15. October 2018

Jamal Khashoggi was an educated, enlightened, mild-mannered man ― and at this point, there is little doubt that the Saudi regime has abducted and murdered him. But the sad reality is that Khashoggi is not the first, and probably will not be the last, to be forcibly disappeared by the Saudi regime. The Saudi regime has abducted critics and opponents from numerous countries, including Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Morocco, and Egypt. When the Saudi regime is unable to lay its hands on its...

13. March 2017

Assalamualaikum, Dear honorable Prof Khaled Abou El Fadl A Muslim and Islamic Scholar that I respect greatly, I wrote to you to ask for your time, generosity and wisdom, as I'm greatly saddened by the situation in my country, that have turned my Muslim brothers and sisters against each other. And the questions that have turned my Muslim brothers and sister against each other is, "Does Islam allows Muslim to vote for non-Muslim to be in the position of governor, in a Muslim majority country? "...

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. 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...

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...

26. July 2016

We are living through a time replete with malignant possibilities. As if it is not sufficiently frightening that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is poised to rule the most powerful - not to mention belligerent - nation in the world, other Western and non-Western states are laying the seeds for what can only be a truly poisonous future. The real tragic irony is that unless more level-headed and reasonable minds prevail very soon, our post-secular world is very likely to deteriorate...

30. June 2016

Dear Dr. Abou El Fadl, I would like to begin by saying that I am an avid reader of your work, and have a deep respect for the Islamic tradition. If it isn't too bothersome, I just have a few questions that I have yet to find satisfying answers too. A good friend of mine recently confronted me on the issue of the Prophet's (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) wife, Aisha. I was rather confounded on how to answer, particularly because he phrased the question approximately as such: "Did...

23. April 2015

It was once a simple dream that breathed life into the hope-starved spirits of so many. Ever since the French landed on the shores of Egypt in 1798, we have been in the grip of a past alienated from its history, an identity divorced from its memory, and insecure flashes of pride defeated by a deep sense of indignity. Then came the Arab Spring! So many thought the Arab Spring would allow the region self-determination, and would shift the gaze of the world away from the twin spectres of oil and...

25. April 2011

HARVARD INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL ARTICLE SERIES: Online APRIL 2011 Volume 52 The Language of the Age: Shari’a and Natural Justice in the Egyptian Revolution Download the PDF here An article in the series on the aftermath of Egypt’s February 2011 Revolution and the possibilities for legal and constitutional reform. Khaled Abou El Fadl I. INTRODUCTION One of the most memorable images of the Egyptian Revolution is that of hundreds of people lined up for Islamic prayer in Tahrir Square in...

15. March 2011

This is the third book in the Palgrave Series on Islamic Law and Theology, and it is a book that I take special pride in introducing. The source of my pride is not only the friendship and intellectual bond that I share with its author but more significantly, it is an awe-inspiring volume from which I learned a great deal about the challenge of constitutionalist governance and the largely unknown efforts by prominent Muslim jurists to wrestle with the role and function of Islamic law in the wake...