The Birmingham Muṣḥaf Between Simple Facts and Manufactured Controversies
Two months ago came the exciting discovery of fragments of a Qur’anic manuscript that radiocarbon dating has shown to be among the earliest, if not…
Mercy: The Understated Sign of Islam
About eighteen months ago, I wrote an article about the particular leadership qualities of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that this beautiful verse reveals: It is…
Mistaking Islam for a State: Misunderstanding Religion and Revering False History
The evil of ISIS has been filling news bulletins with stories that seem to be incessantly in competition to show how low the human being…
Qur’anophobia: The Core Truth of Islamophobia
“Islamophobia” is an established term that denotes prejudice against, hatred towards, and fear of Islam and Muslims. At times Muslims are targeted because of their…
Sources of Misinterpreting the Qur’an
Like any scripture, and indeed any text, the Qur’an is open to different interpretations. Some interpretations are plausible, others are possible but unlikely, and many…
The Role of Emotions in a Supposedly Rational World: A Dangerous Oversight
We live in a world that glorifies few things more than reason. And rightly so. Everything around us reminds us of the power of reason…
Similarities and Differences Between the Qur’an and Jewish and Christian Scriptures and Sources: What Do They Really Mean?
One observation that is often made by critics of the Qur’an is that at times its historical account of a story, such as the story…
The Islamic Caliphate Between Past Myths and Present Delusions
The Islamic caliphate is promoted by its advocates on the basis that it was an ideal system of Islamic government in the past that can…
The Meaning of “Being News”: The Persecution of Religious Minorities by ISIS
The rise of The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and its extreme form of intolerance, persecution of Christians and Yezidis, and brutality have…
“Gazacaust”: The Name of the New Shame of the World
The word “holocaust” is derived from the Greek “holos,” which means “whole,” and “Kaustos,” which means “burnt.” It has rightly entered every language to remind…
The Newborn Christians and Jews that the World Really Needs
In January 2009, I published an article on my other website Qur’anicStudies.com that was triggered by a massive Israeli attack on Gaza, just like the…
Silence that Amounts to Complicity: The Terrorism that Western Politicians and Media Don’t Talk About
Since the attacks of 11/September/2001 on the USA, terrorism has been presented in the West as the most immediate danger to the globe. You cannot…
Mind Your Feet, Forget Your Heart: An Illustration of the Predicament of Muslims
Like any collective activity, the Muslim congregational prayer (salāt al-Jamā’a) must have its rules, so that all participants can perform it in the same way.…
Myths About “The Verse of the Sword”
Statements by scholars dating back to the 3rd century Hirji have claimed that the following verse, which has become known as “the verse of the…
Leadership Qualities of Prophet Muhammad
There are number of verses in the Qur’an that reveal leadership qualities of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). One of these is the following verse: It…
