The reactions to the attack on Charlie Hebdo highlight the odd affinity between the left and radical Islam and also draw attention to the unsung—and Augustinian—champions of liberal democracy: Satirists. Continue Reading »
Past presidents have visited the cathedral, but none has attended a Christmas liturgy. Continue Reading »
Did Egypt’s president just call for a radical rethinking of Islam? Continue Reading »
With widespread news about ISIS selling kidnapped women and girls as sex slaves, smiting necks of non-Muslims or expelling them from their homes, one would assume that everyone on the planet views ISIS as wicked. Yet not only in the Muslim-majority countries, but also in Europe, Australia, and even the U.S., ISIS has drawn support. The group is obviously successful in continually recruiting Muslim men, women, even children as its members. What in the world makes these individuals love ISIS? Here are three possibilities. Continue Reading »
In response to a well-known examination of the historical problems of The Koran, written before 9-11 by Toby Lester in The Atlantic, Seyyed Hossein Nasr said The acceptance of the Koran as the word of God suggests that the so-called historical and textual study of the Koran is tantamount to . . . . Continue Reading »
One of the central tropes of Islamic responses to Christianity is that the Qur’an is not the Muslim equivalent of the Christian scriptures, but of Christ. Thus Mahmoud A. Ayoub says:The Qur’an is, for Muslims, the literal and timeless divine Word which entered our time. It became a book . . . . Continue Reading »
I really have to stop reading the newspapers.Particularly on Sunday mornings, I feel like I wandered into a science fiction movie in which everyone but me is a space alien who took over a human body. The pod people are everywhere. They smile at me, they chat affably, they say “Good . . . . Continue Reading »
Samir Khalid Samir, S.J. has devoted half a century to Islamic studies, and the English translation of his 2002 interview book on Islam is a welcome reminder that the subject of Islam can elicit more than shrillness. As an introduction to the subject and as an antidote to anodyne apologies, 111 . . . . Continue Reading »
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