Beyond Unofficial Conviviality

An ancient Qur'anic manuscript, one of any currently being analyzed by scholars seeking to understand how the Qur'an really came to be, and what it represents in historical terms.
An ancient Qur’anic manuscript, one of any currently being analyzed by scholars seeking to understand how the Qur’an really came to be, and what it represents in historical terms.

In his treatment of Islam, and of traditional religious faiths in general, Bill Maher seems to be oblivious to this simple fact of life: people are mostly hypocritical in nature, not puritans. They want the best out of both: the here-and-now as well as the hereafter. This makes it difficult to judge people on the basis of the holy books in which they believe, because, while they might refuse to challenge the authority of these texts, in part or as a whole, their actions and inactions come as a much better measure of what they really want.

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التباهي جهلاً

يتباهى معظم علماء المسلمين وزعماء الحركات الإسلامية على اختلاف مشاربها بواقع كون الإسلام الدين الأسرع انتشاراً في العالم في هذه المرحلة، وهو الأمر الذي سيجعل الإسلام، وفق أحدث الدراسات، مساوياً للمسيحية من حيث عدد معتنقيه وذلك في عام 2050.

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Three Questions & a Short Tirade

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A red herring?

The danger that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose to the region and the world is directly related to these weapons. Iran may never actually deploy these weapons or even threaten to deploy them against her perceived enemies, but having them might make her feel freer to embark on a more aggressive and expansionist foreign policy, including providing support to a growing assortment of rogue regimes, sectarian militias, death squads and terrorist networks under the belief that her nuclear arsenal would shield her from any serious repercussions.

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