By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 1 July 2025
Assessing the Historicity of Abu Bakr, Islam’s First Caliph
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Tag Archives: Hadith
Review: “The Sacred City” (2016)
Was Islam’s Ka’ba Always in Mecca?
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.
Ahmad al-Shara Met Donald Trump, and the Islamic State is Not Pleased
Jewish Influence At the Origins of Islam
Islamic State Attacks Iran and Many Iranians Ask: Did it Really?
Islamic State Describes Running an Insurgency From the Syrian Desert
The 2007 Islamic State Book “Informing Mankind” of its Justifications for the Caliphate
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 22 November 2021
The Islamic State movement published an 87-page book, “Informing Mankind of the Birth of the Islamic State” or “Informing the People of the Birth of the Islamic State” (I’lam al-Anam bi-Milad Dawlat al-Islam), on 7 January 2007. The document was released by Al-Furqan Media Foundation, the central Islamic State propaganda institution, and first appeared on the World News Network website. A rough translation of the book appears below.
The Islamic State Announces the “Axe of al-Khalil Campaign” to Destroy the “Idol” of Democracy
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 19 March 2021
Hamid al-Zawi, the leader of the Islamic State movement from 2006 to 2010, known only as Abu Umar al-Baghdadi during his lifetime, gave a speech on 19 March 2010 entitled, “The Soldiers’ Sermon for the Axe of al-Khalil Campaign” (Khutba al-Jund bi-Hamlat Fa’s al-Khalil). It was Al-Zawi’s twenty-second and, as it turned out, penultimate speech. Al-Zawi was killed almost exactly a month later, on 18 April 2010, alongside his deputy and “war minister”, Abd al-Munim al-Badawi (Abu Hamza al-Muhajir). A translation of the speech is published below.
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