Society

Woman in Saudi Arabia

''A Golden Age for Saudi Women''

Gabriela Keseberg Dávalos recently visited Saudi Arabia on a UN fellowship. What she encountered there surprised her and completely changed her views on the lives of women in the kingdom. This is a personal account of her experiences
By Gabriela Keseberg Dávalos
The Response to the Salafist Movement in Germany

Heavy on Populism, Light on Strategic Thinking

Many intelligence officials in Germany are baffled by the political response to the Salafist movement. As far as they are concerned, there is too much populism, not enough strategic thinking, and ineffective communication to boot. Albrecht Metzger reports.
By Albrecht Metzger
School Reform in Turkey

Islam Set to Gain Prominence

Emotions have been running high in Turkey since the government pushed through a controversial school reform bill earlier this year. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan has said that the goal of the reform was to raise a "religious youth". Sonja Galler reports from Diyarbakır
By Sonja Galler
Syrian Refugees in Iraq

Exodus into the Unknown

Birgit Svensson visits a refugee camp in Dohuk in Iraqi Kurdistan where she finds Shefat and her brother Omar: they want to tell the world about the terrible things that are happening to the Syrian people
By Birgit Svensson
Interview with Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari

Why Islam and Democracy Go Well Together

The Shiite scholar Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari is regarded as one of the Iran's most influential Muslim reformist thinkers. In an interview with Jan Kuhlmann, he explains why there is no inconsistency between Islam and democracy.
By Jan Kuhlmann
German Court Ruling over Ritual Circumcision

Kulturkampf against Muslims and Jews

A court in Germany has ruled that circumcision on religious grounds amounts to bodily harm, making it potentially punishable by law. Sociologist of religion Rolf Schieder says this is an unacceptable move that questions the right to religious freedom
By Rolf Schieder
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
By Stefan Buchen
French International Footballer Hatem Ben Arfa

Bad Boy Coming Good

French striker Hatem Ben Arfa's career hasn't exactly been of the storybook variety. The 25-year-old son of Tunisian immigrants went on strike at Olympique Marseille, became involved in a whole series of escapades, and finally moved on to Newcastle United, where he became the victim of a career-threatening foul. Now, it seems, he has finally come of age. André Tucic reports
By André Tucic
The Turkish Women's Rights Activist Selen Lermioğlu Yılmaz

''The Government Is Trying to Intrude in People's Private Lives''

In May the Turkish government announced its plan to limit women's access to legal abortion, later dropping the item from the parliament's agenda after harsh reactions from society. While the debate was a divisive one, it did at least provide an umbrella issue beneath which women's groups rallied, says Selen Lermioğlu Yılmaz in this interview
By Fatma Kayabal
Arab World

Education Is the Solution!

Egyptian media scientist Hanan Badr believes education is the key to give marginalized groups in society broader access to their country's resources
By Hanan Badr
Violence against Minorities in Indonesia

Democracy without Tolerance

The violence against minorities in Indonesia has reached new, terrible heights. While Islamist hardliners target Christians and supporters of the Islamic Ahmadiyya, the state turns a blind eye. Andy Budiman has the details
By Andy Budiman
Egyptian Women's Rights Activist Hoda Badran

Women as Losers of the Revolution?

Egypt's most prominent women's rights activist Hoda Badran fears a regression in the battle for social and political equality for women. With the newly-founded "Egyptian Feminist Union", she aims to bring the concerns of women to a wider public. Claudia Mende introduces her
By Claudia Mende