Now that Tariq Ramadan, that “towering intellect” who is “one of the seven most important religious innovators of the 21st century,” will soon complete his first trial in Geneva, there are many more such trials to come. There are still four women in that city whom he is charged with sexually assaulting when they were […]
Tariq Ramadan on Trial in Geneva
Tariq Ramadan is now living in a world of woe. Once a professor of Islamic studies at Oxford, described by TIME Magazine as a “towering intellect,” he has ever since 2017 been subject to charges of particularly violent rape by four women in France, a Swiss woman in Geneva, and, in a separate case, four […]
Egyptian researcher: ‘Islam has a problem with other religions, human rights, civil values, and personal liberties’
It would be interesting to see a “moderate Muslim” spokesman in the West, one of the legion who hoodwink conservatives by claiming that Islam, rightly understood, is peaceful and benign, discuss or debate these assertions with Islam Behery, or try to refute what he says here. Instead, they will ignore it. Now, why is that? […]
Video: Is Reform Possible in Islam? Sanjay Dixit, Vibhuti Jha and Robert Spencer
Thursday.
Bahrain: Three Shi’ite reformers go on trial for allegedly questioning the foundations of Islam
Why don’t we see more genuine efforts at reform among Muslims? Because reformers are often treated as apostates or heretics, and prosecuted (or worse) accordingly. “Bahrain charges religious reformers with questioning Islam,” Associated Press, February 20, 2023: DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The Gulf nation of Bahrain plans to put three religious reformers on trial […]
‘Reforming’ Saudi Arabia sentences respected academic to death for sharing ‘hostile’ news on WhatsApp
For whatever reason, it may behoove Westerners to say that Saudi Arabia is reforming, but the real test of reform is freedom of expression. Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who has been applauded by many, has begun a “sweeping crackdown against dissent, which saw some of the kingdom’s prominent academics, journalists, and preachers thrown into […]
Something more than ‘reform’ is going on in Saudi Arabia: Twitter employee spied on users for Saudi government
Is Saudi Arabia actually reforming? A closer look presents a different picture, one that is not without complexities. The article “Ex-Twitter employee sentenced to over 3 years in prison for spying for Saudi Arabia,” by Kevin Collier, NBC News, December 14, 2022, exposes a troubling trend, one of many, that escapes sustained media attention. […]
Hassen Chalghoumi and the Price He Pays
Hassen Chalghoumi is an imam in Drancy, France who is that rare thing: a real, and not a feigned, Muslim moderate. That is, he dares to preach respect for Jews, calls for peace with Israel, asks that commemoration of the Holocaust be respected, and deplores the antisemitism displayed by so many Muslims. For this […]
Egypt: Islamic reformers still face prison sentences
Here is yet more indication of why we don’t see more genuine Islamic reform. “Egyptian Islamic Reformers Still Face Prison Sentences,” by Hany Ghoraba, Algemeiner, January 27, 2022: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi promises to launch “a new republic” this year, led by a development boom and a new commitment to democracy and religious tolerance. But a […]
Iran news agency claims Egypt is writing ‘modern interpretation’ of Qur’an, moving to replace Arab-Islamic identity
The veracity of this story cannot be taken for granted, as it comes from a mouthpiece for the Iranian regime, the Ahlul Bayt News Agency, and reflects Shi’ite polemic against Sunnis. However, it also shows the pitfalls and difficulties of genuine Islamic reform: anyone who attempts such a thing is immediately branded a heretic and […]