Society

Secularism in the Islamic world

Part I – It′s a knotty problem

The well-known Saudi analyst Khaled al-Dakhil posits that if it was secularism that led the West out of the Dark Ages and into the Enlightenment and if, at the same time, secularism means atheism and a lack of religious faith, then it was the latter, rather than faith, which paved the way to science, insight and freedom
By Khalid al-Dakhil
Berlin Imam Mohamed Tahi Sabri

″Muslims, go and vote!″

Imam Mohamed Tahi Sabri deplores the rise in Islamophobia in Germany. With state elections in Berlin scheduled for this weekend, he has been trying to mobilise the Muslim vote – no easy task. By Chris Cottrell
By Chris Cottrell
Animal rights in Morocco

Stay of execution for strays

Late summer in Agadir. Hay bales are piled up along the roadside; lorries full of bleating sheep rattle past: Eid ul-Adha, the Islamic feast of sacrifice, casts a long shadow. But while butchers everywhere are sharpening their knives, in the no-man′s-land to the south-east of the city, the former rubbish processing plant near Tikiouine is home to an embryonic pilot project celebrating life: ″Dar Imouddar″ – The House of Animals. By Regina Keil-Sagawe
By Regina Keil-Sagawe
Iran's stadium ban on women

Excluding the people

Iranian women′s rights activist Darya Safai fights the stadium ban for Iranian women from her exile in Brussels. An interview on her protest during the Olympic Games in Rio, the hypocrisy of international sports organisations and Ali Khamenei′s unreformable regime. By Kai Schnier
By Kai Schnier
Interview with Seyed Mostafa Azmayesh

″I oppose the false Muslims″

The Iranian religious scholar Seyed Mostafa Azmayesh has been studying the origins and language of the Koran for decades. Ulrich von Schwerin spoke to him about his efforts to develop a new approach to the Koran, thereby saving the Prophet′s true message from what he perceives to be an erroneous interpretation of Islam
By Ulrich von Schwerin
Syrian refugee Nather Henafe Alali

Part II: ″Why I am here″

″A German artist once asked me why some people leave their country, while others just stay there and die. The question was put in a friendly way, but there was something very bitter about it. As if he was asking why I didn’t dutifully stay in Syria and wait for my death,″ writes Nather Henafe Alali in his second column
By Nather Henafe Alali
US presidential election

Ever the aliens

Donald Trump has sparked a backlash after criticising the parents of a slain Muslim American soldier. It′s another reminder of the challenges faced by Muslims in the US military. By Brandon Conradis
By Brandon Conradis
The Vatican

All things to all people?

A Muslim visits the Vatican and discovers the breadth of attitudes and beliefs represented by the many people who cross its threshold every year. Is the Holy See gradually transcending its Christian roots to become a place of spiritual pilgrimage for all? By Mulham Al Malaika
By Mulham Al-Malaika
Syrian refugee Nather Henafe Alali

″I am the misery of the 21st century″

″I don′t want to be a refugee. And I don′t want to be the subject of a newspaper article that is not about me as a human being. That calls me an historic intercontinental event or a storm of pain sweeping through this miserable world, but doesn′t call me a refugee, ″ writes Nather Henafe Alai in his column
By Nather Henafe Alali
European Islamophobia Report

Wake up to the danger!

Scholars have for the first time published a comprehensive overview of anti-Muslim racism in 25 European countries. Attacks against Muslims and their institutions have increased considerably since 2015. Politics and civil society need to finally take this development more seriously. By Claudia Mende
By Claudia Mende
Interview with the theologian and Islam scholar Felix Koerner

"Clean theology is good for every religious community"

At the start of the millennium, the Jesuit priest Felix Koerner conducted research in Ankara and engaged with theologians who were streets ahead of their Arab colleagues when it came to libertarian and progressive thought. But the role of religion on the Bosphorus has changed dramatically since then. In an interview with Carolin Kubo, Koerner talks about the interdependence of religion and the state in Turkey and why interfaith dialogue is at a more advanced stage in Germany
By Carolin Kubo
A Muslim woman speaks out on exclusion

"Returning to the Dark Ages"

She is devoted to the struggle against anti-Muslim racism. Hatice Durmaz speaks out on hatred that has become socially acceptable, right-wing populists and hostility in German universities
By Daniel Bax