Essays
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The Persian poetry of mathematicsFrom Omar Khayyam to Mirzakhani – Iran’s beautiful minds
Presenting a more nuanced vision of their common homeland, Iran, to Western imaginations, kindred spirits Omar Khayyam and Maryam Mirzakhani stand out against the twenty-first century backdrop of anti-Iranian sentiment and Islamophobia. By Hamid Dabashi
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Culture and innovation in the Arab worldWhere are the new Arab icons?
As the photo of Fairouz talking to French President Emmanuel Macron spread around the world, many asked if Arabs today had any contemporary stars of Fairouz's standing. In this essay for Qantara.de, Khaled Al-Khamissi answers this question and asks whether there is a place for up-and-coming stars in a world that is so hostile to creativity and originality
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Dispute about the temple to Lord Ram in AyodhyaThe end of India's post-colonial consensus
With the construction of a controversial Hindu temple in the city of Ayodhya, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is marginalising the Muslim community. With his rhetoric, he is intentionally breaking with the post-colonial legacy of the Indian independence movement that saw India as a secular, multi-faith state. By Dominik Müller
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Criticism of Islam versus Islamophobia in EuropaAfD's religious criticism is simply Muslim-bashing in disguise
Germany's AfD party claims its critical attitude towards Islam is religious criticism and hence falls under the right to freedom of expression. Yet the party fails to back its claim with convincing arguments, writes social scientist Ulrich Paffrath from the Frankfurt-based Academy for Islam in Research and Society in this feature for Qantara.de
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France, terrorism and identity politicsEmmanuel Macron's determination to pick the wrong battle
Emmanuel Macron appears to want to rekindle the old conflicts between Occident and Orient. He blusters on about a "crisis of Islam", as if oblivious to the more acute crises society is facing these days, says Stefan Buchen in his essay
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COVID-19 and terrorism9/11, coronavirus – epochal events that force a re-think
This 11 September marked the nineteenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. The wide-ranging repercussions of those attacks in the years since 2001 are only just emerging. Throughout the coronavirus crisis, political patterns born of the era of terrorism continue to prevail. An essay by Stefan Weidner
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Overcoming fear and mistrustProcessing Lebanon's long legacy of collective trauma
In Lebanon, collective trauma is obvious. The explosions in Beirut on 4 August will have triggered memories of the civil war in many people. By understanding how individual and social identities are influenced by the past, peace work can help contribute to the healing process. By Miriam Modalal and Dalilah Reuben-Shemia
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Aftermath of the Beirut explosionLebanon, a state in freefall thanks to corrupt governance
The Beirut catastrophe has exposed the true extent of government failure in Lebanon. People are blaming the country’s corrupt and incompetent system for the explosion, says Karim El-Gawhary
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Debate about racismGermany is not the anti-racist model the U.S. is looking for
Germany is often lauded for its atonement for its Nazi past. Yet the country upheld the structures that allowed – and allow – racism to flourish and Germanness to be intertwined with whiteness, writes Ursula Moffitt
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Muslim racism and imperialismPower and exclusion
The outpouring of solidarity worldwide following the violent death of George Floyd should prompt us to step back and fundamentally question racist structures and privileges based on injustice – wherever they exist in the world. An essay by Tayfun Guttstadt