Muslims in the West

Topic: Muslims in the West

Portrait of a blue-eyed woman wearing a niqab (photo: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Ending)

Children's life choices are often difficult for parents to endure and even more difficult to understand. Especially when they embark on a path towards Islamism. An encounter with an affected mother. By Matthias von Hein and Esther FeldenMore

Wahhabism and Salafism: Shared foundation – different methods France's burka ban: Excluding the wrong people Essay by Sara Silvestri: Britain does not need a French-style Burqa ban

German-Turkish author Emine Sevgi Ozdamar

A literary maverick

Emine Sevgi Ozdamar's writing is characterised by its unique figurative language – Arabic children's prayers, Turkish idioms and English film quotations all line up like telling beads, complementing each other and unfolding their own special rhythm. Aygul Cizmecioglu introduces the authorMore

Interview with Turkish writer Asli Erdogan: "It's my country too"Book review: Elif Shafak′s ″Three Daughters of Eve″: Straddling worlds Interview with the Turkish writer Oya Baydar: ''Turkey is a country of miracles''

"Love for all, hate for no-one": this year’s Jalsa Salana, organised by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat in Karlsruhe (photo: DW/Nermin Ismail)

Germanyʹs Ahmadiyya community

"Integration is the least of our problems"

Recently some 45,000 Muslims of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat met for their annual peace conference, the so-called "Jalsa Salana". Nermin Ismail attended the meeting of the Islamic reform movement in KarlsruheMore

Ahmadiyya community in Germany: Successor to the promised Messiah Germany's Ahmadiyya Muslims: Celebrating 100 years of the Caliphate The Ahmadiyya community in Germany: Admonitions from the Caliph

Lebanese-British satirist Karl Sharro (photo: James Berry)

Interview with Lebanese-British satirist Karl Sharro

"Politicising Muslim identity is counter-productive"

Lebanese-British satirist Karl Sharro, with his alter ego Karl reMarks, is a fast-rising star of online comedy. Now he has published his first book, "And Then God Created the Middle East and Said ʹLet There be Breaking Newsʹ". Interview by Susannah TarbushMore

Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef: Jihadists, please blow here!The Lebanese satirical magazine "Ad-Dabbour": Hornets' nest in Beirut Fighting Islamic State with satire and black humour :Terribly funny

French extremism researcher Olivier Roy (source: YouTube)

Interview with French extremism researcher Olivier Roy

They love death as we love life: jihad and the roots of terror

French extremism researcher Olivier Roy talks to Eren Guvercin about the Catch 22 situation of European Muslims expected to speak for Islam, the irrelevance of 'liberal' reforms, the false premise of current de-radicalisation programmes and the nature of modern terrorismMore

Interview with French extremism researcher Olivier Roy: ″Radicalisation is not the result of failed integration″Olivier Roy: "The politics of chaos": No geostrategy of Islam Interview with Olivier Roy: Muslim radicals are perfectly "Westernised"

Cover of Can Mereyʹs "Der ewige Gast. Wie mein tuerkischer Vater versuchte, Deutscher zu werden" – The Eternal Guest. How My Turkish Father Tried to Become German (published in German by Blessing)

Germanyʹs Turkish migrants

The need to be somebody

As the UKʹs Windrush scandal of a few weeks ago demonstrated, European countries still have much to learn when it comes to integrating and treating migrants with respect. In "Der ewige Gast" (The Eternal Guest), Can Merey draws on his father's experience to explain why many Turkish immigrants have never really felt at home in Germany. By Ulrich von SchwerinMore

Daughters and Sons of Gastarbeiters writers′ collective: "When I go to Germany, I will buy a red tractor" Debate on Muslim identity in the West: Constructing the self, constructing the other Interview with Seyla Benhabib: The guest is always a fellow citizen

Iranian-French sociologist Farhad Khosrokhavar (photo: AFP/Damien Meyer)

Interview with the sociologist Farhad Khosrokhavar

Radicalisation in the suburbs

The French-Iranian sociologist Farhad Khosrokhavar examines why people become radicalised and what factors drive them to jihad. In conversation with Claudia Mende, he explains why deprived suburban areas are hot spots for radicalisation and how Europe needs to react to the threat of terrorMore

The psychology of radicalisation: Lego Islam Interview with French extremism researcher Olivier Roy: ″Radicalisation is not the result of failed integration″Interview with the French Islam expert Gilles Kepel: Passion and suffering

Egyptian football

Sun god, star, Mo Salah

Just weeks before the start of the FIFA World Cup, excitement in Egypt has reached fever pitch. What's causing the mania? The Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah, currently tipped as the best football player in the world. By Bachir AmrouneMore

Karim Benzema: The boy next door The integrative power of football: Those who score, get to pray to Allah Qatar vs. UAE: The not-so-beautiful game

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

Feridun Zaimoglu (photo: picture-alliance/dpa/Erwin Elsner)

Interview with Turkish-German writer Feridun Zaimoglu

"A Muslim cannot be an identitarian"

In interview with Qantara.de, leading Turkish-German writer Feridun Zaimoglu is critical of the state of Germany's culture of debate. While unimpressed with Homeland Minister Seehofer's comments on Islam, he also has little time for the outrage of religious functionariesMore

Germanyʹs new Homeland minister: No to religious parity Interview with Tunisian Secretary of State Saida Ounissi: Don′t marginalise your Muslims The secularisation of Muslims: Silent withdrawal

From left to right: great uncle Awad, aunts Sofia and Fawzia and grandmother Tamam in Nablus, Palestine in 1968 (photo: private)

Stories from the Palestinian diaspora

My grandmother, the selfie generation, and I

If young people without immigrant parents have fallen into disrepute for disengaging and emancipating themselves from and rebelling against old traditions and conventions, then even more so those with a hybrid identity. Those whose parents originate from more distant regions of the world. Those like me. By Jenin Elena AbbasMore

Germany’s identity crisis: We are the people, too Israeli-Palestinian relations: Entering a new era?Palestinians in purgatory: Eternally displaced

Man wearing a kippah takes part in an anti-Semitism demonstration in Berlin (photo: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Hitija)

Germany’s anti-Semitism problem

Jew, Israeli, Zionist

The political scientist David Ranan doubts that anti-Semitism is more pervasive among Muslims than non-Muslims. Currently, however, this thesis is being perverted and used to serve questionable political ends. By Sonja ZekriMore

Germany appoints an anti-Semitism commissioner: Moving in the right direction Muslim anti-Semitism: Pointing the finger Anti-Semitism debate in Germany: Time for objectivity Targeting the Muslim population: Presumed guilty

AfD election poster in Berlin′s Kreuzberg district (photo: picture-alliance/dpa)

Islamophobia in Germany

"We need a new debate about racism"

Why are people bothered when an academic wears a headscarf, but don't mind one worn by a cleaning lady? Extremism researchers are studying how and why attitudes towards Muslims are changing. The rise of the AfD is viewed as an important factor. By Kay Alexander ScholzMore

Europe, Germany and ″Abendland″ angst: In the name of Christendom Religious freedom in Germany: Constitutionally irrelevant Interview with Israeli historian Moshe Zimmermann: AfD's success comparable with the rise of the Nazis

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

The German Cabinet: Spahn | Barley | Klockner | von der Leyen | Maas | Merkel (photo: picture-alliance/Sven Simon/E. Kremser)

Germany's new cabinet

Where's the ethnic diversity?

Before the new German cabinet had even got down to business, there were grumblings about its make-up. With the number of women ministers higher and the average age of the cabinet lower than ever before, one group was glaringly missing from the ministerial line-up: people with personal experience of integration. By Richard A. FuchsMore

Electioneering in the Federal Republic: Courting the immigrant vote Germany’s identity crisis: We are the people, too Muslims in Germany: The long road to acceptance

Anti-Afrin offensive graffiti on the side of a DITIB mosque in Minden, Germany (photo: Ozturk)

Mosque attacks in Germany

The wrong target

Since the beginning of the Turkish military offensive in the northern Syrian enclave of Afrin, there have been repeated violent attacks on Turkish mosques in Germany. Foreign conflicts should not be imported to Germany, nor should the military conflicts of other nations be fuelled by weapons exports, says Armin LangerMore

Germany's arms exports controversy: When doves cry Turkey’s Afrin offensive: Wrong, but not unjustified Turkey′s incursion into Syria: The Kurdish quagmire

Topic: Muslims in the West

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