Colonialism
All topics-
Moroccoʹs ʹaitaʹ folk music and "Cabaret al-Shaikat"
Cross-dressers lead a musical revival
On a makeshift stage in Casablanca eight men perform wearing women's outfits, a band resurrecting the nearly forgotten historical Bedouin genre of ʹaitaʹ music. By Mariam Qamar
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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 terror
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Anti-Semitism
There is no tradition of anti-Semitism in Islam
Some are suggesting that Muslims are bringing anti-Semitism to Europe. However, it was in fact Europeans who took anti-Semitism to the Arab world in the first place. Diplomats in particular played an contemptible role. An essay by Professor Peter Wien
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Germany’s anti-Semitism problem
Jew, Israeli, Zionist
The political scientist David Ranan doubts that anti-Semitism is more pervasive among Muslims than non-Muslims. Currently, however, this thesis is being perverted and used to serve questionable political ends. By Sonja Zekri
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Pashtun freedom fighter Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
Islam's forgotten "Gandhi"
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan was the founder of the world’s first professional non-violent army. Here in the West, the Islamic Gandhi is little known – but today his legacy is more relevant than ever. A portrait of the Pashtun "Badshah Khan" by Marian Brehmer
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Israel 100 years after Balfour
A case of moral degradation
2 November 2017 marked the centenary of the Balfour Declaration. This document promised to deliver a homeland for the Jews, yet also that "nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine". Has this promise been kept? Political analyst Peter Oborne reports
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Climate change and the West′s energy policy
Robbing the poor
The unrestricted flow of cheap natural resources from the global south to the rich industrialised north, maintains a profoundly unjust international division of labour, claims Algerian environmental activist Hamza Hamouchene
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Enlightenment in the Islamic world
Refuting the 'westernisation' narrative
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 Hottinger
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Book review: Joseph Andras′ ″De nos freres blesses ″
A shameful chapter
Joseph Andras′ debut novel ″De nos freres blesses″ (Of Our Wounded Brothers) touches upon a sore spot in French history, recalling the time when Algeria was a French colony and French anti-colonialists fought alongside Algerians. Claudia Kramatschek read the book
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Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in Europe
Targeting the Muslim population: Presumed guilty
Ascribing a presumption of guilt to all Muslims on the issue of anti-Jewish sentiment is nothing more than a strategy successfully deployed by right wing groups in their anti-migrant campaigns, argues Ingrid Thurner
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Interview with Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im
"We are in the middle of a transformative process"
Islamic scholar Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im of the Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, USA, has done extensive research into the ways in which Sharia can be reconciled with the modern secular state. Claudia Mende spoke to him about the different faces of the secular, the separation of state and religion in early Islamic history and why he feels Muslims are in the middle of a reformation process
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The "Hirak El-Shaabi" protest movement in Morocco
The uprising of the marginalised
For several weeks now, clashes have been raging in Morocco between the nation's security forces and members of a new protest movement, "Hirak El-Shaabi", which is calling for autonomy, social justice and the release of political prisoners in the north African country. By Mohamed Lamrabet