Raymond Ibrahim's Blog, page 27

France's Burqa Ban in Context

That France is moving toward banning the burqa is a positive development on several fronts: For starters, while many are the arguments against the burqa — it is anachronistic, misogynistic, etc. — the fact is there have been many instances worldwide...

The Strange — and Tragic — Case of Nagla Imam

Uncovering the truth is always a convoluted affair when it comes to the Middle East. Consider the case of the Egyptian Nagla Iman. Is she a Muslim woman who advocates the sexual harassment of Jewish women, or a Christian woman, who advocates human rights...

The Two Faces of the Ground Zero Mosque

Depending on whether Islamists address Americans or fellow Muslims, the same exact words they use often relay diametrically opposed meanings. One example: when Americans hear Muslims evoke "justice," the former envision Western-style justice, whereas...

Unprecedented: Egyptian Government Suppresses Christian Doctrine

It is not enough that the Egyptian government facilitates persecution of the Copts, Egypt's indigenous Christian minority. Now the government is interfering directly with the church's autonomy concerning doctrine. According to the Assyrian International...

New Fatwa Calls on Men to Drink Women's Breast-Milk

Last month, I wrote a PJM article dealing with some of Islam's "problematic" practices, specifically those attributable to the Muslim prophet Muhammad. One of these — the Muslim phenomenon of "adult-breastfeeding," or rida' al-kabir — is making headlines...

Obama's Top Counterterror Adviser's Inability to Think Outside the Box Bodes Disaster

"The greatest hurdle Americans need to get over in order to properly respond to the growing threat of radical Islam is purely intellectual in nature; specifically, it is epistemological, and revolves around the abstract realm of 'knowledge.' Before...

What Did You Say About Muhammad?!

Which is more likely to elicit an irate Muslim response: 1) public cartoons of the Muslim prophet Muhammad, or 2) public proclamations that Muhammad was a bisexual, sometime transvestite and necrophile, who enjoyed sucking on the tongues of children,...

Defeating Radical Islam

Will the recent killings of al-Qaeda leaders Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayub al-Masri have any tangible effects on the "war on terror"? Vice President Joe Biden — who referred to the slayings as "devastating blows to Al Qaeda in Iraq" — certainly seems...

Review of The War of Ideas: Jihad Against Democracy

After the strikes of 9/11, a plethora of books dealing with the threat of radical Islam appeared in the West. In The War of Ideas: Jihad Against Democracy, Dr. Walid Phares -- who had been studying Islamism and its impact on international relations...

Was Marco Polo an 'Islamophobe'?

If the same exact criticisms being made against Islam today were also made centuries ago, is it reasonable to dismiss them all as "Islamophobic"— that is, as "unfounded fear of and hostility towards Islam," as the Council on American Islamic Relations...