Sunni Muslims | Sunni Islam
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Wahhabism and Salafism
Shared foundation – different methods
Wahhabis and Salafists are often named in the same breath. Yet these two ultra-orthodox faith movements do differ in a number of aspects, writes the doctor of Islam Studies Mohammad Gharaibeh
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The Bahraini Activist Ala'a Shehabi
"We Are Being Spied On"
The Bahraini activist and blogger Ala'a Shehabi is certain that freedom of the press is unattainable in Bahrain, even within the framework of the national dialogue between the country's opposition and the leadership of the royal family. In an interview with Hisham al-Douriush, she tells how she and her colleagues are subject to surveillance by the Bahraini security apparatus
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Saudi Arabia
Facing a Plethora of Fundamental Challenges
The deterioration of Saudi Arabia's political influence has contributed to a growing sense of national decline. King Abdullah's reform efforts have lost steam. An essay by Tarek Osman
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Saudi Arabia and America
The Estrangement of Two Allies
Saudi Arabia feels as though it has been left in the lurch by the US. Primary thorns in the Saudis' side are Washington's energy policy, its rapprochement with Iran and its conduct in the Syrian conflict. Riyadh is now going its own way. By Rainer Hermann
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Sunni-Shia Relations
Plea for a Muslim Peace
The Grand Mufti Emeritus of Bosnia-Herzegovina Sheikh Mustafa Cerić looks to the past for lessons on improving Sunni-Shi'a relations in today's Middle East. They are the key to regional stability, he says
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Tension between Sunnis and Shiites in Lebanon
New Lines of Demarcation
The effects of the war in Syria are being felt in Lebanon. Violent confrontations are flaring up between the Sunnis and the Shiites in a country in which several religious groups have to coexist. And there is no reason to assume that the situation will improve. Mona Naggar reports from Beirut
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Iraq Ten Years after Saddam
Disenchanted Nation
Ten years after the start of the Iraq War and the toppling of Saddam Hussein, Feisal Amin Rasoul al-Istrabadi reviews developments in the country and considers whether things are better or worse now than they were before the Allied invasion
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Extremists in Germany
Right-wing Agitators versus Islamist Fanatics
They agitate, they incite, they are relentlessly intolerant: Salafists and those hostile to Islam continually whip each other into a frenzy with their mutual hatred. But no matter how much cold calculation the rightist rabble-rousers bring to their provocations, the law must protect them from persecution. A commentary by Hans Leyendecker
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Islamic Religion Classes in German schools
Who Decides?
After years of discussion and debate, the first German states are now introducing Islamic religion classes in public schools. However, because there are many different branches of Islam and no central authority to offer guidance, the question as to who should be allowed to decide on teachers and lesson content is leading to serious conflict. By Claudia Mende
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Al-Azhar and Pan-Islamic Rationalism
The Demise of Islamic Centres of Moderation
The spread of extremism in Muslim societies in the past century can be attributed to a largely overlooked trend: the demise of religious institutions that once had global reach. Focusing on Egypt's Al-Azhar university, Hassan Hassan takes a look into the matter
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The decline of Islamic scientific thought
Don't blame it on al-Ghazali
Academics are correct in pinpointing the exact period in which Muslims began turning away from scientific innovation – the 11th century – but in Abu Hamid Al Ghazali they have identified the wrong person. By Hassan Hassan
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The Shia-Sunni Conflict
The Most Deadly Religious War of our Time
Preachers like the Sunni legal scholar Yusuf Al-Qaradawi or the Shia Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati are propagating sectarian hate and exacerbating the divide between Islam's two major denominations. In this essay, Stefan Buchen explains how the religious war they have helped to unleash within Islam is having a catastrophic effect on the Greater Middle East