A Georgetown University panel admits that imperialism and conquest are inherently violent. “If you are looking for a Golden Age, talk to the people that have the gold. For the rest of the people, it’s probably not that golden,” said University of Colorado-Boulder religious studies professor Brian Aivars Catlos. Along with other panelists, Catlos’ discussion […]
Historical Methodology and Dogmatic Islamophilia (Part 8)
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 To bring the story to the present, one cannot leave out the case of John Esposito, a Catholic, and Professor of International Affairs and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University. He is also the director of Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the […]
Jizya, “Military Exemption,” and Murdered Christian Soldiers
One of the staples of the Islamic whitewashing industry is the claim that jizya — the extortion money subjugated Jews and Christians were required to pay (a la Koran 9:29) — actually “entitled them to Muslim protection from outside aggression and exempted them from military service,” to quote Georgetown University’s John Esposito. By this widely held logic, […]
“The Qur’an Teaches That All Human Beings Are Equal”: Race (Part III)
But what about John Esposito’s third claim, the one that is the focus of those Dallas billboards, about the supposed “racial equality” in Islam? There are a few passages, it is true, in the Qur’an, in which it is obliquely suggested that all men are equal, regardless of the “diversity of your color.” Here are […]
“The Qur’an Teaches That All Human Beings Are Equal”: Sex (Part II)
What about Esposito’s next claim, that “the Qur’an teaches that all human beings are equal, regardless of…sex”? Before we weigh this statement, let’s review what we know about the treatment of women in Islam. Can there be equality between men and women, when a man can marry four women but a woman only one man? […]
“The Quran Teaches That All Human Beings Are Equal”: Beliefs (Part I)
In the latest example of Muslim propaganda, the Dallas chapter of the Islamic Circle of North America has put up twelve billboards. Though there is a generic appeal to viewers to find out more about Islam by calling a hotline, 877-whyisam, or going to the website whyislam.org, the specific message that targets African-Americans on each […]
Why the War on ‘Islamophobia’ Distracts Us from Legitimate Terrorism Concerns
John Esposito, the Saudi-funded director of Georgetown University’s Bridge Initiative, is on a mission to convince the world, one academic conference at a time, that “Islamophobia has metastasized” as a “social cancer in America.” Speaking alongside his protégé, Dalia Mogahed, Bridge Initiative Senior Fellow Engy Abdelkader, and others at the September 22 “Islamophobia in Focus: […]
‘Islamophobia Studies’ Are Coming To A College Near You, And There Won’t Be Any Debate About It
“Before I get started, I just wanted to say that we are meeting on stolen indigenous people’s land. That’s really important to acknowledge.” So declared San Francisco State University race and resistance studies professor Rabab Abdulhadi, at the University of California, Berkeley’s Seventh Annual International Islamophobia Conference in April. Abdulhadi’s seemingly disjointed declaration was typical […]
Flawed fatwa offers no defense against jihad
Does a 2010 book offer anti-jihadist “counter-narratives which emerge from religious views” of Muslim “mainstream scholars who have a lot of credibility” as desired by National Defense University Professor Hassan Abbas at a recent Washington, DC, panel? Like other prominent academics, Abbas advocated the Fatwa on Terrorism and Suicide Bombings, yet this disturbing but often […]
Georgetown’s John Esposito Shills for Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood
John Esposito, founding director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU) at Georgetown University, has signed an open letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron opposing his invitation to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to Britain this week for talks. The letter stipulates that: While not necessarily supporting deposed President [Mohamed] […]