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Great expectations, even greater challenges

Turkey's first ever Communist mayor was elected on 30 March. Turkish Communist Party (TKP) candidate Fatih Macoglu won 36 per cent of the 1,812 votes cast in the small town of Ovacik. He believes in people power, popular assemblies and investing in agriculture and tourism. By Ekrem Guzeldere

Hostility on the Internet

Women in Pakistan are being harassed and are encountering hostility via social networks on the Internet. At the same time, many women's rights activists see the web as a new way to further their work. By Marcus Michaelsen

Bringing the Poor at Par with the Others

For many of Pakistan's poor, the much-criticised Islamic schools are the only possibility to get an education, because they don't ask for tuition fees. But do all graduates leave the school as radicals? Abdul Hafeez and Peter Koppen take a closer look

Access Makes the Difference

Pakistan's educational system is among the least developed in the region. Many schools don't offer running water or even chairs, but one of the most pressing problems is the socio-economic status of teachers. Abdul Hafeez and Peter Koppen report

Ignoring Social Reality

During his visit to Pakistan, publicist Yoginder Sikand, a Muslim from India, had the impression that education is not withheld from the people due to a lack of means, but instead as a deliberate ploy

The Faded Myth of the Goat-God

Scarcely any other band in the Muslim world can boast a musical culture so deeply imbued with tradition, as can the Moroccan "Master Musicians of Joujouka." But the original character of this once living ritual music is endangered, writes Arian Fariborz

Shadows of the past

"The Blind Man's Garden" is the fourth novel to be published by the British–Pakistani author Nadeem Aslam. In this book, he returns to the days, weeks and months immediately following 9/11 and relates them from the perspective of a Pakistani family that is subsequently drawn into the ensuing war in Afghanistan. Claudia Kramatschek spoke to Aslam about his new novel

Seeking to Combat Extremism

The brutal killing of Lee Rigby in London in May by two Muslim converts was widely condemned by Muslim religious leaders, but still led to a rise in threats made against Muslims and mosques. Many Muslims in Britain, however, work to try and counter extremism. Joanna Impey reports

''God Does Not Have an Equal Partner''

Khaled Abou el Fadl is both a prominent Islamic jurist and an American lawyer. In his many books he has accused radical Islamists of ignorance concerning the Koran and Sharia law. A portrait by Monika Jung-Mounib

Little emirate, big ambition

This week, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani paid his first state visit to Germany since being named emir of Qatar after his father's abdication in June 2013. The 34-year-old emir is one of the Middle East's most influential leaders, but his political course is controversial. By Anne Allmeling