Islam

July 07, 2023

The Taliban Exploit Islam to Protect Their Illegitimate Rule

Afghanistan, following the American withdrawal in 2021, has gained attention for several reasons, but the most prominent among them is the Taliban’s exploitation of Islam to suppress women and legitimize their illegitimate hold on power. Continue Reading...

August 25, 2022

Would Prophet Muhammad punish Salman Rushdie?

It seems that the infamous “death fatwa” that Ayatollah Khomeini issued against Salman Rushdie back in 1989 for his novel The Satanic Verses, which most Muslims found offensive, finally reached it mark on August 12 in upstate New York. Continue Reading...

July 28, 2022

Abolishing blasphemy laws in Pakistan will lead to more violence

Blasphemy laws pose a real challenge to religious liberty and democracy in several Muslim-majority countries, with 32 nations criminalizing blasphemy; in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Brunei, Mauritania, and Saudi Arabia, it is punishable by death. Continue Reading...

July 14, 2022

Is Indonesia’s “Civil Islam” a model for the Muslim world?

The rise of “Islamic extremism” in France, the reemergence of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the recent drift toward Islamist politics—political efforts to enforce an orthodox interpretation of Islam on society—in Turkey have revived the debate about Islam’s relationship with democracy and liberty. Continue Reading...

September 13, 2021

With the ‘new Taliban’ now in power, can we expect anything different?

The dramatic return of the Taliban to Kabul has consequences beyond the borders of Afghanistan. The Taliban are not the most popular group in Afghanistan but they certainly are the most feared, with enough force at their disposal to impose their dogmatic version of Islam over the country. Continue Reading...

September 02, 2021

Bombs, guns, and drones cannot win a spiritual war (UPDATED)

“[A]t 12 O’clock … our country gained its full independence, praise and gratitude be to God.” Who said it? An American revolutionary on Sept. 3, 1783, at the signing of the Treaty of Paris, perhaps? Continue Reading...

August 21, 2021

Afghanistan I fought for lacks foundation for freedom

I deployed to Afghanistan in 2010. Eleven years later, I watched the Taliban devastate all the progress we fought for. Afghanistan’s chaos and the Taliban’s return to power is heartbreaking and maddening. Continue Reading...

August 20, 2021

Welcoming the stranger: The dignity and promise of Afghan refugees

The Taliban has rapidly retaken Afghanistan, just weeks before the final withdrawal of U.S. troops. With the country bracing for another wave of oppression, thousands of Afghans have fled to the airport in Kabul, hoping to escape the return of sectarian violence and tyrannical rule. Continue Reading...

August 17, 2021

In Afghanistan, our war with truth concludes

The situation in Afghanistan deteriorated even further over the weekend, as the Taliban, driven from power twenty years ago, overtook the capital city of Kabul. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has now fled to Uzbekistan, claiming he wishes to avoid more bloodshed. Continue Reading...

April 27, 2021

Foreign aid pays for Muslim imams to preach the government’s message

All government spending contains items that could best be described as “surreal.” In that category, a Western foreign aid program paid researchers to insert material into the sermons of Muslim imams. Continue Reading...

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