Problems in Arab Muslim historiography – 1
WHAT ARE THE problematic points raised in the subject of Islamic studies or research on the beginnings of Islam? Firstly:…
Islamic history is the shaper of the Arab mind
IN ANOTHER RESPECT history plays a prominent role in strengthening the student’s sense of national belonging vis-à-vis his society, his…
Islam as the beginning and end of history
MUSLIMS BELIEVE that the Qur’an – the word of God and the nucleus of all Islamic faith – was revealed…
What does ‘the comprehensiveness of Islam’ mean?
THE ABOVE STATEMENT is a short excerpt of a lengthy response by the Salafi cleric ‘Abd al-Ḥayy Yūsuf, to the…
Intellectuals and their assassination over the centuries
THAT IS WHAT they said, literally. They did not say that they killed him because he is for the regime…
The Return of the Caliphate – and the Three Fallacies
PARALLEL TO THIS political Islam attempted to establish a salvific vision comprised of two miraculous scenarios: The scenario of the…
The Mushaf is not the Qur’ān
IS THE MUSHAF of the Caliph ‘Uthmān itself indisputably the Qur’ān of Muhammad? Answer: a resounding ‘no’ in bold letters. How…
Fetishism in politicised Islamic thought: history as an example
AND THE FACT is they have been remarkably successful over the last few decades in embedding the belief among Salafists,…
Arkoun and the defeat of reason in Islam – 2
THE FIRST IS that there was no single intellectual school of thought either in Basra or later in Baghdad that…
Between the Qur’ānic text and interpretations of commentators
THERE IS MUCH that conflicts between the various commentators and their individual opinions and religious affiliations, to the point where…