A roundtable organized by the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) addressed the geographical, historical, political and religious perspectives of the Middle East. The speakers were Javier Gil, PhD in History, and Mitra Naeimi, PhD student at the School of Communication of the University of Navarra from Iran; both collaborate with the project 'Religion and Civil Society ' of the ICS. The activity was moderated by Montserrat Herrero, professor of Philosophy Politics and principal investigator of project 'Religion and Civil Society'.

First, Mitra Naeimi explained the different religious branches that can be found within the Muslim religion and identified the principles on which the Islamic State is based. He argued that the current problems of the Muslim world can be categorized into three: the meeting of Islam with modernity, Islamic ethics and Education , and Islamophobia.

Mitra Naeimi considered that the current status of instability in the area "is not a religious problem, but rather a political one due to the different visions and methodologies in the interpretation of the Koran". In his opinion, these interpretations must always be accompanied by man's rationality. 

A area bridge between Europe and Asia

Javier Gil stressed that "the Middle East is a construction that responds to an imaginary or an ideological, political or religious problem. It is not geographically defined and is often considered a area bridge between Europe and Asia". He went on to explain that it is a term that is used flexibly and that the countries included in it depend on each study.

During his speech, Javier Gil elaborated a brief summary of the different historical stages of the Middle East. Among them, he highlighted that of the Caliphate for being considered the golden age of the Muslim world, in which the ideal unity of Muslims was achieved: "In less than a century we reached from Arabia to Afghanistan and the Iberian Peninsula. That is why this is the era to which Islamic fundamentalists appeal today, such as the Islamic State or Al Qaeda".

Finally, he pointed out that, in his opinion, the main problem in the Middle East is due to the fact that "while in the West man has grown along with industrialization, in the Muslim world we have gone from a traditional society to one that, in a matter of a few years, has known enlightenment, communism, democracy, modernism, nihilism... And this always creates great tensions and turbulence".