Qantara.de - Dialog mit der islamischen Welt

At a time when we have almost become accustomed to the poetry of witness, recounting events or a poet's reaction to them, the latest anthology by acclaimed Palestinian-American poet and physician Fady Joudah cuts deeper, with appropriately surgical precision, to reveal connections beneath the surface of things. By Marcia Lynx QualeyMore

Many people now only associate Syria with war. In an attempt to counteract these associations, photographer Lutz Jakel and journalist Lamya Kaddor have put together a book of photography from pre-war Syria. By Marian BrehmerMore

On 22 March 2018, Dariush Shayegan, one of the Islamic world's foremost philosophers, died at the age of 83 in Tehran. Without ever pinning his colours to any one religious mast, Shayegan sought out the commonalities between Islamic, Indian and Far Eastern spirituality and Western philosophy. By Stefan WeidnerMore

You would be forgiven for failing to derive anything positive from the title of Maya Youssef's latest album, ″Syrian Dreams″. After all, now in the seventh year of a vicious conflict, isn′t Syria more the stuff of nightmares? Youssef pushes back against the prevailing image, providing a glimmer of hope. Review by Richard MarcusMore

The German electronic music band Schiller is famous worldwide. Its recent visit to Tehran was without doubt one of the concert highlights of post-revolutionary Iran – even though some audience members began to show signs of fatigue halfway through the concert. By Shahram AhadiMore

News from the Middle East and North Africa often conveys the image of a troubled region characterised by political and economic volatility. But there are many more facets to life in this region than this image suggests, as shown by the projects the Goethe-Institut is running in the region. By Christina BünsMore

Koert Debeuf, director of The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy posits that it is high time the West revised the exclusionary narrative of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment and restored the historical truth to its rightful placeMore