Photo Essays

An unprecedented danger? On 27 February , Pakistan's military said that it had shot down two Indian fighter jets over disputed Kashmir. A Pakistani military spokesman said the jets were shot down after they'd entered Pakistani airspace. It is the first time in history that two nuclear-armed powers have conducted air strikes against each other

India-Pakistan rivalry: Kashmiris pay a high price

India and Pakistan continue to clash over Kashmir, a volatile Himalayan region that has been experiencing an armed insurgency for nearly ...More

Rayann Sukkar, citizen journalist: my name's Rayan Sukkar and for the last two years I've been working on the Campji online platform. I'm from the Shatila refugee camp, but I report from other camps as well. Up to 40,000 people currently live here, including Palestinian refugees and an increasing number of Syrians who have fled their country's civil war

Citizen journalists in Lebanon: Looking for stories in the refugee camp

Rayan Sukkar (24) lives in Lebanon's Shatila refugee camp. She was born and grew up there and works as a citizen reporter for the online ...More

Where the Maghreb meets sub-Saharan Africa: Mauritaniaʹs population is a colourful mix of Arab Berbers and African tribes – Harratin, Fulani, Wolof, Soninke and Toucouleur

Mauritania, land of desert and contrasts

Mauritania straddles the transition between the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa, its population equally divided between Africans and Arabs ...More

Overcoming scepticism towards others: mistrust between Christians and Muslims could poison the climate in the Nigerian city of Mubi. Yusuf Yaro, chairman of the Muslim council of Mubi South (left), and the Catholic priest Alexander Miskita William are taking a stand against it. The imam has been visiting the Church of St. Andrew for years

Christians and Muslims: Promoting peace in Mubi, Nigeria

In 2014, Boko Haram militia occupied the market town of Mubi in north-eastern Nigeria for weeks. The terrorists have long been expelled - ...More

"Wings of joy" – Kabul's bird market

War and violence seem a long way off in the Ka Faroshi bird market in the heart of Kabul's old city. For some Afghans weighed down by ...More

Vesperados astride their "wasps": once a year, when the countryʹs Vespa fans hold their meet, the town of Kediri in the east of the Indonesian island of Java is shrouded in two-stroke exhaust. Those attending proudly present their own Italian cult scooters, some of which have been pimped beyond recognition

Indonesia's Vesparados

Once a year Indonesia's Vesparados descend on East Java in their hundreds. There they pay homage to the iconic brand and test their own ...More

Saudi Arabia's Flower Men

The "Flower Men" – descendants of the ancient Tihama and Asir tribes – live a near autonomous existence in the foothills of the Halaba ...More

If you follow in the footsteps of the Lord, you have feelings that cannot be explained," says the 26-year-old Armenian Orthodox priest. "All these are holy places for us"

Walking in the footsteps of the Lord in the Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulchre

It is three in the morning and the Armenian Orthodox cleric Artak Tadevosyan distributes incense through the corridors of the Jerusalem ...More

From Damascus to London: Imad Alarnab was one Syriaʹs most prominent chefs, but fled the war three years ago. After crossing 10 countries he arrived in London in October 2015. With the support of the British charity Help Refugees he opened 13 pop-up restaurants around London and used the profits to help fund a hospital in Aleppo. His falafel bar on Great Marlborough street opened in early December

Syrian chef in London brings relief to refugees

Imad Alarnab was a star chef in Syria until he had to flee the war-stricken country. Now based in London, heʹs introduced locals to Syrian ...More

Sea of Galilee: because of the numerous events relating to Jesus that took place there, the Sea of Galilee is of outstanding importance to all Christians. Tabgha in the north (the church commemorates the feeding of the five thousand) and the Mount of the Beatitudes (where Jesus is said to have preached the Sermon on the Mount) are major biblical sites

In the footsteps of Jesus

Jesus, born a Jew, spent his days in the region now known as Israel. He was born in Bethlehem and lived by the Sea of Galilee. Christians ...More

Camel milk, the white gold of Dubai

The United Arab Emirates is known for its oil production and extravagant architectural projects. However, many are unaware that Dubai ...More

The ancient Torajan burial ritual is also known as "Ma'nene", in which clans visit the tombs of deceased family members, clean their remains and replenish the coffins with personal belongings

Burying the dead in Toraja, Indonesia

The people in the remote Toraja region on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi are predominantly Christians, but they are sticking to the old ...More

Damascus: everyday life for whom?

With fighting around Damascus having ceased, everyday life is slowly returning to the Syrian capital. While the people there enjoy a touch ...More

A massive undertaking: the new city is being built on 170,000 acres about 28 miles east of Cairo and is nearly twice its size. Construction began in 2016, and the first of its forecast 6.5 million residents are scheduled to move there next year

Make way for Egyptʹs New Administrative Capital

A city of some 20 million people combining charm and squalor, Cairo may soon witness an exodus by well-heeled residents, state employees ...More

The Chinese touch: on the outskirts of Addis Ababa one would be forgiven for thinking an oriental palace has been misplaced. The train station marks the beginning of the new Addis Ababa to Djibouti City railway line carrying passengers since January 2018. It is a joint venture between the Ethiopian Djibouti Railway (EDR) company and the Chinese, who built and largely financed the $4 billion (€3.5 billion) endeavour

Taking the train from Addis Ababa to Djibouti

Since the start of 2018, a Chinese-run train is taking people and goods from landlocked Ethiopia to the Red Sea port in Djibouti. Reporter ...More

Turkey's Ataturk still prevalent in everyday life

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's presence can still be felt in a landscape increasingly dominated by President Tayyip Recep Erdogan. Bradley Secker ...More

A Muslim yoga boom: although seen as being at odds with several other faiths, the recognition of yoga in Saudi Arabia – the epicentre of the Islamic world – appears to have given a new impetus to Muslim yoga practitioners around the world

Saudi women discover yoga

Widely perceived as a Hindu spiritual practice, yoga was not officially permitted for decades in Saudi Arabia, the cradle of Islam where ...More

The province of Istanbul is the main destination of the approximately 3.6 million Syrians who have sought refuge in Turkey – ahead of the border provinces of Sanliurfa and Gaziantep

Syrians forge new lives in Istanbul

More than half a million refugees of Syrian origin currently live in Istanbul, carving out a niche for themselves in a new country under ...More

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

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Most Recent Photo Essay

Psychologists sound the alarm: in December 2019 Iran's health minister warned of the high economic and social costs of mental illness in Iran. The Association of Iranian Psychologists estimated that one quarter of the population suffers from depression. The American Cato Institute saw Iran in 2019 as the third most unhappy country in the world. Since then, the country has been broadsided by the coronavirus pandemic

Iran: knee-deep in trauma and depression

The country's mood was already weighed down by economic and social problems and military crises before the pandemic reached Iran. The regime's crisis management has done little to improve things. By Shabnam von Hein

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.