Tag Archives: Abbasids

Podcast: What Do We Know About Islam’s Origins?

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 27 August 2026

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Arculf and Jerusalem: A Snapshot of the Arab Empire Before Islam

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 16 August 2026

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Review: “The Sacred City” (2016)

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 26 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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A Note on the Mu’tazilites and the Office of the Caliph

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 4 June 2025

Muslim belief is that the Qur’an is “uncreated” (ghayr makhluq). While the Qur’an was revealed to Muhammad over twenty-three years (610-32 AD), the “speech of God” (kalam Allah) in these revelations had existed co-eternally with God. This was once a point of serious dispute in Islamic theology, and the outcome of that debate was an important waymarker in the development of Islam.

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Ahmad al-Shara Met Donald Trump, and the Islamic State is Not Pleased

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 30 May 2025

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New Orleans and the Islamic State’s Policy on Lone-Actor Terrorism

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 12 January 2025

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Jewish Influence At the Origins of Islam

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 28 November 2024

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Assessing the Early-Codification Theory of the Qur’an

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 19 November 2024

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Islamic State Introduces the Fifth “Caliph”

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 22 August 2023

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