Saudi Arabia
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Islamic art
Iconoclasm: the counter-narrative
Although received wisdom would have us believe otherwise, Islam is not actually an anti-iconic religion. Indeed, down through the ages, it has always produced images. Today, artistic creativity needs to resist the appalling flood of visual information being produced by the jihadists. By Asiem el Difraoui and Antonia Blau
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Saudi Arabia′s hip-hop scene
Rapping the Kingdom
Saudi Arabia′s hip-hop scene is booming. Except that the musicians rarely get to perform live. A visit to Jeddah, the rap capital of the conservative Gulf state. By Jannis Hagmann
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Jihadism
Islamic State's perversion of "Hijra"
"Hijra" – originally the peaceful migration of Muslims to countries where they would be spared persecution – has been hijacked by the militants. Now it is serving to radicalise and recruit Muslims around the globe. By Rebecca Gould
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Gertrude Bell
Queen of the desert
Gertrude Bell was many things: an archaeologist, an intelligence officer and a great British eccentric. Above all, however, writes Iris Mostegel, she was a key figure in the Middle East during the First World War and the woman who shaped modern-day Iraq
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Book review: "Where Pigeons Don't Fly" by Yousef Al-Mohaimeed
Haunted by a suffocating society
Yousef Al-Mohaimeed's "Where Pigeons Don't Fly" begins with the melancholic self-imposed exile of a young Saudi man in a small UK town. Originally published in 2009 in Arabic, the novel became a bestseller and was translated to English by Robin Moger last year. While Al-Mohaimeed's short stories and novels are mostly set in Saudi Arabia, have garnered acclaim and prizes, and been translated into several languages, this controversial author's work has had to be published outside the kingdom due to censorship. By Nahrain Al-Mousawi
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Book review: "The Bamboo Stalk" by Saud Alsanousi
A life uprooted and replanted
The world is familiar with reports about the exploitation of migrant labourers in the Gulf region. In 2013, Saud Alsanousi's book "The Bamboo Stalk", which focuses on the experiences of a young man in Kuwait who is half Kuwaiti, half Filipino, won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction. This novel shines a light on the discrimination and rejection experienced by so many migrants in this region. Nahrain Al-Mousawi read the book
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Interview with Wilfried Buchta on the rise of IS and the fall of Iraq
"Iraq is irreversibly split"
In his new book, "Terror vor Europas Toren" (Terror at the Gates of Europe), Wilfried Buchta analyses the reasons for the rise of the jihadist militia of the self-styled "Islamic State" and the disintegration of the Iraqi state. Ulrich von Schwerin spoke to Buchta, a scholar of Islam, who worked as a UN analyst in Baghdad for many years about the future of the nation
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Strategies for combating fundamentalist ideologies
Reviving Islam's enlightenment
In 1877, the great French novelist Victor Hugo wrote, "Invading armies can be resisted; invading ideas cannot be." Nowadays, the power of ideas, for good or for evil, is something we need to take into account, particularly in contemplating Islamic radicalism. By Daniel Chirot and Scott L. Montgomery
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The IS manifesto for women
Baiting the jihadi brides
It is not only men who are joining the ranks of "Islamic State", women are too. Many are being encouraged to do so by the manifesto of the IS women's brigade al-Khansaa, which has been translated into English and German. Primarily aimed at Muslim women with limited education, the IS ideal is not very far removed from role models that prevailed in conservative social strata in the West until well into the twentieth century. By Stefan Weidner
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After the nuclear agreement with Iran
Where to from here?
The nuclear deal with Iran is being celebrated both in the Middle East and in the West. It has, however, many critics too. Whether the hotly anticipated agreement will have a positive or a negative effect on the region, depends on political dynamics within Iran, says Volker Perthes, who outlines two possible scenarios
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Nuclear agreement with Iran
A major historic breakthrough
The US and Iran have overcome their enmity. This opens the door to the settlement of a number of conflicts in the Middle East. A commentary by Andreas Zumach
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Saudi Arabia's nuclear plans and Iran
Is a nuclear arms race looming in the Gulf?
At the recent meeting with US President Barack Obama in Camp David, Saudi Arabia threatened to make use of all the same technology granted to Iran in the emerging nuclear deal with the West. Is this the start of the long-feared nuclear arms race in the Gulf region? Or is it an attempt to force the US to take a tougher stance on Iran? By Ulrich von Schwerin