How Much Responsibility Does the Syrian State Have for the Alawi Massacres?

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 17 July 2025

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Roman Eastern Foederati and Arab Monotheism Before Islam

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 5 July 2025

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Assessing the Historicity of Abu Bakr, Islam’s First Caliph

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 1 July 2025

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John Wansbrough’s Review of ‘Hagarism’

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 27 June 2025

In 1978, shortly after Patricia Crone and Michael Cook published their book challenging the traditional story of Islam’s origins, Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World, it was reviewed for the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies by John Wansbrough, their mentor and the most important figure in the “Revisionist” movement that arose in Islamic Studies in the 1970s. Wansbrough’s review is reproduced below.

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Review: “The Sacred City” (2016)

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 26 June 2025

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Islamic State Has Alternative Suggestions for the Ten Days of Dhul Hijjah. It’s Jihad.

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 16 June 2025

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Israel Moves to Disarm Iran

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 13 June 2025

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Was Islam’s Ka’ba Always in Mecca?

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 11 June 2025

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