When Sunnis diminish the Quran to elevate the Hadith When traditionalists are challenged on the authenticity, reliability, or internal consistency of the Hadith corpus, the response often shifts away from defending those problems on their own terms. Instead, the discussion shifts to a challenge to the Quran: it too is said to produce disagreements, contain … Continue reading Three False Equivalences in the Defense of Hadith
Made to Be Killed: How the Crusades Turned Murder into Atonement
In the theology that launched the Crusades, the Muslim was not, first of all, an enemy to be defeated or a rival to be converted. He was something stranger and more useful than that. He was raw material for another man's salvation. The preachers who summoned Europe to holy war taught that a Christian could … Continue reading Made to Be Killed: How the Crusades Turned Murder into Atonement
The Moral Philosophy of the Quran
Most treatments of Quranic ethics begin and end with a catalog: a list of things enjoined and things forbidden, prayer and charity on one side, theft and slander on the other. This is jurisprudence, not moral philosophy. It answers what but never why, and it mistakes the surface for the structure. A command is only … Continue reading The Moral Philosophy of the Quran
A Hundred Years in Herodotus and the Hadith
In the spring of 480 BC, Xerxes stood at Abydos and looked out over the Hellespont. The strait was covered with his ships; the shore and every plain around the city were dark with men. Herodotus tells us the Persian king congratulated himself on his good fortune—and then, a moment later, he wept. His uncle … Continue reading A Hundred Years in Herodotus and the Hadith
The Tyranny of the Ticker (Part III: Expectation Freedom)
Here is a man you probably know. Every morning, before he has spoken to his family, before he has eaten, before he has done a single thing that is actually within his control, he reaches for his phone and checks the market. If the numbers are green, he will be in a good mood today. … Continue reading The Tyranny of the Ticker (Part III: Expectation Freedom)
The Record They Would Burn the World to Hide
There is a particular kind of fear that has no name in ordinary vocabulary—the fear not of punishment itself but of being found out. It is distinct from guilt, which is interior and can be managed, rationalized, or suppressed over time. This fear is about the moment when the interior becomes exterior, when what a … Continue reading The Record They Would Burn the World to Hide
How 1979 Geopolitics Pushed Muslim Countries Toward Tyranny
There is a temptation, when examining contemporary predominantly Muslim countries, more rigid expressions—the political repression, the enforced uniformity, the sanctioned violence—to trace these features back through history until they disappear into some unchanging essence of the religion itself. This is a mistake, and not merely an academic one. It misreads the historical record, misattributes responsibility, … Continue reading How 1979 Geopolitics Pushed Muslim Countries Toward Tyranny
How To Dismantle Evil in Society
Jeffrey Epstein ran a trafficking network that serviced some of the most powerful men in the world—politicians, financiers, academics, heads of state. The evidence is not circumstantial. The court documents, the flight logs, the testimony, the photographs are a matter of public record. And yet, years after his death and the arrest of his primary … Continue reading How To Dismantle Evil in Society
Who Are the Baddies? Apostasy, Coercion, and the Mirror the Quran Holds Up to Today’s Islam
There is a famous comedy sketch by Mitchell and Webb in which two Nazi soldiers, mid-battle, pause to notice the skull-and-crossbones insignia on their helmets. One turns to the other and asks the question that has apparently never occurred to them before: "Are we the baddies?" It is a devastatingly simple joke. But it captures … Continue reading Who Are the Baddies? Apostasy, Coercion, and the Mirror the Quran Holds Up to Today’s Islam
Sunni Islam: A Death Cult Designed to Fail
In September 2023, two of the most prominent Sunni Muslim voices on social media, Daniel Haqiqatjou and Jake Brancatella, had a debate on the Patrick Bet-David Podcast against two Christians, Robert Spencer and Brother Rachid, who was a Christian convert from Islam. According to Sunni Islam, the punishment for apostasy is death. Ibn ‘Abbas said: … Continue reading Sunni Islam: A Death Cult Designed to Fail
