Category: 📰 Arabic

This is the English translation of «الدين المفتري عليه» (The Slandered Religion), Part 10 of 10. Conclusion: Fourteen Centuries of Deviation — and the Path of Reform (الخاتمة: أربعة عشر قرنًا من الانحراف — وطريق الإصلاح) Stand before a mirror fourteen centuries deep. In it you will see one face repeating in different garbs: a…

This is the English translation of «الدين المفتري عليه» (The Slandered Religion), Part 9 of 10. Chapter Eight: The Source of Legitimacy and Its Mechanism — How the Ruler Is Chosen, Held Accountable, and Removed (الفصل الثامن: مصدر الشرعية والآلية — كيف يُختار الحاكم وكيف يُحاسَب ويُعزَل) Picture the morning of the twenty-fourth of March…

This is the English translation of «الدين المفتري عليه» (The Slandered Religion), Part 8 of 10. Chapter Seven: Separating Religion from the State — Religion Between Servant and Lord, Not a Tool in Authority’s Hand (الفصل السابع: فصل الدين عن الدولة — الدين بين العبد وربه، لا أداةً بيد السلطة) Picture a Friday in Cairo.…

This is the English translation of «الدين المفتري عليه» (The Slandered Religion), Part 7 of 10. Chapter Six: After Independence — Modern Despotism in a Nationalist Guise (الفصل السادس: ما بعد الاستقلال — الاستبداد الحديث بثوب وطني) The Night of 11 February 2011: The Square Explodes with Joy Picture the scene: Cairo, the evening of…

This is the English translation of «الدين المفتري عليه» (The Slandered Religion), Part 6 of 10. Chapter Five: Colonialism — Dividing the Nation and Planting Puppet Regimes (الفصل الخامس: الاستعمار — تقسيم الأمة وزرع الأنظمة التابعة) March 3, 1924: The Caliphate’s Funeral Picture the scene: Ankara, the morning of the third of March 1924. In…

This is the English translation of «الدين المفتري عليه» (The Slandered Religion), Part 5 of 10. Chapter Four: The Mamluks and the Ottomans — Sultanate and the Hollow Caliphate (الفصل الرابع: المماليك والعثمانيون — السلطنة والخلافة الشكلية) Baghdad Burns: The End of the True Caliphate Picture the scene: Safar 656 AH / February 1258 CE.…

This is the English translation of «الدين المفتري عليه» (The Slandered Religion), Part 4 of 10. Chapter Three: The Fragmentation — Petty States and the Taifa Kings (الفصل الثالث: التشرذم — دويلات وملوك الطوائف) Three Caliphs at Once Picture the scene: a day in the year 317 AH / 17 January 929 CE, in Cordoba’s…

This is the English translation of «الدين المفتري عليه» (The Slandered Religion), Part 3 of 10. Chapter Two: The Abbasids — Despotism Wrapped in Religion (الفصل الثاني: العباسيون — الاستبداد المغلّف بالدين) Al-Mada’in, the year 137 AH / 755 CE. A man in his fifties enters the caliph’s palace with the steps of one confident…

This is the English translation of «الدين المفتري عليه» (The Slandered Religion), Part 2 of 10. Chapter One: The Umayyads — From the Nation’s Choice to Hereditary Rule (الفصل الأول: الأمويون — من اختيار الأمة إلى التوريث) Damascus, Muharram of the year 61 of the Hijra. In the caliph’s hall sits a young man of…

This is the English translation of «الدين المفتري عليه» (The Slandered Religion), Part 1 of 10. The Introduction — Separating Religion from Power, Lest One Corrupt the Other (المقدمة — فصل الدين عن السلطة حتى لا يُفسد أحدهما الآخر) The Question That Haunts Us In a café in an Arab city, late at night, a…