A collection of 50 posts
Jonathan Kay speaks with Roya Hakakian about the rise and fall of Mohammad Jafar Mahallati, a former Iranian official who’d presented himself to Oberlin as an agent of peace and ‘forgiveness.’
The problem here is not a subset of Islamic thought, but the fundamentals of Islam itself.
A conversation about Iran, Israel, and Islamic terrorism with Iraqi researcher Suha Hassen.
What happens when the values of multiculturalism conflict with homophobic, misogynistic, and deeply anti-democratic strains of Islam?
Tracing Tehran's ties to the Houthis, Hamas, and Hezbollah.
Many Iranians perceive Israel as a potential ally in their struggle against Islamic oppression.
The Hamas atrocities of October 7th have refocussed attention on the place of a consequential voting bloc in Western democracies.
The French polemicist's memoir invites us to pity him, but should we?
Salman Rushdie’s new novel is a powerful reminder of his vital role in the endless battle for free speech.
Meg Smaker’s film about the rehabilitation of former Guantanamo terror suspects was nuanced and sympathetic. But the mob didn’t care.
For centuries, the orthodox Muslim view has been that those who insult Muhammad must be summarily killed.
A further irony is that while Khan presses ahead with entrenching Islam in every nook and cranny of the polity and society, other Muslim-majority countries, including Saudi Arabia, are toning down the hard-line version of Islam that they have long promulgated.
“It’s like the story of the boiling frog,” she says. “The water gets warmer and warmer and she always tells herself she can jump out any time."
The intermingling of elements—culture, language, religion—is celebrated, while the concept of purity in identity and culture is repudiated as too constricting.
Dr Phyllis Chesler has never been afraid to be unpopular.