Mashriq
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COVID-19 and Arab economies
Facing the Middle East's perfect – corona-induced – storm
The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a public-health emergency and a steep reduction in oil prices, which represents a perfect storm for the Middle East, where everything from salaries to subsidies are dependent on oil revenues. By Bassem Awadallah and Adeel Malik
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Women's rights in the Islamic world
Arab Christian women take a stand against church paternalism
Churches in the Middle East – Coptic, Eastern Orthodox, Maronite – typically share the conservative values of their Islamic surroundings. Yet the resistance of Arab Christian women to church paternalism is growing. Claudia Mende reports
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Muslims and the COVID-19 pandemic
No pilgrims in times of coronavirus?
Saudi Arabia has called on Muslims across the world to put their hajj preparations on hold for the time being. The corona pandemic is impacting one of the central pillars of Islamic life. But how can Saudi Arabia’s cancellation of the hajj be justified theologically? By Lena-Maria Moeller and Serdar Kurnaz
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COVID-19 pandemic
Ramadan during coronavirus – with a virtual community
Ramadan begins this week even as the coronavirus pandemic up-ends life around the world. The crisis is forcing Muslims to re-think traditions and find new approaches to one of Islam's most important religious rituals. By Siham Ouchtou and Kersten Knipp
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COVID-19 across the Islamic world
Coronavirus: Practicing Islam amid pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted social and economic life across the globe. But in the Middle East, authorities have coupled religious edicts with public health advice to curb the outbreak and guide the faithful.
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COVID-19 pandemic
The world’s religions and coronavirus
As COVID-19 sweeps across the globe, it is forcing religions to adapt and take action to prevent infection. But experts warn against using the crisis to fuel conspiracy theories. Christoph Strack reports
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Coronavirus in the Middle East: Lock down or play down?
Countries such as Kuwait and Israel have instituted virtual lockdowns in the face of COVID-19, while religious gatherings have been limited at a time of year ripe with ritual. Others have been slower to act. By Tom Allinson
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Coronavirus in the Islamic world
The challenges of COVID-19
As the global economy reels and everyday life grinds to a standstill, we take a look at the spread of coronavirus across the Middle East and the wider Muslim world – and the containment measures being put in place
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Press freedom under attack
The Arab world's new wave of media repression
Since the 2011 uprisings, authoritarian rulers in the Arab world have worked out how to manipulate and instrumentalise the media to their own ends, nipping any new democratic quake in the bud. By Lydia Khalil
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Human rights in the Islamic world
Battle cry "blasphemy"
Many predominantly Muslim countries have penal laws against "blasphemy", "defamation of religion" and "apostasy". In practice they serve as highly effective weapons to settle personal animosities, family vendettas and land disputes. By Thomas Krapf
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Protests in the Middle East
No tyranny without Egypt
Insults directed against Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi have been particularly prominent among the hundreds of chants by Arab protestors in Algeria, Sudan, Iraq and Lebanon during the recent months of demonstrations. The question is, why? By Sherif Mohyeldeen and Noha Khaled
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The maqamas of Ibn Naqiya in German translation
The picaresque poet from Baghdad
The "maqama", a classical Arabic form of prose-poetry, is still almost unknown in Germany – as is the name of the 11th-century Baghdad poet Ibn Naqiya. A new translation has the potential to change all that. By Gerrit Wustmann