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''Always believe in God''

Franck Ribéry has never been in better shape, and - winning the Champions League plus the award for Best Player in Europe - 2013 has been the best year of his career. Yet things have not always been so rosy for Ribéry, a devout Muslim and former construction worker; not everything in his career has come easy. A portrait by André Tucic

Soccer under the Veil

The film "Football Under Cover" turned out to be the surprise tip of this year's Berlin Film Festival. It tells the story behind the meeting between a multicultural women's soccer club from Berlin and the Iranian national women's team. Ariana Mirza reports on the film

Protected from the Profanities of the Bellowing Fans

The Iranian film "Offside" is about a group of girl soccer fans who smuggle themselves into Tehran's Azadi Stadium, despite the ban on women spectators. Ariana Mirza presents Offside and its director Jafar Panahi

Who Really Wants Muslim Integration?

Despite all their efforts to integrate, Muslims often have a problem of trust. Like the Muslim community in Penzberg, Bavaria: even though it has opened its doors and its mosque, it has been categorised as ‘anti-constitutional’ by the German state security services. By Claudia Mende

Bringing Mosques Out in the Open

Most Muslims in Germany pray in mosques that are hidden from view in old factory buildings and basements. The Muslim community would like that to change, but projects to build traditional mosques are often controversial. By Deanne Corbett

Vanguards of "Euro-Islam"?

Prestigious mosques, well established organisations, university chairs – Islam in Germany has outgrown its status as a minority religion. Could this be the start of what is known as Euro-Islam in the Federal Republic, asks Gregor Taxacher

"There Has to Be a Debate on Secularisation"

According to Middle East expert Udo Steinbach, Islamic societies are locked in a clash between modernisers and backwards-looking ideologues. Western policy should animate Islamic elites to develop a concept of secularity suitable for the modern Islamic context. Mohammed Khallouk talked to Udo Steinbach

"Modernity, Democracy Are Only for the Privileged"

The Egyptian scholar Hamid Abu Zayd criticizes the age-old border between the wealthy North and the impoverished South. It still exists, despite globalisation. Universal human values, however, cannot be a privilege restricted to the West

"We Think in Factions"

"The more one feels accepted, the less susceptible one is for extremism," Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor says. Edith Kresta and Daniel Bax spoke with him about multicultural society and integration politics in Europe and Canada

The Development of a Radicalised Identity

It is especially the youth of Britain's 1.5 million Muslims that feels marginalised and caught between cultures. In trying to compensate for feeling weak, they increasingly turn to dogmatic schools of thought. An analysis by Tahir Abbas