By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 1 August 2025
The New York Times and Gaza: Omissions, Mistakes, and Inadequate Corrections
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Tag Archives: Jews
Surviving HAMAS and Getting the Other Israeli Hostages Out: Omer Shem Tov Speaks
Roman Eastern Foederati and Arab Monotheism Before Islam
Assessing the Historicity of Abu Bakr, Islam’s First Caliph
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.
Gerald Hawting on the Mystery of the Ka’ba
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 1 June 2025
Below is a reproduction of an academic book chapter by G.R. Hawting, “The Origins of the Sanctuary at Mecca”, in G.H.A. Juynboll [ed.] (1982), Studies on the First Century of Islamic Society, pp. 23-47.
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