Society

International Ladies' Soccer Team Berlin

''You Can Play Football Wearing a Headscarf If Necessary''

They still encounter rejection and prejudice now and then, but their enthusiasm for sport knows no bounds. Eighteen female soccer players from six different countries train for the Turkish club "Al Dersim Spor". By Ariana Mirza
Proselytizing in South Sudan

Evangelists Hunt for Souls

The 2005 peace accord provided religious freedom for Sudan's predominantly Christian south. But the new liberty has also opened the field to missionaries from abroad who lure a distressed population with "easy fix" promises of salvation. Ludger Schadomsky reports
Book Review Ralph Ghadban

Tariq Ramadan and the Islamization of Europe

The charismatic Geneva-based Tariq Ramadan dominates current European discussion on Islam like no other Islamic intellectual. A critical study of the work of Ramadan has now been published. A review by Jürgen Endres
The Orient Catches on in Great Britain

Warm and Fuzzy about the Orient

The western world has experienced a surge of interest in Arab pop music and lifestyle. Take London, for example: in trendy cafés young Brits lounge on soft cushions, smoking hookahs to Arabicized sounds and beats. Thomas Burkhalter takes a look
The Blogger Scene in Egypt

A Small, Assertive Community

If you want to know where the next demonstration will be held for the Egyptian civil rights movement, you need only log onto one of the many local political blogs. Web diaries in Egypt have become a firmly established part of the civil rights movement along the Nile. Mona Naggar reports
Islam and Psychoanalysis

A Tale of Mutual Ignorance

The Islamic world and the world of psychoanalytic theory, says Tunisian scholar Fethi Benslama, have mutually ignored one another to this day. In this interview with Gabriela M. Keller, he explains why Islam contradicts psychoanalysis
Muslims and Inter-Religious Marriages

Negotiating Religion and Social Identity

Muslim men may wed non-Muslim women whereas Muslim women are, in theory, not allowed to marry non-Muslim men. Now Abdullahi An-Naim has published a book that takes a close look at Muslims and inter-religious marriages. Yogi Sikand has read it
Islam and Women's Rights

Saudi Arabia's Women Pioneers

Are the new generation of educated, professional Saudi women who are pushing for political change a vanguard or just a "westernised" elite?
By Jane Kinninmont
USA

War-Wounded Unsuitable as Image

The war in Iraq caused the death of many U.S. soldiers, but some 9,000 more have been seriously wounded. In order not to waken support for the military action, authorities are trying to suppress news coverage. Christoph Grabenheinrich reports
Germany

Schools Trail Significantly in Immigrant Education

A newly published PISA study reveals that children of immigrants have fewer chances to succeed in German schools than they do in almost any other industrial state
Christians in Jordan

Harmonious Coexistence?

Christianity has an extremely long history in Jordan. Today some 230,000 Christians live in the Hashemite Kingdom of King Abdullah II. Andrea Seeger reports on their coexistence with the Muslim majority
A German Protestant Priest in Lebanon

"Christians and Muslims Live Alongside One Another"

Fredericke Weltzien has been a priest in the German Protestant parish in Beirut for four years now. Christina Förch visited the woman priest who works in a country of many denominations