Seven Myths of the Crusades by Alfred J. Andrea and Andrew Holt, eds. Reviewed by Raymond Ibrahim Middle East Quarterly Summer 2016 As the editors make clear in their preface, Seven Myths of the Crusades is presented as an antidote to the "outpouring of exaggerations, misperceptions, errors, misrepresentations, and fabrications" that proliferate in popular discourse about … [Read more...]
Christian-Muslim Relations in Egypt: Politics, Society and Interfaith Encounters
Christian-Muslim Relations in Egypt: Politics, Society and Interfaith Encounters, by Henrik Lindberg Hansen I.B. Tauris: London, 2015. 304 pp. $99. Reviewed by Raymond Ibrahim Middle East Quarterly Spring 2016 Hansen has made a substantive contribution to our understanding of Egyptian society by focusing on relations between Christians and Muslims. His discussions on a … [Read more...]
The Intensification and Reorientation of Sunni Jihad Ideology in the Crusader Period
The Intensification and Reorientation of Sunni Jihad Ideology in the Crusader Period, by Suleiman A. Mourad and James E. Lindsay Brill Academic Publisher: Leiden, 2015. 221 pp. €98, $133. Reviewed by Raymond Ibrahim Middle East Quarterly Spring 2016 One of the more pernicious and prevalent post-9/11 myths is that one of Islam's most fundamental concepts, jihad, has been … [Read more...]
Mideast Nuclear Holocaust
FrontPage Magazine After constant exposure to critically important news, it begins to lose all meaning and sense of urgency. Hearing the same warnings over and over again—especially when the status quo seems static—can cause a certain desensitization, a resigned apathy that ignores the warnings in the wishful hope that they won’t materialize. This hope becomes more optimistic … [Read more...]
Persecution Myth? How the Present Explains the Past
Originally published by World Magazine One of the traditional purposes for studying History has been to learn from it, to see how past events can shed light on the present. This is possible assuming the history presented is true. Unfortunately, in our postmodern era of relativism, history has become a malleable tool to justify one’s philosophical and/or political … [Read more...]