Egypt

Country: Egypt

Palestinian studies the Koran in Khan Younis (photo: dpa/picture-alliance)

Islamic family law reform – a question of interpretation

Equality in divorce, a ban on polygamy: reformers of Islamic family law have a clear agenda. They are exploiting the ambiguity of traditional jurisprudence. By Joseph CroitoruMore

Marriage, divorce and inheritance: Who should reform Egypt's personal status law, and how?Women's rights in Morocco: Gender equality on paper only Book review: Zahra Ali's "Islamic Feminisms": Female emancipation based on the spirit of Sharia

Journalists demand freedom of the press in Cairo in 2016; "Journalism is not a crime" (photo: picture-alliance/ZUMAPRESS.com/A. Sayed)

Egypt's Mada Masr – "We're not going to shut up"

Raids on Egypt's last independent news outlet, Mada Masr, have left its staff shaken but defiant. Reporters are working under "increasingly hostile" circumstances in Cairo, reveals journalist Sharif Abdel Kouddous in interview with Diana HodaliMore

Official Mada Masr website Egypt police free journalists held in raid on news outlet Interview with Lina Attalah: "The media are PR machines of the military"

Lebanese author Amin Maalouf (photo: Imago Images/IPA/N. Zonna)

Interview with Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf

Petrodollars proved stronger in the Middle East than cultural tradition

Decades of oil exports have completely destabilised culture and politics in the Middle East. Speaking with Lena Bopp, the renowned writer Amin Maalouf says that the distorted political discourse in the Arab world is now impacting on the WestMore

Amin Maalouf: "The dissolution of world orders": The psychology of large collectives Amin Maalouf: A tree needs roots; a human being doesn't Oil and development in the Middle East: A two-edged sword

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, grand imam of al-Azhar University (photo: picture-alliance/AP Photo/N. El-Mofty)

Marriage, divorce and inheritance

Who should reform Egypt's personal status law, and how?

"Personal status" is a modern category of Middle Eastern law grounded in Islamic religious teaching. Legislative authorities dip into centuries of religious scholarship to decide which interpretations of Sharia will be enforced by the state. Understandably, how it is done is as important as who does it. By Nathan J. BrownMore

President Sisi and Al-Azhar: Wresting religious authority from the Grand Imam Islam, Al-Azhar and the terrorists′ ideology: If the cap fits Interview with Egyptian activist Nawal El Saadawi: "We are a hundred years behind"

Moroccan political scientist Hassan Aourid (photo: private)

Interview with the Moroccan thinker Hassan Aourid

Democracy cannot be stopped

Hassan Aourid is one of the most important political and intellectual figures in Morocco. In interview with Ismail Azzam for Qantara, Aourid outlines his vision of the decline of political Islam and the future of democracy and human rights in the MaghrebMore

Indigenous rights in the Maghreb: An uphill struggle for Tunisiaʹs Amazigh Morocco′s Amazigh: The long road to recognition Unrest in the Arab world: The genie is out of the bottle

Journalist, blogger and human rights activist Esraa Abdel-Fattah (photo: Getty Images/AFP)

Human rights in Egypt

Free Esraa Abdel-Fattah!

More than 4,300 people have been arrested in Egypt amid anti-government protests. One of them is Esraa Abdel-Fattah. Human rights groups and even a U.S. diplomat are calling for her release. By Sarah SalamaMore

Egypt arrests blogger and journalist Esraa Abdel Fattah Egypt's presidential election: The defamation game Human rights under Sisi: Egypt's open-air prison

Symbolic image of a genie and a bottle (photo: Imago)

Unrest in the Arab world

The genie is out of the bottle

The Arab world is one gigantic pressure cooker. For the most part the lid of repression is on, but it is boiling over with increasing frequency. Whether in Lebanon, Iraq or in Algeria, where people are rising up against political despotism and corruption. By Karim El-GawharyMore

Middle East: Lebanon's protesters are here to stay Democracy movements in the Arab world: Look to Sudan, Algeria!Arab response to Trump's Jerusalem decision: Walking a fine line

Journalist and author Charlotte Wiedemann (photo: DW)

Charlotte Wiedemann: "Now is the time for utopias"

The end of white dominance

In her latest book – "Der lange Abschied von der weissen Dominanz" – recently published in German, journalist Charlotte Wiedemann describes the upheaval in our changing, multi-polar world with startling clarity. By Christopher ReschMore

Western news coverage: The white perspective Germanyʹs Islam debate: The need to meet Islam critics head on Interview with Islamic scholar Stefan Weidner: Thinking outside the Western box

Symbolic image of anti-Muslim racism (photo: Imago/P. Endig)

An enduring stereotype

The West's gleeful obsession with the 'oppressed Arab woman'

The stereotype of the oppressed Arab woman continues to dominate public discourse throughout Europe. Not only is this skewed image altering the perception of changing notions of family and roles within the Arab world, it is also an expression of our own cultural insecurity, writes Claudia MendeMore

Women′s rights in the Arab world: The key to change Women in Turkey: The headscarf is slipping Gender equality in the Middle East: To the benefit of all

Caricature of President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi by Celine Rubbelke (source: DW)

Protests in Egypt

Sisi, the survivor?

The protests in Egypt against Sisi’s regime have revealed not only his decline in popularity, but also the fragile nature of the military regime. The latter launched a hysterical campaign of arrests, turning the streets and main squares into military barracks in order to prevent mass anti-Sisi demonstrations. Analysis by the Egyptian researcher Taqadum al-KhatibMore

Protests in Egypt: Sisi's social media nightmare Eight years after the Arabellion: The Egyptian opposition's seven deadly sins Interview with Nawal El Saadawi: "They don't want any really courageous people!"

First edition of the West-Eastern Divan (photo: Goethe Museum in Dusseldorf

Goethe anniversary

Orient and Occident

Two hundred years of the "West-Eastern Divan": "North and West and South shatter, thrones burst and empires tremble" – why Islam is part of German literature. By Heinrich DeteringMore

Goethe and the Orient: Why did the , true to the writer's motto of "Crush infamy!", , true to the writer's motto of "Crush infamy!", poet's mind wander to far-off climes?Translations of classical Islamic literature: From the emotional Orient to the distortion of Islam Johann Gottfried Herder and the Orient: Faith as silent spirituality

Photomontage Farzane Zamen and Ramy Essam (photo: Najma Abukar/picture-alliance/Zumapress)

Art and censorship

Iran and Egypt – where making music means torture and exile

Musical freedom of expression is under fire, but artists like Iran's Farzane Zamen and Egypt's Ramy Essam refuse to be silenced. Cristina Burak has the detailsMore

Music and power in Iran: An instrument of propaganda and control Pop music and social protest in the Arab world: The echo of revolt The soundtrack of the Arab Spring: Pop, pathos, and poetry

Rod al-Farag axis bridge in Cairo, Egypt, opened by President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi in May 2019 (photo: picture-alliance/Photoshot/A. Gomaa)

Egypt's deepening economic crisis

Abdul Fattah al-Sisi’s vanity projects

Sisi prioritises large-scale infrastructure projects to galvanise support, but these projects intensify the military’s hold over the economy, while providing no tangible broad economic benefits. By Maged MandourMore

Egypt's economic disarray: Whether to topple President Sisi...The role of Egypt′s armed forces: A military empire Egypt's economic and fiscal crisis: Rescuing the sinking ship

Great guys, one and all? Front row, from left to right: Zine el-Abidine Ben-Ali next to Ali Abdullah Saleh, Muammar Gaddafi and Hosni Mubarak (photo: dpa)

Revenge is not the answer!

Prosecuting tyranny in the Arab world

In the wake of the Arab Spring, not one Arab dictator has faced charges for creating a police state and inducing terror among citizens. Similarly, none has been prosecuted for destroying state institutions, the essentials of citizenship, or the means of social advancement. Analysis by Shafiq Nazim GhabraMore

Tyranny in the Islamic world: Keeping the tribe alive The decline of humanism in the Arab world: With an iron fist Military dictatorships in the Middle East: The real enemies of the Arab Spring

Anti-government protesters shouting in Cairo (Reuters/A. A. Dalsh)

Sisi's rivals or the Muslim Brotherhood

Who is behind Egypt's protests?

Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has suggested Islamists are behind rare recent anti-government protests. But is that just a deflection from the underlying factors fuelling unrest in the country?More

Protests in Egypt: Sisi's social media nightmare Authoritarian rule in the Arab world: Nurturing the Arabellion phoenix Eight years after the Arabellion: The Egyptian opposition's seven deadly sins After the coup in Egypt: A dark chapter in Egyptian liberalism

Anti-regime demonstration, Tahrir Square, 21 September 2019 (photo: Reuters)

Protests in Egypt

Sisi's social media nightmare

Despite ongoing repression, hundreds of people took to the streets in Egypt at the weekend to demand the resignation of President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The protests were triggered by a hitherto largely unknown building contractor and his revelations about the Egyptian army. By Karim El-GawharyMore

Human rights under Sisi: Egypt's open-air prison Social utopia on the Nile? Sisiʹs new breed of Egyptians Authoritarian rule in the Arab world: Nurturing the Arabellion phoenix

Country: Egypt

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