Dialogue of Religions

Topic: Dialogue of Religions

Jewish cemetery in Essaouira, Morocco (photo: Claudia Mende)

The presence of Jewish tradesmen helped shape the character of Essaouira in Morocco. Traces of the portʹs Jewish heritage are evident to this very day. Every year Jews from all over the world make a pilgrimage to Essaouira, keeping memories of the city’s Jewish character alive. By Claudia MendeMore

Interview with M'Hammad Bennaboud: The Muslims and Jews of Tétouan The writer Edmond Amran El Maleh: A Moroccan Jew with Arabo-Berber roots The High Atlas Foundationʹs fruit tree nursery project: Muslim-Jewish goodwill blossoms in Morocco Interreligious dialogue in Morocco: Peaceful co-existence between divine religions

"Salib Sufi" project

Peace in their hearts, love in their minds

"Salib Sufi" (literally: "Sufi Cross") combines Christian chants and prayers with Sufi chants and recitations. Accompanied by instruments from East and West, the band performs a mixture of classical recitation and modern singing, featuring elements of Old Coptic. Eslam Anwar interviews project initiator Salib FawzyMore

The 13th Sufi Soul Festival: The musical path to Allah Sufism and Bollywood: A glittering antidote Sufism in Egypt: Sufis, sheikhs and charlatans

Islamic scholar and philosopher Abdolkarim Soroush (source: YouTube)

Interview with Islamic scholar and philosopher Abdolkarim Soroush

"The Sufis were prophets of pluralism"

Islamic scholar and philosopher Abdolkarim Soroush explains how he draws on the work of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi for guidance in his search for a comprehensive approach to religion that doesn't rely solely on rationality and logic, but also on a sense of the other dimension. Interview by Dara AlaniMore

Combatting violent extremism: Could Sufi Islam be the cure-all?Interview with Mevlevi sheikh Kabir Helminski: Sufism and the power to transform Sufism: Lifting the lid

U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco, Dwight Bush, Sr., the provincial governor, Younes Elbathaoui, the president of the Moroccan Jewish Community of Marrakech-Safi, Jacky Kadoch, and president of the High Atlas Foundation, Yossef Ben-Meir distribute fruit trees to farmers and schoolchildren in 2016 (photo: High Atlas Foundation)

The High Atlas Foundationʹs fruit tree nursery project

Muslim-Jewish goodwill blossoms in Morocco

Since 2012, the Moroccan Jewish community has been helping local farmers by donating land around ancient cemeteries for the planting of fruit tree nurseries. The aim: ending systemic rural poverty by transitioning from grain to crops more suited to local growing conditions. By Yossef Ben-Meir, director of the High Atlas FoundationMore

Official High Atlas Foundation website Waste separation and recycling in Morocco: Morocco's recycling pioneers Women's self-help project "Amal" in Morocco: The single mothers of Marrakesh Snow in Moroccoʹs Atlas mountains: Calling the King to account

Yahya Cholil Staquf, secretary-general of the Nahdlatul Ulama (photo: picture-alliance/AP Photo/C. Creighton)

Interview with Indonesian cleric Yahya Cholil Staquf

"We must want peace"

Yahya Cholil Staquf is a prominent Muslim cleric and secretary-general of the world's largest Islamic organisation, Indonesia's Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), which has 60 million members. After visiting Israel and meeting with PM Netanyahu, he was heavily criticised at home. In this interview, conducted by Rizki Nugraha, he explains that his agenda was to approach peace movements and to strengthen the aspirations for peace within Israeli societyMore

Qantara.de dossier: Israeli-Palestinian Dialogue The Sulha Peace Project: Listening for peace Interview with Israeli author Amos Oz: "I want peace"You can't tear us apart: You can't tear us apart

Islam scholar and journalist Stefan Weidner (photo: private)

Non-fiction: Stefan Weidner on the future of the West

Next-level cosmopolitanism

With this major work, Stefan Weidner presents an impressive historical and philosophical canvas depicting the battle for the West. His aim is to help us bid farewell to the West as we know it and attentively curate its legacy. By Reginald GrunenbergMore

Non-fiction: Pankaj Mishra's "Age of Anger": The embittered majority Right-wing populism in the USA: Trump′s deplorables "Manual for the clash of civilisations" : Islam challenges our ability to make distinctions

Unity in Diversity demonstration in Jakarta on 19 November 2016 (photo: Reuters)

Islam and democracy

What the Arab world can learn from Indonesia

Since 1945, Indonesia has pursued its own state ideology of Pancasila, characterised by religious tolerance and social justice. Following the failure of the Arabellion, it could serve as a role model for democratic re-birth in many Arab states, writes Abhishek MohantyMore

Indonesia as a model of Muslim democracy: Developments, problems and opportunities Liberal Islamic networks in Indonesia: A counter-movement to political Islam Interview with Aditiana Dewi Erdani: Equality as an educational mission

"Welcome" in Persian, written on the window of a refugee reception centre in Tubingen, Germany (photo: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Gollnow)

When East meets West

Debunking the ʹclash of civilisationsʹ myth

Cultural discourse is littered with narratives that build on a number of false dichotomies, the most enduring being the exclusivity of East and West. The clash of civilisations, the superiority of one over the other, is an entrenched myth that not even globalisation and communications technology have managed to shatter. By Muhammed Nafih WafyMore

Samuel Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations": The precarious concept of the "other"Essay by Naika Foroutan: A dialogue of cultures instead of a clash of civilisations "The Clash of Civilisations": Where Huntington Got It Wrong

Raed Saleh, SPD politician in Berlin (photo: Reuters/Axel Schmidt)

Interview with German politician Raed Saleh

Beware of "anti-Semites in Armani suits"

Anti-Semitism is not unique to Arab immigrants. Muslim SPD politician Raed Saleh warns that the current debate could be exploited to stir up inter-religious conflict. Interview by Astrid PrangeMore

Qantara dossier: "Dialogue of Religions"Germany’s anti-Semitism problem: Jew, Israeli, Zionist Muslim anti-Semitism: Pointing the finger

Iranian philosopher Daryush Shayegan (photo: AFP/Anne-Christine Poujoulat)

Obituary: Iranian philosopher Dariush Shayegan

The science of balance

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

French philosopher Henry Corbin: Wherever the spirit guides Philosophy in Iran: Between critical rationalism and Eastern wisdom Obituary: Mohammad-Ali Sepanlou: A master of contemporary Iranian letters

Who decides what constitutes ʹhomelandʹ? Homeland Minister Horst Seehofer thinks he knows (photo: picture-alliance/dpa)

Germanyʹs new Homeland minister

No to religious parity

By stating that Islam is not part of Germany, newly appointed Homeland Minister Horst Seehofer is not only polarising the population. At the same time, he is cementing the fundamentally unequal treatment of religious communities in Germany. Commentary by Farid HafezMore

Merkel hits back at minister who denied Islam's place in Germany Austria's new programme for government: En route to a restrictive policy on Islam?The Islam debate The dual consciousness of Muslims

View of the Kaaba in Mecca (photo: Reuters/Muhammad Hamed)

India′s new hajj policy

Empowering minorities?

While the Hindu-nationalist government led by Narendra Modi has withdrawn the hajj subsidy to Muslims, public grants to members of the Hindu majority making pilgrimages remain in place. By Ronald MeinardusMore

Interview with identity politics expert Mujibur Rehman: "Muslims feel deeply unsafe in present-day India"Muslims in India: Nothing like equal opportunities All-female madrassas: Of women, by women and for women

A.R. Rahman′s ″The Sufi Route″ concert (source: thesufiroute.com)

Sufism and Bollywood

A glittering antidote

Bollywood pop songs are currently fostering an Indian Sufi revival. Adored by millions, the music, spearheaded by A. R. Rahman, promotes a message of love and tolerance in the tradition of the Islamic mystics. By Marian BrehmerMore

Sufi music under attack in Pakistan: As the sea of love recedes Album review: Trygve Seim′s ″Rumi Songs″: Musical wanderlust Qantara dossier: "Mysticism | Sufism"

A woman looks at a map at the exhibition "Jews, Christians and Muslims: Scientific Discourse in the Middle Ages, 500–1500" (photo: dpa)

Exhibition: "Jews, Christians and Muslims" in Berlin

Dispelling myths

The Berlin exhibition "Jews, Christians and Muslims: Scientific Discourse in the Middle Ages 500–1500" shows the circuitous routes by which knowledge made its way around the medieval world while dismantling the theory of a Judeo-Christian Europe. By Gustav SeibtMore

Exhibition website: Jews, Christians and Muslims: Scientific Discourse in the Middle Ages, 500–1500 Photo gallery on the exhibition: Jews, Christians and Muslims: Scientific Discourse in the Middle Ages, 500–1500 Averroes' Enlightenment legacy: An intellectual earthquake

Theologian Karl-Josef Kuschel (source: YouTube)

Non-fiction: Karl-Josef Kuschel′s ″Christmas and the Qu′ran″

When love comes down

″Christmas and the Qu′ran″, Karl-Josef Kuschel′s scholarly examination of the Christmas story in the light of the New Testament and the Koran, digs deep to deliver a message of hope. Lucy James read the bookMore

Interview with Imam Benjamin Idriz: Questioning tradition Non-fiction: Mustafa Akyol′s ″The Islamic Jesus″: The heart of the matter Christianity and Islam in dialogue: Forget ″them and us″!

Symbolic image of church and mosque (photo: AP)

″Remembered Future″ interfaith project

Using religion to stop religious wars

In Germany, refugees from Syria, Iraq and Yemen may end up living next door to compatriots who were on the other side in the civil war. How can those who have fled their homeland also leave its conflicts behind them? Susanne Kaiser presents the project "Remembered Future"More

Official "Remembered Future" project Abduction in Syria of Paolo Dall'Oglio: A voice of peace in a wilderness of violence Qantara dossier: "Dialogue of religions"

Topic: Dialogue of Religions

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