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...

June 15, 2023

Freedom of Religion Is Inherently Good

Growing up in Yemen, a conservative branch of Islam was ‎very popular in my household, school, and mosque. Freedom of ‎religion was a myth frowned upon. It was thought that Islam ‎is the right religion that will take us to Paradise, and the rest of ‎humanity is, alas, going to hell unless they accept our narrow, ‎stringent version of Islam. Continue Reading...

May 18, 2023

Liberty Is Not the Product of Any One Religion

Paul D. Miller, a professor of the practice of international affairs at Georgetown University, has argued in a recent essay in Christianity Today that Christianity is not necessary for democracy. Miller challenges “conservative evangelicals” who believe that “Christianity is necessary for a free society.” 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...

August 27, 2021

Is it immoral to charge interest?

Interest-bearing loans are commonplace in today’s economy, but are a subject of great contention in many of the world’s great intellectual and religious traditions. The Mosaic Law dictates: “If you lend money to any of my people who are needy among you, do not be like a moneylender to him; do not charge him interest” (Exodus 22:25). 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...

April 26, 2019

Video: Mustafa Akyol on the prospects for liberty in the Islamic world

The 2019 Acton Lecture Series continued on April 25th in the Mark Murray Auditorium at the Acton Building, where we welcomed Mustafa Akyol, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and a regular lecturer at Acton University to share his thoughts on the prospects for liberty in the Islamic world. Continue Reading...

July 12, 2018

5 things Christians and Muslims can agree on

At Acton University, Turkish Islamic scholar, Mustafa Akyol, gave multiple lectures on Islam, discussing topics ranging from its history to its controversial practices. Akyol has been speaking at Acton University for many years now and is a respected scholar in fields of Islam, politics, and Turkish affairs. Continue Reading...

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