'Islamic State' | IS | Qantara.de - Dialogue with the Islamic World

Topic: 'Islamic State' | IS

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

Pilgrims receive a blessing at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (photo: Philipp Breu)

Visiting the Sufis in Sehwan Sharif

Defying the extremists

It is over a year since an IS suicide bomber blew himself up at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, claiming the lives of at least 88 people. Followers of the Sufi order, however, remain stubbornly defiant. Philipp Breu reports from Sehwan SharifMore

Sufis targeted in Pakistan: The dance goes on Combatting violent extremism: Could Sufi Islam be the cure-all?Qantara dossier: "Islamic mysticism | Sufism"

Supporters of General Khalifa Haftar in Benghazi (photo: Reuters)

Khalifa Haftar's role in the Libyan civil war

The fight against political Islam

The news that General Khalifa Haftar had been rushed to the military hospital in Paris on 5 April 2018 for the treatment of a serious health problem caused a variety of reactions in Libya: shock and anxiety on one side; jubilance and rejoicing on the other. To his supporters, he is the "Saviour of Libya"; to his adversaries, the "new Gaddafi". Farag Al Esha provides a portrait of this controversial figureMore

The Gulf States′ proxy war: Baiting at a distance Resolving the crisis in Libya: Another fine mess Libya′s domestic crisis: On the road to nowhere Libya: Facing hell in Sirte

Supporters of Shia cleric Muqtada al Sadr in Baghdad following the election victory of the Sairun list (photo: dpa/picture-alliance)

Iraqʹs political future

Entering a new era

The recent elections in Iraq mark a dramatic turning point in the countryʹs political fortunes. New party alliances – in particular the Sairun list led by influential Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr – have emerged victorious from the polls. Birgit Svensson reports from BaghdadMore

Parliamentary elections in Iraq: Shifting towards Iran?Iraq rivals jostle for power after cleric Sadr's shock win Iraq′s political crisis: Al-Sadr the power broker

U.S. President Donald Trump (photo: picture-alliance/dpa)

U.S. politics in Syria

Trump, Syria – and the threat of regional conflagration

The withdrawal of the United States from Syria could spark a region-wide war. There are legitimate concerns that Israel might use the resulting vacuum as a pretext to intensify its attacks on Iran and Hezbollah in Syria. By Fawaz A. GergesMore

Interview with Kristin Helberg on the Syria conflict: Boundless cynicism The Israeli-Iranian nuclear crisis: Before the ears go deaf Geopolitics in the Middle East: End the Arab-Iranian tug-of-war

Voting in Iraq – voters at a Baghdad polling station (photo: ABAH ARAR/AFP/Getty Images)

Parliamentary elections in Iraq

Shifting towards Iran?

At the forthcoming parliamentary poll in Iraq, the question is who will gain the upper hand – pro-Iranian Shias or pro-western forces? A pre-election analysis by Arnold HottingerMore

The Iraq War fifteen years on: "America destroyed my country"Murder and kidnapping in Iraq: An inexorable tide Fighting over Kurdish independence: A political fiasco

Iraqi American author Dunya Mikhail (source: New Directions)

Non-fiction: Dunya Mikhailʹs "The Beekeeper"

Rescuing the stolen women

In a harrowing compilation of true stories charting the fate of women abducted by IS in Iraq, Dunya Mikhail shows how the best of human qualities can persist even in the worst of times. Marcia Lynx Qualey read the bookMore

Nadia Murad: One woman's fight against Islamic State The abduction of women by IS: Traded like cattle Women′s writing workshop in Basra, Iraq: Writing to survive

Journalist Souad Mekhennet (photo: imago/Muller-Stauffenberg)

Interview with Washington Post correspondent Souad Mekhennet

Speaks with jihadists

German-born Mekhennet has focused her investigative career on diving into militant Islamist networks. She spoke to Sabine Kieselbach about her job's dangers and why it is important to speak to jihadistsMore

Interview with the social scientist Edit Schlaffer: Mothers Schools challenge extremism Islamist ideology debunked: Getting past the abuse Anti-radicalisation strategies in Egypt: Sheikhs on the beat

A soldier patrols a railway tunnel in Mosul, which was under IS occupation for three years (photo: picture-alliance/AP)

Europe's treatment of IS returnees

Eroding the constitutional state

The Europeans and Americans can't agree over what should be done with citizens imprisoned in Syria and Iraq for joining the IS cause. But as Bachir Amroune argues, these individuals should be given the same constitutional rights as anyone else accused of a crimeMore

Islamist ideology debunked: Getting past the abuse Interview with the French anthropologist Dounia Bouzar: Lecturing the radicalised won′t help Islam in the Middle East: The curse of religiosity

Bombarded and besieged, the Syrian town of Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus (photo: picture-alliance)

Interview with Kristin Helberg on the Syria conflict

Boundless cynicism

In conversation with Diana Hodali, Syria expert Kristin Helberg is critical of the fact that although the Europeans may be ready to take part in a military intervention in the Syrian conflict without a UN mandate if necessary, they insist on a UN mandate when it concerns the protection of civiliansMore

Syria: The voice from the hospital basement in East Ghouta Syria’s White Helmets: Stigmatising saviours Civil war in Syria: Fighting the jihadists with unusual weapons

Young Turks holding placards join the opening of the new mosque in Duisburg-Marxloh, Germany on 26.10.2008. (photo: AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Muslims in Germany

The long road to acceptance

Most Muslims in Germany are well integrated and identify closely with the country. Yet some of the public continue to view them with mistrust, in part because of underprivileged urban areas like Duisburg-Marxloh. By Tonio PostelMore

Germany′s integration debate revisited: Piling on the pressure What it means to be German: Recognise the potential Germany’s identity crisis: We are the people, too

This archive photo dated 09.08.2014 shows Syrian refugee children carry water bottles as they walk amid damage and the remains of tents for Syrian refugees that were burnt in the fighting between Lebanese army soldiers and Islamist militants in the Sunni Muslim border town of Arsal, in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley (photo: Reuters/Ahmad Shalha)

Syrian refugees

The burden of hospitality

Under increasing financial pressure, Syriaʹs neighbours – Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey – are pressuring Syrian refugees to return to their home country, whether conditions across the border are safe or not. By Jesse MarksMore

Refugee crisis in Jordan: At breaking point Syrian refugees in Lebanon: The heavy burden of the open borders policy Syrian refugees in Turkey: Time for Turkey's allies to rally round The Arab view of the European refugee crisis: Ludicrous squabbling

Protests in New York against U.S. airstrikes in Syria on 7 April 2017 (photo: Getty Images/AFP)

War in Syria

Ending America′s disastrous role

Much of the carnage that has ravaged Syria during the past seven years is due to the actions of the United States and its allies in the Middle East. By Jeffrey D. Sachs
More

Syria and the war against IS: Strange bedfellows Ending the civil war: For a different Syria Battle for Syria: Trump's constructive ignorance

Muslim reads from the Koran (photo: picture-alliance/ANP/R. Koole)

Islamist ideology debunked

Getting past the abuse

Many efforts to provide counter-narratives for Salafist-jihadism are currently failing to address extremists′ abuse of religious scripture directly. Nevertheless, efforts to combat extremism through religious counter-narratives are expanding across the Islamic world. By Rachel Bryson and Milo ComerfordMore

Anti-radicalisation strategies in Egypt: Sheikhs on the beat Islam, Al-Azhar and the terrorists′ ideology: If the cap fits Islam and violence: Self-proclaimed jihadists

Al-Azhar sheikh chatting in a coffee house with young people in Cairo′s Sharabiya quarter (photo: Karim El-Gawhary)

Anti-radicalisation strategies in Egypt

Sheikhs on the beat

There are many opinions about the best way to combat Islamist extremism. For its part, Al-Azhar University in Cairo has decided to send its sheikhs out of the mosques and into the coffee houses of the city in an attempt to prevent radicalisation. By Karim El-GawharyMore

Islam and the modern age: Moving beyond dogmatic doctrine Islam, Al-Azhar and the terrorists′ ideology: If the cap fits Islam and violence: Conservative Muslims refute the violence of IS

Turkish units capture Mount Burseya in northern Syria on 28 January 2018, as part of Operation Olive Branch (photo: picture-alliance/AA)

Turkey′s Syrian offensive

A war of America′s making

Bereft of a coherent Syria policy, successive U.S. administrations have obsessed over targeting Islamic State (IS) without considering the full ramifications of their actions. Turkey′s incursion into northwestern Syria is just one consequence. Analysis by Barak BarfiMore

Turkey′s incursion into Syria: The Kurdish quagmire Turkey’s Afrin offensive: Wrong, but not unjustified U.S. policy on the Middle East: The imperial reflex

Topic: 'Islamic State' | IS

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