Qantara.de - Dialog mit der islamischen Welt

Mahvash Sabet, a leading representative of the Baha'i religion, spent almost ten years in Iranian prisons because of her faith. She was released in September. Sabet turned her experiences during her confinement into poems, which she managed to smuggle out of prison. Interview by Keyvandokht GhahariMore

Integration in the workforce and a sustainable business idea: the Frankfurt dressmakers' studio offering prospects to refugee women – and becoming the go-to place for the region's start-up labels in the process. By Esther FeldenMore

Koert Debeuf, director of The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy posits that it is high time the West revised the exclusionary narrative of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment and restored the historical truth to its rightful placeMore

Today in Mauritania, children are still being born into slavery. Not only that, they will remain slaves for the rest of their lives. It is the most prevalent and most extreme expression of Arab racism in North Africa, says human rights activist Biram Dah Abeid and it is time to consign it to the past. By Claudia MendeMore

Jordanian journalist Mousa Barhouma criticises the recurrent Arab tendency to equate secularism with apostasy and heresy. In his view, Islam does not prescribe any specific form of governmentMore

In Germany, refugees from Syria, Iraq and Yemen may end up living next door to compatriots who were on the other side in the civil war. How can those who have fled their homeland also leave its conflicts behind them? Susanne Kaiser presents the project "Remembered Future"More

Occasionally periods of social regression and progressive developments occur simultaneously. After all, among the many catastrophic reports emerging from the Arab world there are also a few glimmers of hope – for women. Report by Mey DudinMore

The French anthropologist Dounia Bouzar knows how Islamic State members win over young people for their cause. Her novel, published in German as "Djihad, mon ami" follows one young woman′s radicalisationMore

In his latest work, essayist and seasoned correspondent Christopher de Bellaigue presents the Islamic world in the 19th century in a new light. His main thrust? The Islamic Middle East did indeed experience its own genuine Enlightenment. By Arnold HottingerMore