Lebanon is awaiting the results of the Israeli elections and their potential implications. Official Lebanese sources indicate that no major political or military developments are expected this month. Negotiations are likely to remain frozen, but communication between the Lebanese presidency and certain established channels within the US administration continues, helping prevent further deterioration in the security situation.
Meanwhile, a new development concerning southern Lebanon has...
In the 1990s, Turkey and Israel described their partnership as a strategic alliance. Their militaries trained together, their intelligence services shared information, their businessmen discovered each other's markets, and hundreds of thousands of Israeli tourists made Antalya and Istanbul their favorite destinations. Three decades later, the same two states regard each other with suspicion bordering on hostility, and in some Turkish and Israeli policy...
The Emergence of the Charter
The German orientalist Wellhausen was the first to introduce the Medina Charter to Western scholarly circles. Most likely after...
Zbigniew Brzeziński notes that between 1914 and 1990 “mega-deaths” are estimated to have reached 187 million—roughly 9 percent of the world’s population at the...
One of the principal factors that has shaped the Muslim world’s general philosophy of history is the distinctive historical period known as Asr al-Saʿāda...
Just as sacred texts are subjected to tafsir, human-authored historical texts may also be interpreted through a similar process. Tafsir is a form of...
The Medina Charter — Introduction
The Medina Charter first drew my attention thirty-five years ago (1991). In the time since, it has regularly surfaced in...
In the ongoing debate in France about “republic versus democracy,” a common consensus has emerged: the republic answers the question “who will govern,” while...
Last month, a striking development emerged from the Turkish Parliament: a legislative proposal concerning Qur’anic translations (meals) was approved. One of the proposed amendments...
One of the most brutally felt dimensions of the sociopolitical crisis currently engulfing the Muslim world is the economy. Although economics is merely one...
