The controversial concept of ‘Islamism’
IN THIS SENSE the Prophet Muḥammad is the founder of political Islam, for which reason the religion’s shaykhs strongly protest…
On scholarly studies on the history of the Qur’ān
SOME OF THESE STUDIES feature the accumulated conclusions and questions posed by the latest research into the sources of the…
On the Prophet’s biographers
LATER OUTSHADOWING the biography of Ibn Isḥāq was the work of Ibn Hishām (ob. 218 AH), who refined it and…
The place of the rational sciences in Islamic civilisation
THE FACT IS that this idea was simply an ideological position adopted for religious propaganda purposes. It bears no relation…
Loss of causality – a factor in the decline of Muslim science
MUSLIMS, AS WE KNOW, received what we term the intellectual sciences via translations, within the framework of a general and…
The Qur’ān conflicts with history
THE HISTORY OF ‘Thamūd’ dates back to the third millennium BC (circa 3000–2500 BC), and they were inhabitants of north-western…
Who is the one speaking in the Qur’ān?
NOW IF WE COMPARE the phrase of this message with a Qur’ānic text from sūrat al-Isrā’ verse 23: Thy Lord…
The excesses of tafsīr and the modernisation of thought
THIS IS BECAUSE the Prophet himself did not interpret the Qur’ānic sūras and verses, with the exception of a few.…
The original Qur’ān – its true history – 2
BY ADOPTING a comparative historical and anthropological approach, the author examines the most important Qur’ānic themes, including: – An institution…
The original Qur’ān – its true history – 1
ALONGSIDE THE current of historical criticism of the Qur’ān, a new direction of research emerged around the middle of the…