By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 1 July 2025
Assessing the Historicity of Abu Bakr, Islam’s First Caliph
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Tag Archives: Palestine
Was Islam’s Ka’ba Always in Mecca?
A Note on the Problems of the “Constitution of Medina” for the Islamic Tradition
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 9 June 2025
The “Constitution of Medina” or “Medina Document” (Sahifat al-Medina) is recorded in the Islamic Tradition literature, which post-dates the ninth century, i.e., two-hundred years after the Prophet Muhammad died, but most modern historians accept the Tradition’s claim that the Sahifa is the authentic record of a covenant between the early Muhammadan community and the Jews of Yathrib to establish governance in the city, dating from around 622 AD. This view is taken because the Sahifa is linguistically distinct from the surrounding material and, crucially, it contains elements that are theologically awkward from the perspective of “final form” Islam that stabilises after 800 AD.
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Arab Statements of Exterminationist Intent Before the 1967 War
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 19 June 2024
Israel pre-emptively struck against the Arab armies massing on her borders on 5 June 1967 and routed them by 10 June. The intention of the Arab States in 1967 had been plainly expressed over nearly twenty years. After the pan-Arab invasion had failed to destroy the Jewish State in 1948, Arab leaders—speaking directly and through their State-run media—made clear that they intended to wage another war that would succeed in eliminating Israel. As the Arab armies moved into position in May 1967, the Arab governments openly proclaimed that this was that long-awaited war.
Below is a far-from-exhaustive compilation of Arab statements in the lead-up to the Six-Day War:
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