Topic: Islam and the West

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Protests in Baghdad against the Koran burnings (image: Ali Jabar/AP/picture alliance)

Sweden Koran burnings

Playing to the radicals

As Sweden grapples with the diplomatic fallout of a series of Koran burnings, radicals on all sides are rubbing their hands and exploiting the moment. Birgit Svensson travelled from Baghdad to Stockholm to get the full pictureMore

Koran-burning in Sweden: The Iraqi Christian turned radicalIslamophobia: Criticism of religion? Blatant racism!Belgium arrests Danish activists plotting Koran burning
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Volodymyr Zelensky (image: picture-alliance/dpa)

Ukraine conference in Saudi Arabia

Diplomatic success for the Crown Prince

A meeting in Saudi Arabia about a war in Europe? The conference in Jeddah shows how much the world is changing. Analysis by Karim El-Gawhary from CairoMore

Iran-Saudi rapprochement: Cooperation rather than confrontation? China, the Arabs’ preferred partner? Mr. Xi goes to RiyadhChina in the Middle East: Beijing's new charm offensive
Abdelwaheb Sefsaf, Direktor des Théâtre de Sartrouville et des Yvelines; Foto: C. Raynaud de Lage

France after the Nahel riots

Healing racism wounds through culture

It's calm in France's suburbs again after the recent riots. But cultural activists say the uprising's causes run deep and are calling for fundamental reforms. By Lisa LouisMore

France's 'Nahel' riots: A legacy of colonial racism?Sociologist Farhad Khosrokhavar: Radicalisation in the suburbsBenjamin Stora: The bitter legacy of past Franco-Algerian relations
October 1922: After defeating Greece, cheering Turks in Smyrna (now Izmir) displayed a huge Turkish flag (image: Getty Images/Tropical Press Agency/Price)

100 years of the Turkish Republic

The legacy of the Treaty of Lausanne

One hundred years after it was signed, the Treaty of Lausanne is still the subject of political controversy and conspiracy theories. What is the accord's legacy and what role does it play today in Turkey’s domestic and foreign policy decision-making? Analysis by Yasar AydinMore

Turkey: A 100-year-old democracy with ups and downsChallenging Turkish history from the ground up: "The stories of our families" Turkey elections – the second round: Why Erdogan will win
Salwan Momika draws attention to his controversial action in Stockholm (image: Stefan Jerrevång/TT NEWS AGENCY/picture alliance)

Koran-burning in Sweden

The Iraqi Christian turned radical

It was an Iraqi with Christian roots – Salwan Momeka – who staged the burning of the Koran in Stockholm last week. In doing so, he wanted to get even with his countrymen. Birgit Svensson reports from BaghdadMore

Pope Francis condemns burning of KoranFreed from IS, but Iraq's Qaraqosh is now a ghost town Christians in Iraq: Coping with wrack and ruin
The Brit Adele James embodies the Pharaoh in the Netflix series "Queen Cleopatra" (image: Netflix)

Netflix series "Queen Cleopatra"

Controversial patchwork history

The decision by Netflix' latest documentary series to portray Cleopatra as an Egyptian and thereby an African ruler is partly aimed at rehabilitating her as a historical figure. But good intentions don't always produce good results, as Shady Lewis Botros arguesMore

Hieroglyphs exhibition at the British Museum: Museums with guilt complexesCairo Conspiracy a.k.a. Boy From Heaven: Al-Azhar, a Catholic monastery...and the Dalai LamaCancelling "The Lady of Heaven": Why the fuss over the Prophet's daughter?
Arabic Language Center booth at the Abu Dhabi Book Fair (image: ADIBF)

Abu Dhabi International Book Fair

"We're not looking for Western recognition"

The United Arab Emirates has made cultural dialogue its mission. At the 2023 Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, the country confidently presented itself as the custodian of Arab culture. Although the book fair is a place for authors and publishing companies to meet and talk, there were limits to what could be openly discussed. Claudia Mende reports from Abu DhabiMore

Literary power politics: Spotlight on the UAE's 30th Abu Dhabi Book Fair Abu Dhabi Book Fair: Arabic literature, criticism and commerceQantara dossier: "Arabic literature"
File photo of French President Emmanuel Macron welcoming Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Paris on 28 July 2022 (image: picture-alliance/AA)

Rebranded MbS meets Macron: Rights groups decry 'hypocrisy'

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman meets French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. The visit aims to boost bilateral ties and the oil kingdom's international standing. But human rights groups warn that the Saudis' gain is France’s loss.More

Germany and the Gulf: Balancing ethics and economics Biden's trip to Saudi Arabia: Trading recognition for oilJamal Khashoggi's murder and U.S. intelligence: Mohammed bin Salman – from darling to international pariah?
Iraqis leave the city of Basra after the U.S. attack (image: Nicoletti/dpa/picture-alliance)

20 years Iraq War

Farewell to the old world order

It is 20 years since the USA began its invasion of Iraq. Alongside the countless dead Iraqis and U.S. soldiers, it was the West’s credibility in the Arab world that would fall victim to this war. As Karim El-Gawhary argues, this loss is still having consequences two decades laterMore

The Iraq War fifteen years on: "America destroyed my country"Tony Blair and the Iraq war: A case of smoke and mirrors Depleted uranium munitions in Iraq: Deadly dust falls in silence
Udo Steinbach at an event in Cafe Shabander on Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad (image: private)

Udo Steinbach on Europe and the Gulf

Let's have none of the old arrogance

Middle East expert Udo Steinbach has been advocating closer relations with the Gulf states for years. Genuine interest in regional development, however, needs to look beyond the stereotypes. Birgit Svensson spoke to him in BaghdadMore

FIFA World Cup: Qatar 2022 Qatar critics and their blind spotsQatar 2022 and the Arab world: 'It’s our World Cup'Germany and the Gulf: Balancing ethics and economics
Online portal "Islamic Art", homepage, (source: National Museums in Berlin, Museum of Islamic Art)

Berlin Museum of Islamic Art

"Islamic Art” goes digital

The Berlin Museum of Islamic Art’s new online portal is the first digital platform in the German-speaking world to present Islamic cultures in an innovative and entertaining way. By Ceyda NurtschMore

No Europe without Islam: "Europe's history is rooted in migration"Europe's ''Judeo-Christian heritage'': The fiction that it always wasInterview with historian Michael Borgolte: "Islam was always part of Europe"
U.S. President Joe Biden addresses the American nation (image: Patrick Semansky/AP Photo/picture-alliance)

Turkey-Syria earthquake

Biden's farewell to empathy

Mourning the deaths of earthquake victims in the Middle East or sympathising with the suffering of survivors doesn’t win you political points. Joe Biden's State of the Nation address completely ignored the earthquake in Syria and Turkey. Is the Arab-Islamic world gradually disappearing from U.S. politics? Essay by Stefan BuchenMore

The war in Syria: Overshadowed, yet still a major issue9/11 twenty years on: How the 'War on Terror' destabilised the Middle EastJoe Biden and the Middle East: Farewell to Trumpism
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias (left) and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu talk to representatives of the local authorities in Adana in south-eastern Turkey after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake (image: Greek Foreign Ministry/AFP)

Earthquake diplomacy 2.0

New dawn for Turkish-Greek relations?

Greece is responding to the catastrophic earthquake in Turkey with great sympathy. Could it lead to an easing of tensions between the traditionally hostile neighbours? By Ronald MeinardusMore

Aegean tensions on the rise: Erdogan's "charm offensive" doesn't include GreeceGas resources in the Eastern Mediterranean: Detente between Greece and Turkey?Earthquake in Turkey: Germany’s Turkish community sends aid
The members of the Prussian Egyptian expedition atop the Pyramid of Cheops in October 1842 (image: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett)

Egypt expedition 1842

A Prussian tour to the land of the Pharaohs

One hundred and eighty years ago, the Prussian king sent a team of scientists to the Nile. The items they brought back were ground-breaking for the development of Egyptology, a science very much in its infancy at the time. An exhibition on Berlin’s Museum Island tells the storyMore

Hieroglyphs exhibition at the British Museum: Museums with guilt complexesThe West and the Middle East: Casting a long shadow – Napoleon's intervention in EgyptTreasures of the Ancient Middle East: Deciphering the first written languageQantara photo essay: Egypt's most famous revolutionary: Akhenaten
Whirling dervishes in Konya, Turkey (image: Marian Brehmer)

The future of Islamic mysticism

Is Sufism under threat?

Sufis today are under attack from fundamentalists and modernists alike. At the same time, a new form of Sufism is emerging in the West. By Marian BrehmerMore

Sufism in Egypt: Cairo's mystic revivalMarking the anniversary of Rumi's death in Konya: From traditional to lifestyle SufismGod's love for all: Sufism is not just Muslim
Map of the Maghreb (1843) by the geographer Alexandre Vuillemin, taken from his "Atlas universel de géographie ancienne et moderne à l’usage des pensionnats" (Universal Atlas of ancient and modern geography for the use of boarding schools) (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

The origins of the Maghreb

Was the Arab Maghreb a French invention?

The book "The Invention of the Maghreb: between Africa and the Middle East" prompts us to review basic terminology. This includes terms that we use almost every day as if they are definitive by virtue of geography, history and culture, such as "the Arab Maghreb", "North Africa", "the Middle East" and "sub-Saharan Africa". Shady Lewis Botros read the bookMore

The West and the Middle East: Casting a long shadow – Napoleon's intervention in Egypt"A Slave Between Empires: A Transimperial History of North Africa" – Decolonising Maghreb history The Tuareg: literature, language and culture: "The journey of the princess"

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