm of tyrannyRemembering Naguib Mahfouz: "A wave of light on an infinite ocean of darkness"Interview with the Egyptian author Alaa Al Aswany: "I write to defend democracy"Egyptian historian Khaled Fahmy on the Six-Day War: The Arabs' Groundhog Day
Man wearing a kippah takes part in an anti-Semitism demonstration in Berlin (photo: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Hitija)

Germany’s anti-Semitism problem

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Jew, Israeli, Zionist

The political scientist David Ranan doubts that anti-Semitism is more pervasive among Muslims than non-Muslims. Currently, however, this thesis is being perverted and used to serve questionable political ends. By Sonja ZekriMore

Germany appoints an anti-Semitism commissioner: Moving in the right directionMuslim anti-Semitism: Pointing the fingerAnti-Semitism debate in Germany: Time for objectivityTargeting the Muslim population: Presumed guilty
Der ägyptische Historiker Khaled Fahmy; Quelle: khaledfahmy.org

Egyptian historian Khaled Fahmy on the Six-Day War

The Arabs′ Groundhog Day

In interview with Sonja Zekri, Harvard-based Egyptian historian Khaled Fahmy describes the Arab defeat at the hands of Israel in the year 1967 as triggering the rise of IslamismMore

Khaled Fahmy's website: "Reflections on Egypt, the Middle East, and history"Interview with the Egyptian historian Khaled Fahmy: ''The army lacks a vision for the future''The decline of humanism in the Arab world: With an iron fistAfter the Arab revolutions: Islamic modernity
A woman wearing a headscarf standing in front of a camera (photo: DW)

Journalism from the Middle East

Tall Tales from the Desert

A blogging Syrian lesbian, Libyan soldiers in a Viagra-fuelled frenzy, Tunisian women on a sexual Jihad: The blend of sex, Islam and war is failsafe bait for western media, which often fall for propaganda from the Middle East. Not all of the stories are hoaxes, but many of them are. By Sonja Zekri in CairoMore

Why We Should Pay More Attention to Arab MediaThe Arab Spring and the Media: Distorted ImagesQantara.de Dossier: Media in the Arab World
Protests against Egypt's president Morsi in Alexandria (photo: Reuters)

Political Upheaval in Egypt

A Clear Message for the Brotherhood

In this commentary, Sonja Zekri writes that while it is impossible to say who will be ruling Egypt at the end of the week, it is quite possible to say with certainty that the Muslim Brotherhood, which only a year ago seemed unbeatable, has been a spectacular failure in powerMore

The Muslim Brotherhood and Women's Rights in Egypt: A Project of Patriarchal ExtremismAmmar Ali Hassan: ''The Egyptian Constitution Is a Catastrophe''Interview with Hassan Abu Haniyya: The Muslim Brothers' Rigid Structures