The Berlin Leibniz Centre for Modern Oriental Studies (ZMO) researches the history and society of Islamic regions. The focus is on the interdependence of various regions in the Middle East, Africa, Central, South and Southeast Asia with each other and with Europe (South-South and South-North relations). In the current phase of globalization, the historical understanding of these connections is of central importance. Therefore, the researchers examine cultural, social, political and economic processes since the 18th century from different disciplinary perspectives. The ZMO also conducts research into the production of knowledge about Muslim societies and the cooperation between historical studies, Islamic studies and ethnology as well as political science, literature, cultural studies, linguistics and other disciplines transcends the usual boundaries of regional and disciplinary fields of knowledge. The researchers of the ZMO attach importance to archive work and empirically substantiated studies on the basis of wide-ranging language, source and regional knowledge. The ZMO cooperates closely with researchers from the regions and promotes the exchange between science and other forms of knowledge production. The ZMO ensures the broad social relevance of its research through a variety of public formats of knowledge transfer. In addition, research results will also be presented for discussion in the regions on which the ZMO is working. The ZMO thus contributes to a close connection between theory and practice as well as a differentiated view of Muslim worlds.