March 16, 2021 Dr H.A. Hellyer FRSA is an academic, think-tank analyst, and media commentator who researches the interchange between public policy, international relations, security studies, and religion. His work is focused on the West and the Arab world—the two worlds that he is originally from by heritage and by upbringing. A scholar at the Carnegie Endowment […]

November 19, 2020 Some things change, and some things stay the same. The current furor around France’s relationship with its Muslim citizens in recent weeks seems new, but contemporary European history would teach us otherwise. The question is: Did we ever learn those lessons? In 2005, the Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, published an article with cartoons […]

October 2, 2020 Some fourteen centuries ago, the grandson of the last Prophet of Islam, Husayn, was killed at Karbala, in modern Iraq. Muslims around the world will mark the murder of him and his followers, recalling his struggle against a tyrannical ruler. His sacrifice continues to inspire Muslims worldwide, who hold him up as […]

April 27, 2020 The Islamic intellectual tradition places great value the concept of intention. Acts, as all Muslims will know, are judged according to their intentions — to the point that often, if intention is absent, then acts of worship are invalid, or at least bereft of reward. There’s an additional element to this, however: if […]

March 16, 2020 “Where are you planning on visiting in the State of Israel?” The truth was, I wasn’t planning on visiting anywhere in the State of Israel – at least, as described in international law. But somehow, I didn’t think the Israeli border officer was going to be particularly cooperative if I pointed out we […]

December 16, 2019 “What would you do to get the hate out of politics?” a British citizen asked Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn a week before the Dec. 12 U.K. election, during a BBC debate. It was a legitimate question to put to both of them, as the leaders of the two major British national […]