Photo Essays

Bangladesh's 'death squad' security agency to scan social media

The Bangladeshi government is looking to task a controversial paramilitary force with monitoring social media as the country gears up for ...More

Uncovering head coverings: in much of the Western world today, the word headscarf is often automatically associated with those worn by women for religious reasons, especially Muslim women. Yet the idea and practice of covering one's head with cloth transcends religious, cultural and geographic categories. The show "Veiled, Unveiled! The Headscarf" at Vienna's Ethnological Museum (Weltmuseum) puts headscarf diversity on display

Unveiling the history of the headscarf

Mandaean religious rites threatened by Tigris water pollution

Every Sunday in Iraq, along a strip of embankment on the Tigris River reserved for followers of the obscure and ancient Mandaean faith, ...More

A driver opens the door to the carved wooden cab of his decorated truck

Keep on trucking: Art on the move in Pakistan

They pollute the roads and chug along at a snail's pace, but to their Pakistani owners the rickety trucks are moving pieces of art. And ...More

Mohammedʹs sketches and paintings capture the claustrophobic reality of Egypt’s prisons, where tens of thousands have been locked away, often for months or years without charge, in the heaviest crackdown on dissent in the country’s modern history

Yassin Mohammedʹs cellblock chronicle

Egyptian activist and artist Yassin Mohammed, who walked free last month from a Cairo prison after serving a two-year sentence for taking ...More

Hijab: most Islamic scholars agree that the hijab, which covers the head and neck, and comes in any number of shapes and colors, must be worn by Muslim women. American teen Hannah Schraim is seen wearing one here while playing with her brother

Burka, hijab or niqab? What is she wearing?

The way to peace: memories of World War I combined with a call for peace and tolerance – that's what media artists Detlef Hartung and Georg Trenz are all about. Their letter Illuminations will make Cologne Cathedral appear in a completely different light during the cathedral's pilgrimage days from September 27-30

Cologne Cathedral illuminated for peace

The Cologne Cathedral will be illuminated over the next few days as a stance against hatred. Messages will be projected onto the sides of ...More

Muslim fashion combats prejudice: the de Young Museum exhibtion is showing contemporary Muslim style and clothing. This design made of silk and Swarovski crystals by Malaysian luxury designer Bernard Chandran is just one of the featured items. The exhibition aims to examine a branch of fashion that is often talked about, but rarely gets a chance to present itself

Muslim fashions: modern yet modest

Style-conscious Muslim women were long ignored by the mainstream fashion industry. An exhibition at San Francisco's de Young Museum ...More

20-year-old Anisa from San Cristobal de las Casas, a Muslim of the Tzotzil-Maya ethnic group, poses for a photograph that shows her in a hijab made from a traditional Mayan scarf

The indigenous Muslims of Chiapas, Mexico

The southern state of Chiapas in the indigenous Mayan heartland of Mexico shows how vital the Muslim community is in this predominantly ...More

Crumbling colonial splendour in Karachi

More than 70 years after Pakistan's foundation, architectural jewels dating from the British colonial era are being torn down – especially ...More

Glowing advocate of Iranian interests: Mohammed Mossadegh was Iran's first democratically elected prime minister from 1951 – with a brief interruption – until his fall in 1953. Educated, eloquent and charismatic, he also had many admirers in the West. Daring to nationalise the British oil industry in Iran, he quickly became an icon of anti-imperialism across the Third World

1953: The CIA and Iran's stolen democracy

Almost 65 years ago, the CIA overthrew Iran's first democratically elected prime minister, Mohammed Mossadegh. Recently the U.S. State ...More

Cancer patients – the other victims of Yemen's war

For more than three years a military alliance led by Saudi Arabia has been fighting the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Even hospitals are not ...More

Dusty, hot, narrow – and almost as big as Cologne: Rohingya began fleeing from Myanmar to Bangladesh decades ago. A refugee camp grew up next to the village of Kutupalong. As a result of the mass exodus since August 2017, the number of inhabitants there has risen sharply and further camps have been set up. A total of almost one million people now live there – a city almost the size of Cologne, but without the infrastructure

Rohingya in Bangladesh: anniversary of the exodus

A year ago, the Rohingya exodus from Myanmar began. Hundreds of thousands fled to neighbouring Bangladesh. Andrea Marshall gives her ...More

What is the Andrew Brunson row all about?

The dispute over the detention of U.S. pastor Andrew Craig Brunson has strained diplomatic ties between the US and Turkey. Who is Brunson ...More

Danish Muslims defy face veil ban

Under the new Danish law banning facial veils, police are able to instruct women to unveil or order them to leave public areas. Fines ...More

Affluent upbringing: Imran Khan was born in Lahore in 1952, the son of a civil engineer. Khan grew up with his four sisters in a relatively affluent part of the city. He received a privileged education, first in his hometown and then in Worcester, England. It was there that Khan's love and talent for the game of cricket became evident. In 1972, he enrolled at Oxford University to study politics and economics

Imran Khan, Pakistan's new prime minister

From cricket icon to hedonistic playboy and finally the leader of Pakistan — Imran Khan has enjoyed a long career in the ...More

Rufia Begum, aged 9, is among more than 700,000 Rohingya who have taken shelter in the Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh after fleeing a military crackdown in Myanmar last year, the United Nations and human rights groups say

Wearing tradition – thanaka paste in a Rohingya camp

Thanaka, a paste that has been used for centuries to protect skin from the sun, is traditionally applied in swirls to the cheeks of ...More

10 victims, 10 tragedies: nine of the 10 victims were of foreign heritage, but they had all made Germany their home when they were killed. The 10th victim was a German police officer. Every one of them was shot in cold blood

The victims of the neo-Nazi NSU murder spree

From 2000 to 2007, the notorious National Socialist Underground (NSU) neo-Nazi cell killed 10 people in Germany. After five years, the ...More

A Wakhi shepherdess milks her cattle in a pen at the end of the day. She wears the "kilt", a colourful embroidered Wakhi hat worn by the oldest. The days assume a monotonous rhythm, punctuated by the herding of sheep, milking and the making of traditional cheese and yak butter

The last Wakhi shepherdesses of Pamir

Nestled in the Karakoram Range in northern Pakistan, the remote Shimshal Valley adapts each year to the rhythm of ...More

Work piling up: Khalil is 13 years old and comes from Damascus. He works five days a week in this tailorʹs workshop in the basement of a residential house in the working-class Istanbul district of Bagcilar. In this area there are sewing rooms like this one in almost every street. And there are almost always children like Khalil working in them

Small hands, big profits: Syrian child labour in Turkey

Hard work instead of study: in Turkey there are thousands of Syrian refugee children who arenʹt going to school. Many of them work 12-hour ...More

A new Silk Road: what could be more synonymous with the exchange between Orient and Occident? Under the name "The New Silk Road", the Oriental Festival brings together musicians from Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and China. One of the artists performing at the event is Kazakh singer and dombra player Ulzhan Baibussynova. The dombra is a Kazakh two-stringed lute

East meets West at the Morgenlandfestival

The Morgenlandfestival in Osnabruck, with its varied and surprising programme, competes every year against one-sided cliches about the ...More

Pakpahan: turning waste into a resource: after retiring from his position as Indonesia's deputy minister for agro-industry, the economist Agus Pakpahan wanted to learn more about natural resource economics. He came across the topic of waste management and decided to study the correlation of organic waste, biological agents, health, environment and social economics

How can a fly help recycle waste?

An Arab icon: Shirin Neshat is considered a feminist. Whatʹs more, she is one of Iranʹs most successful female artists. For years she dedicated her photo series and videos to the themes of exile and homeland. Now, however, she is breaking new ground: in the film "In Search of Oum Kulthum" she presents her own personal view of the legendary Egyptian singer

Iranian artist Shirin Neshat breaks new ground

No more exile, no more mourning for a lost homeland. In her latest film "In Search of Oum Kulthum" the well-known director ...More

"Poets of Life" by Shirin Barghnavard: after studying literature in Paris, Shirin Parsi moved with her husband to the Shanderman Rural District in Iran, where they produce organic rice. Shirin is also an activist for a local women's rights NGO. The film "Poets of Life", directed by Shirin Barghnavard, follows Parsi as she pushes for social and environmental change

Highlights of the 2018 "Visions of Iran" film festival

The "Visions of Iran" film festival featured contemporary Iranian documentaries, giving European audiences a unique birds-eye view into ...More

Against walls: women protest in Manhattan in front of the Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) against the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border and the deportation of illegal immigrants from the USA. The Immigration and Customs Service (ICE) is the Ministry of Internal Security's main enforcement authority. In addition to the demonstration, the joint breaking of the Muslims' fast is also at the forefront of the action

Muslims in the USA: Iftar against deportation

Muslims meet in New York to celebrate the breaking of the fast together, combining iftar with a demonstration to draw attention to the ...More

Pages

Qantara dossier: Islamophobia

Demonstration against the building of a mosque in Cologne (photo: picture-alliance/Ralph Goldmann)

Renowned journalists, Islamic scholars and authors shed light on the various facets of racist and Islamophobic violence in Western countries.More

Qantara dossier: Reform Islam

Symbolic image of a mosque interior (photo: Getty Images)

What is Islam's take on the reform and democratisation of modern Muslim societies? Qantara.de presents the thoughts and opinions of leading Islamic scholars and their latest initiativesMore

The big history of Albania's tiny Koran

The Prushi family have been guardians of the Koran for generations The Prushi family have been guardians of the Koran for generations (image: Adnan Beci/AFP)

For generations, this postage stamp-sized book has been passed down through one family -- surviving wars and one of the world's most fanatical "godless regimes".More

Political cartoons, satire and Islam

As we have seen in recent decades, political cartoons can have explosive potential. Qantara examines the importance of humour and satire in the Islamic world.More

"Christmas and the Qu'ran": When love comes down

Virgin Mary and Jesus, Persian miniature; photo: wikipedia

"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 book.More

Landmines – Syria's faceless killer

Abdulaziz al-Oqab walks with with his nephews who were orphaned when a landmine exploded under a pick-up truck, claiming the lives of 21 family members (photo: LOUAI BESHARA/AFP)

Family members from three generations were planning to sample the long-forgotten peacetime pleasure of a simple family picnic in Syria when a landmine brought a bloody end to their outing – and to the lives of 21 family membersMore

Political cartoons, satire and Islam

As we have seen in recent decades, political cartoons can have explosive potential. Qantara examines the importance of humour and satire in the Islamic world.More

Jewish and Arab Israelis create a new type of grassroots activism

Members of Standing Together grassroots movement (source: Facebook)

Citizens groups are not a replacement for a political party that speaks in the name of both communities, but at the moment they may be the best Israeli society can come up with.More

Qantara dossier: European travellers in the Orient

(photo: Max Freiherr von Oppenheim-Stiftung im Hausarchiv des Bankhauses Sal. Oppenheim)

Our dossier contains a selection of interesting biographies and reports on renowned European travelers to the Orient from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.More

Hussein Agha: "The Middle East’s great divide is not sectarianism"

Iraqi Turkmen forces man a checkpoint in the northern city of Taza Khormato, 20 kms south of Kirkuk, on 21 June 2014 (photo: Karim Sahib/AFP/Getty Images)

The spectre of Sunni Shia sectarianism haunts the Middle East. It is blamed for chaos, conflict, and extremism. Yet, argues Hussein Agha, wrongly defining the struggles gripping the Middle East encourages misguided remedies.More

Goethe-Institut's Perspektiven: Generational conflict

Goethe-Institut Perspektiven logo (source: Goethe-Institut)

Egypt, Algeria, Lebanon… six young women and men from six different countries put their individual views and experience with the generational conflict into words for this dossier.More

Top 10 books about Muslims and Islam by Saadia Faruqi

Media stereotypes and misinformation about Muslims are nothing new. In post-election America, Muslims are finding more allies who often want to help but don’t know much about Islam. More and more non-Muslims have questions and are seeking answers.More

Female Kurdish singer rallies the troops

Kurdish singer Helly Luv (photo: Getty Images/Safin Hamed)

Iraqi Kurdish singer Helly Luv was in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, filming the video to her latest hit. Luv is aiming for international fame as she releases her new English song 'Revolution', calling for action against terrorism and violence.More

Syria's Cultural Heritage in Danger

Over four millennia, Babylonian, Egyptian, Persian, Greek and Roman influences crossed paths in Syria. Today, precious cultural sites from these eras are being damaged as the Syrian civil war takes its toll on the country's cultural heritage. This week, the United Nation's cultural organization UNESCO made fresh reports about damage to Syria's historic sites.

Syria's Cultural Heritage in Danger

The civil war in Syria, which has taken the lives of thousands since 2011, is becoming increasingly brutal. Valuable cultural sites are also being destroyed in the fighting. UNESCO has now provided reports on the damage.