A Tale of Two Muslim Generations

by Ismail Royer

Some have described Hamline as representing a contemporary case of blasphemy. But now, we see blasphemy as a crime against our new god: the self. Continue Reading »

23 Jan 2023

Why I Became Muslim

by Jacob Williams

Growing up in twenty-first-century Britain, I was often struck by a feeling of anomie. Around the time I was born, John Major tried to evoke a vanished past by conjuring “long shadows on county grounds” and “old maids bicycling to Holy Communion through the morning mist.” As for my . . . . Continue Reading »

1 May 2019

Allah's Mercy and Wrath

by Gabriel Said Reynolds

God in the Qur’an by jack miles  knopf, 256 pages, $26.95 Jack Miles, a former Jesuit seminarian turned author and editor, is best known for God: A Biography. In his latest book, he compares the gods of the Qur’an and Bible, with sympathy for the former. Instead of addressing the . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Apr 2019

Historical-Critical Qur’an

by Paul V. Mankowski

The Qurʾān and the Bible:  Text and Commentary by gabriel said reynolds yale, 1032 pages, $40 This book is misleadingly named. The blame, if blame there be, rests with the stingy conventions of contemporary publishing. The work deserves one of those splendidly prolix seventeenth-century . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Nov 2018

Why Do They Shout “Allahu Akbar”?

by Ayman S. Ibrahim

The incidents are numerous, and the phrase is one: “Allahu Akbar.” What does it really mean? Why is it so significant for those executing these attacks? Continue Reading »

20 Sep 2016

Holy Warriors

by Gabriel Said Reynolds

In God’s Path: The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire by robert g. hoyland oxford, 320 pages, $29.95 Amedieval Islamic tradition recounts that the Prophet Muhammad once told his companions after they returned from a battle: “You have come from the Lesser Jihad to the Greater . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Oct 2015

Did Muhammad Perform Miracles?

by Ayman S. Ibrahim

On Thursday, August 27, 2015, the first part of Iran’s most expensive movie trilogy, “Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah,” opened nationwide in Iran. It took more than eighty months for this movie to be completed. Its primary goal, according to its director Majid Majidi, “is to reclaim the . . . . Continue Reading »

8 Sep 2015

Why Did the ISIS Caliph Rape American Kayla Mueller?

by Ayman S. Ibrahim

How can ISIS’s Caliph al-Baghdadi vindicate such deeds, raping and enslaving non-Muslim women? The answer is most likely that he cites sacred texts to support his acts, along with revered precedents. Continue Reading »

17 Aug 2015

Salman Rushdie Gets Religion

by Alan Jacobs

The protagonist of No Longer At Ease by the Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe is a young man named Obi Okonkwo who has recently returned to Nigeria after taking a degree in English literature at Oxford University. Obi’s interview for a civil service position turns into a discussion about . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Jan 1992