Letters to the Editors

Iftikhar Ahmad

on: Muslims in Germany: Integration in Germany Is Making Progress, by Jonathan Laurence

There is a conception that by chucking lots of different kids together, they will learn to get along, learn to not be racist or prejudiced. This isn't true.

If interaction is to produce toleration, respect and engagement it needs the different partners to be on equal terms, with equal resources, and a strong shared common ground.

Many state schools are ethnically diverse, but there is a huge amount of racism that exists since due to various factors.

A report by the Institute for Community Cohesion ...More

Ketab Jameel

on: Shiites in Afghanistan: Confident Reformers, by Martin Gerner

Strange how the article talks about the fact that other countries ("the West") have a distorted view of Afghanistan, specifically about Shiites appearing to be 'radical Muslims'... In my experience, the Sunnis have the reputation of being radical (especially on being 'conservative' in religion)... Either way, I do not understand what you would expect someone to believe when all they see is President Karzai signing off on this document as Law. (Many non-Muslims do not even know the difference between Sunni and Shia sects, if they even know those words in the first place, so you would have to start ...More

Anonymous

on: Aftermath of the Attacks in Norway: Isolate the Intellectual Incendiaries, by Stefan Weidner

The Oslo killer who committed the Oslo massacre is a Neoconservative Extremist. His manifesto which describes the rational for his actions references extreme neoconservative theorists and websites which promote irrational hatred and fear of Muslims. The Oslo killer's belief that Muslim immigration is a mortal threat to western culture is a common neoconservative ideology.

Neoconservative extremists like the Oslo killer believe that Muslims will continue to immigrate and breed until they ...More

Haytham Khoury

on: The Opposition and the Church in Syria: A Slap in the Face for the Pro-Democracy Movement, by Claudia Mende

Talking about Syria as there is only one church is a misrepresentation of the reality. Indeed, in Syria there are around 13 Christian denominations. These can be generally divided into three main groups. The Orthodox ones (Greek, Syriac, Assyrian and Armenian), the Catholic ones (Melkite, Syriac, Maronite, Chaldean and Armenian) and Protestants (there is a couple of them).

Each of these churches has its own leadership. Indeed, the attitude of the Churches' leaders from the revolution is ...More

Bashy Quraishy

on: Reformist Islam after Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, by Angela Schader

I have tried to make head or tail of what Angela Schader has written in her rather confusing article.

Alone the title of the article is misleading when one reads the whole text of the article and what various speakers in the German conference. I had the pleasure to meet Professor and Koranic scholar Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd at a conference in Germany a few years back and had a lovely discussion with him about his idea of a interpreting some statements and regulations formulated in the Koran within their historical ...More

Pablo Mendoza

on: EU Policy on North Africa and the Middle East, by Andreas Zumach

Libyan online bloggers should request the immediate stop of NATO bombing. All it does is killing people but not ending the struggle. And involving NATO troops will lead to another Afghanistan, with or without Gaddhafi.

UN and NATO must not to participate in a rebellion which is foreign-influenced. Protecting civilians also means to stop the rebel troops which kill their own countrymen, too. While living, armed rebels are considered freedom fighters, but when dead, they are considered civilians, killed by Gaddhafi military. ...More

Bashy Quraishy

on: "Light and Shadows" (exhibition on the Story of Iran and the Jews), by Gundula M. Tegtmeyer

Gundula M. Tegtmeyer's article "Light and Shadows" (exhibition on the Story of Iran and the Jews) provides a lot of information but also has many shortcomings. Let me point out two. Tegtmeyer first says that: "In the year A.D. 636, a date that marks the beginning of the Islamisation of the Persians, the Arabs invaded the Persian Empire. Ever since, i.e. for the past 1,400 years, Jews have been living under Muslim rule in Iran."

After that she stops and does not explain how the Arab conquest ...More

Mohammed Yunus

on: "Islam Is an Abstraction", Interview with Hamid Dabashi

It is time Muslim scholarship takes cognizance of the dichotomy of Islamic faith between its primary scripture, the Koran and its theological corpus (traditions and Sharia laws): one appearing at a point in time in history as an epicentre of faith, and the other evolving in its second century onwards – as the ripples of the initial surge of faith. The former is constant, eternal and independent of history. The latter inevitably shaped by historical factors: pre-Islamic faith of the incoming converts, state of civilization, theological orientation and scholastic methods ...More

Mahdi Shaheen

on The Arab Jews: Language, Poetry, and Singularity, by Reuven Snir

Thank you for this beautifully thought article. I am a Palestinian and I always hear my dad talk about the Arab Jews that lived side by side my family in Palestine and how they loved each other and lived in harmony and peace. A lot of people don't understand that you can be an Arab, but also you be any religion too. I hope and pray to allmighty Allah that one day (I hope in my life time) everybody on the face f this earth will live in peace. I am really tired of all the wars and the senseless killing and suffering of people. We need more people the you to ...More

James Leonard-Williams

on: Activists Fight for Right to Eat during Ramadan, by Alexander Göbel

The strangest thing in Morocco is that although all the pubs close for the holy month of Ramadan, those that are also betting shops remain open (but not selling alcohol). Odd as 'betting' is condemned (in the holy Koran) far more than is drinking - whether during Ramadan or not!

But then, Morocco is full of lovely contradictions.More

Deirdre Kine

on: Waving the Flag in Arab Living Rooms, by Mona Sarkis

In the article "Foreign Television Broadcasters in Arabic, Waving the Flag in Arab Living Rooms," the author misrepresents Alhurra TV's audience and reputation in the Middle East. According to international research firms such as ACNielsen, Alhurra has a weekly reach of 27.7 million viewers, a majority of whom find the news to be credible. In fact, Alhurra's audience exceeds that of all other non-indigenous Arabic-language international broadcasters combined. Alhurra's mission is journalistic. Alhurra is required, by law, to be conducted in ...More

Maria Semerdjian

on: Mechanisms of Exclusion and Discrimination, Interview with Wolfgang Benz

I have never read an article as such for the past 5 years! Logic, Reason and Respect. The three most important things. We need to accept others as they are. Definitely education, debate and exchange of ideas serve as best antidote for hatred and racism!More

Sabriya Palm

on: Domestic Violence against Women in the Gaza Strip: "A Woman Is Like a Carpet", by Ruth Kinet

Surah 34 by no means justifies men beating women. The word "daraba", which is usually deliberately falsely translated as  "to hit", has a wide range of meanings and can only be translated in this context as "to separate" or at the most as "to make something clear by unambiguous verbal means".More

Michael Chusid

on: An Ancient Game of Architectural "Tit for Tat", Interview with Jonathan M. Bloom

I am responding to the author's statement, "Jews called the faithful to prayer with the shofar (ram's horn)..." I am the author of a 3-volume compendium of shofar knowledge (see www.HearingShofar.com). While the shofar is certainly a distinctive motif of Jewish prayer, it is not used as a "call to prayer" in the way that the adhan calls Muslims to prayer or bells call Christians.

Since the destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, the primary use of ...More

Mohammed Yunus

on: We Urgently Need Religious Reforms!, interview with Muhammad Shahrur

Dear Editor, The issue, often raised in the media and by scholars, is at times confused for a reinterpretation of the Qur'anic message in light with the present day realities. The present day realities are region specific: they greatly vary between an advanced urban setting (West), a backward rural setting (Somalia, Nigeria, rural Bangladesh) and a rugged and desolate mountainous terrain (Afghanistan) or desert wilderness (Arabian heartland). Thus, any notion to tailor the Islamic message to the ‘present era' will call for a multiple ...More

Prof. Farida Majid

on: We Urgently Need Religious Reforms!, interview with Muhammad Shahrur

I am familar with the good work Dr. Fadl has done to battle the fundamentalists. Yet, like many among us, he is misdiagnosing the disease. And, as such his prescription for the cure is wrong. The fundamentalists are ultra-modern and they are already using all the advanced technology available and then some to spread their message of "oneness" of Islam under the sun. My campaign to battle them is the opposite strategy. I am appealing to the reality of cultural diversity within the vast, wonderful world of Dar-ul-Islam. Each Muslim ...More

Goethe-Institut's Perspektiven: Generational conflict

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

2017 in review: Qantara's 'Top Ten'

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi (photo: Reuters)

A round-up of Qantara.de's ten most read articles in 2017.More

Your favourite articles of the year

Muslims at the German Muslim community's day of action in Berlin (photo: Reuters/Hannibal)

This year, roughly 450 English-language articles were published on Qantara.de. These articles covered a huge variety of topics from the civil war in Syria, the rise of IS, and the Gaza conflict to elections in Tunisia, Turkey, India and Egypt. We also took a closer look at Islamophobia in Germany and worldwide, integration in Europe, and women's rights and freedom of speech in the Islamic world, not to mention a fascinating and colourful range of topics from the world of cultureMore

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.