Society

Urban appropriation in Jerusalem

Mamilla and the Tower of David

The Jerusalem district of Mamilla, located between West Jerusalem and the Old City, is an outstanding example of how urban planning decisions alter the public space and create a new visual reality with great political resonance. Felix Koltermann took a look around
By Felix Koltermann
Reconstruction of Aleppo

″Others destroy and we rebuild″

The battle-torn city of Aleppo lies in ruins. Nonetheless, former residents of the city and experts located in Budapest are already working towards the reconstruction of the 5000 year old metropolis. By Iris Mostegel
By Iris Mostegel
Interview with the Islam scholar Ahmad Milad Karimi

Accessing the Koran

Ahmad Milad Karimi is one of Germany′s most dynamic philosophers of religion. Having come to the country as a refugee when he was a child, he is now helping to establish an Islamic philosophy of religion and has produced a new translation of the Koran. His main concern is to break down the foreignness of Islam
By Ruth Renée Reif
Afghan refugees in Pakistan

Underprivileged and unwanted

Pakistan has the second-largest refugee population in the world and the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) is growing too. The country is fighting internal militants and facing huge challenges. Islamabad is struggling to live up to its domestic and international obligations. By Waqqas Mir
By Waqqas Mir
Sexualised violence against women

A feminism of new alliances

When misogyny is permitted to take the anti-Islamic fast lane: a contribution to the debate by Charlotte Wiedemann
By Charlotte Wiedemann
The Avicenna scholarship programme

Cosmopolitan and female

Avicenna is the first state-sponsored Muslim scholarship programme in Germany. It supports gifted and socially-committed students of all disciplines. Report by Arnd Zickgraf
By Arnd Zickgraf
Fighting jihadism

The fatal attraction of IS

In seeking to explain the rise of terrorist militia such as IS, we must look beyond school curricula, Friday sermons and religious texts, argues the Jordanian political scientist Mohammad Abu Rumman
By Mohammad Abu Rumman
Cologne and sexualised violence worldwide

The groper in my home

Penning yet another article on Cologne can only make you unpopular. But our writer Elisabeth Lehmann has nevertheless given it a shot: her partner is "North African"
By Elisabeth Lehmann
Integration in Germany

On the right track - one refugee's story

Alaa Houd has been through a lot. Fleeing Syria, he survived the hazardous Aegean crossing and an odyssey through German refugee hostels along the way. Distress and anguish about the wife and child left behind in his war-torn homeland were his constant companions. Now, finally, he has a new home in Bonn. By Sebastian Schug
By Sebastian Schug
CrossCulture Programme celebrates ten years

Global ambassadors

For the past ten years, young professionals from Islamic countries and from Germany have been able to immerse themselves in a foreign culture for three months as part of a internship programme run by the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (ifa). The programme has just celebrated its tenth anniversary. By Fabian Pianka
By Fabian Pianka
Cologne: New Year's Eve mob

Thinly veiled racism

Our outrage over the sexist Muslim male reveals a need to feel superior. It expresses a brand of cultural chauvinism that co-opts feminism as a means of diverting attention from its own sexist and racist shortcomings. A contribution by Khola Maryam Hübsch
By Khola Maryam Hübsch
Afghan refugees in Iran

On the fringes of society

Many refugees currently knocking on Europe′s doors come from Afghanistan. Most of them, however, no longer know their homeland because they are second generation refugees who have grown up in neighbouring Iran. Ghasem Toulany on the situation of Afghan refugees in the Islamic Republic
By Ghasem Toulany