Society

Educational Policy in Saudi Arabia

Hell Fire in Primary School

Saudi Arabia is hoping to modernise its image with new school textbooks. The new books were published recently and made available in the internet. Joseph Croitoru has read them, and reports that they leave an ambiguous impression
Pop Diva Speaks out against Turkish Militarism

War Criticism in TV Casting Show

In the Turkish version of the 'Pop Idol' casting show, the popular singer Bülent Ersoy openly denounced the warmongering of her government. The video of Ersoy breaking this taboo on live television is now available on YouTube. Daniel Bax reports
Campaign against Genital Mutilation

A Change of Perspective In Favour of the Victims

Although the genital mutilation of women and girls is condemned as grievous bodily harm in countries all over the world, it is still practised even in countries like Germany, where an estimated 30,000 women are affected. Renate Bernhard reports on an alarming case in Hamburg
Islam and Democracy in Turkey

A Headscarf Affair, a Women's Affair?

In Turkey, the recent parliamentary vote put an end to the headscarf ban, but not to the public controversy that has severely divided and deeply polarized Turkish society since the post-1980 period. Nilüfer Göle assesses the situation
Interview with Mathias Rohe on the Sharia debate

"There is no alternative to an integrative interpretation of Islam"

According to the Islamic scholar Mathias Rohe, it is high time for the Muslim population living here to find religious foundations that are clearly within the framework of the secular constitutional state. Loay Mudhoon talked to him.
Sharia Law in Germany

Islamic Bonds Provide Debt Relief

The eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt has been looking for creative investments to ease its burden of debt, and has found a new source of funds in an unusual, high-growth market: Islamic bonds. Christine Harjes reports
Portrait of Mohamed Sifaoui

Criticising Radical Islam

The Algerian publicist Mohamed Sifaoui is considered an expert in radical Islamist networks and ideologies. His television documentary 'Undercover in al-Qaida' turned him into a target for fundamentalists, forcing him to go into hiding for a while. Margit Hillmann met the journalist in Paris
Religious Criticism

Oh God!

The criticism of religion has a great tradition in philosophy and art. Not every form of mockery is enlightening, however. When directed only at the religion of the others, it becomes bigotry. A commentary by Robert Misik
Integration Policy in Britain

The Influence of Common Law

The British find it difficult to understand the arguments about Islamic headscarves which are currently blazing in France and Germany. Lennart Lehmann about differences of British, French and German approaches to integration policy
Abdul Ghaffar Khan

Pioneer of Nonviolence

He was a contemporary of Indian pacifist Mahatma Gandhi and always preached an Islam of nonviolence: Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the man who was venerated by the Pashtuns as "King of Chiefs" died 20 years ago in Peshawar. A portrait by Nasim Saber
Water Management in Syria

From a Gift of God to a Valuable Economic Factor

Syria is the most arid country in the watershed of the Euphrates and Tigris. To alleviate the situation, Germany is pumping € 130 million into the Syrian water sector. Kristin Helberg reports on the work of German engineers in Damascus and Aleppo
Migration, Youth Violence and Islam

A Culture of Looking Carefully

Is the high level of violence among first, second and third-generation migrants in Germany really due to Islam? Absolutely not, argues the cultural anthropologist Werner Schiffauer in an interview with Claudia Mende