31. July 2018
With permission, we republish here a kind letter received by Dr. Abou El Fadl in response to the Tariq Ramadan writings.
19. July 2018
In attempting to publish his opinion, "On the Tariq Ramadan Affair", Dr. Abou El Fadl submitted the piece to eight media organizations. The only outlet that agreed to publish it was OpenDemocracy.net on 17 July 2018, after which it was circulated widely. After only one day, on 18 July 2018, OpenDemocracy.net substantially censored the article without Dr. Abou El Fadl's knowledge or permission. As a result, Dr. Abou El Fadl asked for his piece to be removed from the OpenDemocracy.net site. The...
29. January 2017
Description: The Trump administration has evidenced an unwavering hostility towards Islam in general and also American Muslim citizenry. The proposed bill designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization by the clear terms of its explanatory memorandum is an attempt at not just initiating a persecution of Muslim civic society's organizations, but even more dangerously, empowering the executive branch beyond the pale of constitutional limitations. Dr. Abou El Fadl discusses the...
18. January 2017
A bill requiring the U.S. State Department to declare the Muslim Brotherhood a "foreign terrorist organization" is very likely to become law in the coming days. Senator Ted Cruz, one of the sponsors of the law, stated in a press release that the Brotherhood "espouses a violent Islamist ideology with a mission of destroying the West." In the same press release, Cruz cited to what is known as the "civilization jihad" memorandum - a document in which he accuses American Muslim organizations such...
18. December 2016
Description: Professor Khaled Abou El Fadl explains the history and rise of white-nationalism and the forces that gave rise to the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States. He explains the various arguments that justify the vilification of Islam, including arguments around the "clash of civilizations" thesis, the so-called superiority of the "West," and the redefinition and use of the notion of "Judeo-Christian values" as a cover for racism, bigotry and white privilege. He...
21. November 2016
Some months ago, I wrote an article warning that if Donald Trump wins the United States elections, it would be the end of the world as we know it. Sadly, as Trump prepares to take office, we now stand at the cusp of a momentous unfolding. President-elect Trump has already tapped the likes of Sarah Palin, Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Walid Phares and Frank Gaffney to guide his policies towards the world - and especially the Muslim world. The thing uniting those mentioned and many others...
01. August 2016
By Khaled Abou El Fadl I recall watching the Republican 2011 debates on Shari'a and Islam with a smouldering sense of frustration. Questions like "Would you appoint a Muslim to your cabinet?" seemed surreal in the country whose founding fathers generated the Federalist papers, leave alone the Independence Declaration or the U.S. Constitution. Listening to the latest round of Republication pontifications on Shari'a and Islam in 2016 transformed the smouldering frustration to indignation and...
09. August 2014
The real tragedy of great power is that it is fundamentally at odds with ethical conscientiousness and judgment.
02. July 2014
Khaled al-Qazzaz, the former secretary of state of Egypt's only freely democratically elected government, has been disintegrating, as a human being, in solitary confinement in the ignoble 'Aqrab prison in Egypt. For those who do not know, the 'Aqrab prison was built under the reign of Hosni Mubarak to inspire terror and break the will of dignified human beings. It was built by Mubarak and has been filled beyond capacity under the equally ignoble reign of Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. Last week,...
16. May 2011
Despite its popularity among some intellectuals today, the "clash of civilizations" thesis is sufficiently fraught with methodological problems that it ought to be considered a serious hindrance to developing a genuine understanding of the contemporary Islamic realities. I do not contest the possibility that the idea of civilization could be a distinctive, and even at times helpful, concept. For the sake of argument, I assume that particular values and norms might be sufficiently distinctive...