Few passages in the Quran are as historically charged—or as theologically unsettling—as the seven verses that open The Children of Israel (Banî Israel). They contain what presents itself as a divine address to the Children of Israel, delivered in the scripture, predicting not one but two moments of catastrophic moral collapse, each followed by foreign … Continue reading Quran 17:4–7 and the Fate of Israel
Controlled Opposition and the Management of Dissent
Power rarely destroys what it can redirect. The most durable political systems have always understood that outright suppression carries its own risks: martyrs are made, underground movements consolidate, and the spectacle of repression can delegitimize authority more effectively than any protest. A more elegant solution presents itself—one practiced, whether consciously or structurally, from the courts … Continue reading Controlled Opposition and the Management of Dissent
The Slow Birth of Islam: How Syriac Christians Watched a Religion Take Shape
When the armies of Islam emerged from Arabia in the seventh century, the first Christians they encountered were not the Greek-speaking Byzantines of Constantinople nor the Latin Christians of Rome, but the Syriac-speaking Christian communities of the Middle East. These Christians—centered in Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and Persia—spoke Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic closely related to … Continue reading The Slow Birth of Islam: How Syriac Christians Watched a Religion Take Shape
Ummy ≠ Illiterate
To make the revelation of the Quran more miraculous, the ignorant Muslim scholars created a lie that Muhammad was illiterate. The word they relied on to bestow illiteracy upon the Prophet was “UMMY.” Unfortunately for those “scholars,” this word, based on both its classical definition and its usage in the Quran, clearly means “Gentile,” or … Continue reading Ummy ≠ Illiterate
