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Economic crisis in Lebanon

The subsidy quandary

Flour, medicine, fuel … a whole range of essential goods is subsidised in Lebanon. If the subsidies stop, then prices, poverty and the possibility of conflict increases. If they don't, the country runs out of money. Local experts say they have an answer. They just need politicians to act on it. Cathrin Schaer reports from Beirut
Review of Leor Halevi's "Modern Things on Trial"

Bottom-up fatwas – Rashid Rida and laissez-faire Salafism

Leor Halevi’s latest work examines how Muhammad Rashid Rida with his pro-capitalist and open-market fatwas promoted a version of "laissez-faire Salafism" at the turn of the 20th century. Muhammed Nafih Wafy read the book
Rationality in Islamic theology

Muslims – believers caught between reason and revelation

How readers approach the Koran and Islam's prophetic tradition determines their understanding of these sources. Textual interpretation depends on your perspective: rational and liberal – or dogmatic. A new collection of essays on rationality in Islamic theology focuses on the sheer scope to be found in early Islam. By Musa Bagrac
President Sisi, the Grand Imam and Al-Azhar

Egypt’s eternal conundrum – reforming religious thought

How long can Al-Azhar University mount guard over orthodox Islamic learning, fending off Sisi’s attempt to assert control while also curtailing the influence of oil-rich Gulf states? By Muhammed Nafih Wafy
Strategies for combating fundamentalist ideologies

Reviving Islam's enlightenment

In 1877, the great French novelist Victor Hugo wrote, "Invading armies can be resisted; invading ideas cannot be." Nowadays, the power of ideas, for good or for evil, is something we need to take into account, particularly in contemplating Islamic radicalism. By Daniel Chirot and Scott L. Montgomery
Interview with journalist and performance artist Michel Abdollahi

"People with dark hair always have to go the extra mile"

Journalist Michel Abdollahi was born in Tehran in 1981 and moved to Hamburg in 1986. His big breakthrough came with his television documentaries on social issues such as integration, racism and right-wing populism. He spoke to Qantara.de about his book "Deutschland schafft mich!" (Done away with by Germany – What happened when I found out I wasn't German after all)
Germany's Literaturkfestival

Dissecting the toxic concept of Heimat

The German term 'Heimat', of which the English equivalent 'home' is merely a pale imitation, has much to do with demarcation, with "us" and "them". At the Literaturk Festival in Essen, four authors talk about their lives as the "others" in Germany. By Sabine Peschel
Interview with the sociologist Armin Nassehi

The token politics of "Heimat"

What is meant by "Heimat"? "A place where you can be without having to justify yourself for being there," says the sociologist Armin Nassehi in interview with Klaus Kramer and explains in the process the absurdity of the homeland ministry concept
Interview with German Turkish author Deniz Utlu

Beyond a binary identity

The German-speaking author Deniz Utlu writes about migration and identity in a way that is at once to the point and poetical. In interview with Canan Topcu, he explains why his Turkish roots seem more important to others than they do to him and how he himself defines his identity
The death of George Floyd and endemic discrimination

It's time to replace "race" in the German constitution

At a time of widespread international protests against racism, triggered by the killing of George Floyd in the United States, there are calls to remove the term race from the German constitution. But not everyone agrees. By Volker Witting