The Observatory Archives invites Pablo Beneito to reflect on this subject as a contribution to OVNI dis_Reality Pablo Beneito has a PhD in Arabic philology from Universidad Complutense de Madrid. He was professor in the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Seville, and currently holds the same post at the University of Murcia. He has been a guest lecturer at École Practique des Hautes Études de la Sorbona, Kyoto University (Asafas), Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (Brazil) and the Toledo School of Translators (2002-2003). An Islamologist specialising in the study of Sufism, he has published first editions and and translations of Ibn Arabí: Las contemplaciones de los misterios, El secreto de los nombres de Dios, in Spanish and French, and The Seven Days of the Heart, in English.

Syrian director Anmar al-Beik uses a series of imaginative artifices to approach a small monastic community that seeks to experience Islamic-Christian dialogue.

Boujad is a personal and anguishing look at issues of separaton, independence and return. As director Hakim Belabbes chronicles his journey from his home in Chicago to visit his family in his hometown of Boujad in Morocco, his exploration of family relationships is self-conscious and at times painfully honest. We witness his most private moments with his family. Belabbes' film intimately explores the domestic spaces and religious rituals of intra-family relationships, especially when compounded by one member's break with traditional values.

With a unique and exclusive interview with His Highness the Aga Khan and with rare footage, this hour-long documentary reveals the history of the Ismailis, chronicles the Aga Khan's rise to power half a century ago, and examines his ongoing struggle to maintain the delicate balance between tradition and modernity. This is the first film on the Aga Khan in over forty-five years.

This video documentary charts how since the end of the Cold War, which culminated in the collapse of the Soviet Union, only two main ideologies remain - Islam and Capitalism. It explains how the Muslim Ummah has continued to embrace Islam despite the fact that is has been removed from their practical lives and the international sphere after the destruction of the Khilafah; and how in its absence, the standard bearer of Capitalism, America, has a initiated a dangerous campaign targeted at making Capitalism prevail in the world.

The people of Pankisi Gorge believe that all the important issues of their lives and deaths should be solved through mediation of a favored authority. Altzaney is a woman who interferes in other people’s lives and takes responsibility for it. She mediates between conflicting sides and the two worlds. Altzaney is the only woman trusted to take care of the dead.What makes her so distinguished and authoritative in a totally patriarchal environment, and what is the price she has to pay for it? Altzaney gives an insight into a unique community of Pankisi Gorge.

Al Barzaj [Between the worlds] is a poem about the halfway world, between the visible and the invisible, sleep and wakefulness... An inner journey through underground streets, secret gardens.

A Journey in Afghanistan. After two decades of chaos and destruction, a country searches for its identity. Eight places. A cinematic encounter with people and their realities. A nightclub, a school, a hospital, a taxi – the people there talk about daily life in Afghanistan beyond the war and the Taliban. The director observes people and incidents on his journey, starting in the northern province and eventually reaching the capital Kabul. The result is a mosaic, presented as episodes leaving out West-European commentary.

Janata Bennuna is from Morocco; Hanan Al Shaykh is from Lebanon; and Nawal Al Saadawi is from Egypt. All three are authors of the Arab word, committed intellectuals who shed light on the complex social reality of the Arab world through their books. In their hands, literature becomes a weapon through which to draw attention to and denounce situations that they oppose. The three women, from a generation heavily influenced by Pan-Arabism, initially studied against the wishes of their families, but ended up gaining their support. In A Woman's Word, these three very different writers who nonetheless share a common ground talk about their lives and their work. By learning about them, we also gain an insight into the Arab world, which is much more complex than the Manichean and mostly malicious information on the subject that predominates in our own society today. They too are Arabs, women, who refuse the victim mentality, and demand their rights through their work and their commitment.