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Battles in Yemen
Opening Pandora's Box in Yemen
As the situation deteriorates almost by the hour in Yemen, the sheer uncertainty of what happens next could trigger a regional conflict, writes Adam Baron of the European Council on Foreign Relations.
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Islam and religious freedom
Coercion leads to hypocrisy
Those who search the Koran for arguments in favour of intolerance and war will find what they are looking for – if they simply take the words literally and disregard their historical context. The Koran should not be read as a book, but as a discourse, says Halis Albayrak, head of the Institute for Koran Exegesis at the Islamic-Theological Faculty of the University of Ankara
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Relations between Saudi Arabia and Egypt
Conditional support
Relations between the Gulf States and Egypt are undergoing readjustment. Saudi Arabia will continue to support Egypt, but the conditions for this support have changed. By Matthias Sailer
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Sunni-Shia conflict
The enemy of my enemy
Anyone who thinks that the Sunnis in Tikrit and Mosul will welcome the opponents of Islamic State with open arms as liberators is mistaken. They fear the Shia militias even more than they do IS. This shows how the inner-Islamic religious war has polarised Iraqi society. By Stefan Buchen
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Iran's foreign policy
All options are open
Is Iran part of the problem or part of the solution to the conflicts in the Near and Middle East? There are actually good arguments for both points of view. By Bahman Nirumand
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Manifesto published by Muslim intellectuals
For Islam and democracy
Muslim intellectuals have called on their fellow believers to indentify the failures of Muslim societies and develop an Islam for the twenty-first century. Loay Mudhoon believes that Europe should unreservedly support this effort
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Political crisis in Yemen
Teetering on the brink
Yemen is no stranger to crisis. Exposed to a regional proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia, plagued by an entrenched al-Qaida affiliate and divided by tribal disputes and a secession movement, the country has become a poster child for everything that can go wrong in the Arab world. By Barak Barfi
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"Women of the Islamic State"
Prisoners of a barbaric system
Marriage at age nine is permitted, working is not; make-up is evil. A new treatise written by female supporters of IS sheds light on the image and role of women in the area controlled by Islamic State. By Prof Susanne Schroeter
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Saudi Arabia and Iran after the death of King Abdullah
No prospect of rapprochement
The rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran has been known to reach explosive heights on occasion. Deadly proxy conflicts are currently raging in a number of flash points in the Middle East. By Adnan Tabatabai
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The West's strategy in the Middle East
Hollow alliance
The islands of stability in the Arab-Islamic world are shrinking. In the face of war and chaos, the West continues to cling to its new-old allies: the "moderate Sunni regimes". The aim of this alliance, which purportedly shares goals and ideals, is that "good Islam" will conquer "bad Islam" with Western support. By Stefan Buchen
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The crisis in Yemen
The primacy of stability over real change
Since 22 January, Yemen has been mired in an almost unresolvable crisis of government. After a power struggle that lasted several days, President Hadi stepped down along with Prime Minister Bahah and his whole cabinet. Marie-Christine Heinze takes a closer look at the current crisis and its wider implications
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On Raif Badawi, Charlie Hebdo and non-violent Islamism
"We are all in this together, like it or not"
The shocking events of recent weeks – from the attacks in Paris, the flogging of Raif Badawi, and massacres in Nigeria and Pakistan – are all connected, writes Elham Manea, and they all deserve our equal and unreserved outrage and attention